AMD Athlon II X2 215 vs Intel Core i7-870

Comparative analysis of AMD Athlon II X2 215 and Intel Core i7-870 processors for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Performance, Memory, Compatibility, Peripherals, Security & Reliability, Advanced Technologies, Virtualization. Benchmark processor performance analysis: PassMark - Single thread mark, PassMark - CPU mark, Geekbench 4 - Single Core, Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core, 3DMark Fire Strike - Physics Score, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s).

AMD Athlon II X2 215

Intel Core i7-870

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Athlon II X2 215

CPU is newer: launch date 0 month(s) later
Around 46% lower typical power consumption: 65 Watt vs 95 Watt

Launch date	October 2009 vs September 2009
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	65 Watt vs 95 Watt

Reasons to consider the Intel Core i7-870

2 more cores, run more applications at once: 4 vs 2
Around 33% higher clock speed: 3.60 GHz vs 2.7 GHz
2x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
2x more L2 cache, more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later
Around 35% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1384 vs 1023
3.2x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 3137 vs 973
Around 67% better performance in Geekbench 4 - Single Core: 547 vs 327
3.4x better performance in Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core: 2032 vs 597

Specifications (specs)
Number of cores	4 vs 2
Maximum frequency	3.60 GHz vs 2.7 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 128 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core) vs 512 KB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1384 vs 1023
PassMark - CPU mark	3137 vs 973
Geekbench 4 - Single Core	547 vs 327
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core	2032 vs 597

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Athlon II X2 215
CPU 2: Intel Core i7-870

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1023

1384

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

973

3137

Geekbench 4 - Single Core

CPU 1

CPU 2

327

547

Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core

CPU 1

CPU 2

597

2032

Name	AMD Athlon II X2 215	Intel Core i7-870
PassMark - Single thread mark	1023	1384
PassMark - CPU mark	973	3137
Geekbench 4 - Single Core	327	547
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core	597	2032
3DMark Fire Strike - Physics Score		2453
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		1.029
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		53.478
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)		0.342
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		1.541
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		4.602

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Athlon II X2 215	Intel Core i7-870
Essentials
Architecture codename	Regor	Lynnfield
Launch date	October 2009	September 2009
Launch price (MSRP)	$45	$197
Place in performance rating	2698	2671
Price now	$11.99	$98.99
Value for money (0-100)	38.69	15.90
Vertical segment	Desktop	Desktop
Processor Number		i7-870
Series		Legacy Intel® Core™ Processors
Status		Discontinued
Performance
64 bit support
Die size	117 mm	296 mm2
L1 cache	128 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	512 KB	256 KB (per core)
Manufacturing process technology	45 nm	45 nm
Maximum frequency	2.7 GHz	3.60 GHz
Number of cores	2	4
Transistor count	410 million	774 million
Base frequency		2.93 GHz
Bus Speed		2.5 GT/s DMI
L3 cache		8192 KB (shared)
Maximum core temperature		72.7°C
Number of threads		8
VID voltage range		0.6500V-1.4000V
Memory
Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3 1066/1333
Max memory channels		2
Maximum memory bandwidth		21 GB/s
Maximum memory size		16 GB
Compatibility
Max number of CPUs in a configuration	1	1
Sockets supported	AM3	LGA1156
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	65 Watt	95 Watt
Low Halogen Options Available
Package Size		37.5mm x 37.5mm
Peripherals
Max number of PCIe lanes		16
PCI Express revision		2.0
PCIe configurations		1x16, 2x8
Security & Reliability
Execute Disable Bit (EDB)
Intel® Trusted Execution technology (TXT)
Advanced Technologies
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology
Idle States
Instruction set extensions		Intel® SSE4.2
Intel 64
Intel® AES New Instructions
Intel® Demand Based Switching
Intel® Hyper-Threading technology
Intel® Turbo Boost technology
Intel® vPro™ Platform Eligibility
Physical Address Extensions (PAE)		36-bit
Thermal Monitoring
Virtualization
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)