AMD Athlon II X2 250e vs Intel Core i7-965

Comparative analysis of AMD Athlon II X2 250e and Intel Core i7-965 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.

AMD Athlon II X2 250e

Intel Core i7-965

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Athlon II X2 250e

CPU is newer: launch date 1 year(s) 10 month(s) later
2.9x lower typical power consumption: 45 Watt vs 130 Watt

Launch date	September 2010 vs November 2008
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	45 Watt vs 130 Watt

Reasons to consider the Intel Core i7-965

Processor is unlocked, an unlocked multiplier allows for easier overclocking
2 more cores, run more applications at once: 4 vs 2
Around 15% higher clock speed: 3.46 GHz vs 3 GHz
2x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
Around 23% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1475 vs 1201
3x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 3424 vs 1155

Specifications (specs)
Unlocked	Unlocked vs Locked
Number of cores	4 vs 2
Maximum frequency	3.46 GHz vs 3 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 128 KB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1475 vs 1201
PassMark - CPU mark	3424 vs 1155

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Athlon II X2 250e
CPU 2: Intel Core i7-965

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1201

1475

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1155

3424

Name	AMD Athlon II X2 250e	Intel Core i7-965
PassMark - Single thread mark	1201	1475
PassMark - CPU mark	1155	3424
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		578
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		2233

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Athlon II X2 250e	Intel Core i7-965
Essentials
Architecture codename	Regor	Bloomfield
Launch date	September 2010	November 2008
Launch price (MSRP)	$77	$1,509
Place in performance rating	2081	2102
Price now	$76.73	$139.99
Value for money (0-100)	7.49	12.32
Vertical segment	Desktop	Desktop
Processor Number		i7-965
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	3 GHz	3.46 GHz
Number of cores	2	4
Transistor count	410 million	731 million
Base frequency		3.20 GHz
Bus Speed		6.4 GT/s QPI
L3 cache		8192 KB (shared)
Maximum core temperature		67.9°C
Number of QPI Links		1
Number of threads		8
Unlocked
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)