AMD Athlon II X2 240e vs Intel Core i7-950

Comparative analysis of AMD Athlon II X2 240e and Intel Core i7-950 processors for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Performance, Memory, Compatibility, 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 240e

Intel Core i7-950

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Athlon II X2 240e

CPU is newer: launch date 3 month(s) later
2.9x lower typical power consumption: 45 Watt vs 130 Watt

Launch date	October 2009 vs June 2009
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	45 Watt vs 130 Watt

Reasons to consider the Intel Core i7-950

2 more cores, run more applications at once: 4 vs 2
Around 19% higher clock speed: 3.33 GHz vs 2.8 GHz
2x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
Around 25% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1379 vs 1100
3.2x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 3210 vs 1002
Around 64% better performance in Geekbench 4 - Single Core: 535 vs 327
3.4x better performance in Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core: 2092 vs 615

Specifications (specs)
Number of cores	4 vs 2
Maximum frequency	3.33 GHz vs 2.8 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 128 KB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1379 vs 1100
PassMark - CPU mark	3210 vs 1002
Geekbench 4 - Single Core	535 vs 327
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core	2092 vs 615

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Athlon II X2 240e
CPU 2: Intel Core i7-950

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1100

1379

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1002

3210

Geekbench 4 - Single Core

CPU 1

CPU 2

327

535

Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core

CPU 1

CPU 2

615

2092

Name	AMD Athlon II X2 240e	Intel Core i7-950
PassMark - Single thread mark	1100	1379
PassMark - CPU mark	1002	3210
Geekbench 4 - Single Core	327	535
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core	615	2092
3DMark Fire Strike - Physics Score		2502
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		1.028
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		61.244
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)		0.376
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		1.712
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		5.077

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Athlon II X2 240e	Intel Core i7-950
Essentials
Architecture codename	Regor	Bloomfield
Launch date	October 2009	June 2009
Launch price (MSRP)	$35	$290
Place in performance rating	2662	2681
Price now	$34.95	$329.99
Value for money (0-100)	14.30	4.96
Vertical segment	Desktop	Desktop
Processor Number		i7-950
Series		Legacy Intel® Core™ Processors
Status		Discontinued
Performance
64 bit support
Die size	117 mm	263 mm2
L1 cache	128 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	1024 KB	256 KB (per core)
Manufacturing process technology	45 nm	45 nm
Maximum frequency	2.8 GHz	3.33 GHz
Number of cores	2	4
Transistor count	410 million	731 million
Base frequency		3.06 GHz
Bus Speed		4.8 GT/s QPI
Front-side bus (FSB)		1333 MHz
L3 cache		8192 KB (shared)
Maximum core temperature		67.9°C
Number of QPI Links		1
Number of threads		8
VID voltage range		0.800V-1.375V
Memory
Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3 800/1066
Max memory channels		3
Maximum memory bandwidth		25.6 GB/s
Maximum memory size		24 GB
Compatibility
Max number of CPUs in a configuration	1	1
Sockets supported	AM3	FCLGA1366
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	45 Watt	130 Watt
Low Halogen Options Available
Package Size		42.5mm x 45.0mm
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
Physical Address Extensions (PAE)		36-bit
Thermal Monitoring
Virtualization
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)