AMD Athlon II X2 270u vs Intel Core i7-975

Comparative analysis of AMD Athlon II X2 270u and Intel Core i7-975 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, 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 270u

Intel Core i7-975

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Athlon II X2 270u

CPU is newer: launch date 1 year(s) 3 month(s) later
5.2x lower typical power consumption: 25 Watt vs 130 Watt

Launch date	September 2010 vs June 2009
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	25 Watt vs 130 Watt

Reasons to consider the Intel Core i7-975

Processor is unlocked, an unlocked multiplier allows for easier overclocking
2 more cores, run more applications at once: 4 vs 2
Around 80% higher clock speed: 3.60 GHz vs 2 GHz
2x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
Around 90% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1499 vs 791
5.2x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 3493 vs 675

Specifications (specs)
Unlocked	Unlocked vs Locked
Number of cores	4 vs 2
Maximum frequency	3.60 GHz vs 2 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 128 KB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1499 vs 791
PassMark - CPU mark	3493 vs 675

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Athlon II X2 270u
CPU 2: Intel Core i7-975

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

791

1499

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

675

3493

Name	AMD Athlon II X2 270u	Intel Core i7-975
PassMark - Single thread mark	791	1499
PassMark - CPU mark	675	3493
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		606
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		2380
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		1.084
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		63.217
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)		0.376
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		1.858
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		5.196

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Athlon II X2 270u	Intel Core i7-975
Essentials
Architecture codename	Regor	Bloomfield
Launch date	September 2010	June 2009
Launch price (MSRP)	$68	$476
Place in performance rating	2586	2590
Price now	$67.67	$179.99
Value for money (0-100)	5.88	10.04
Vertical segment	Desktop	Desktop
Processor Number		i7-975
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 GHz	3.60 GHz
Number of cores	2	4
Transistor count	410 million	731 million
Base frequency		3.33 GHz
Bus Speed		6.4 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
Unlocked
VID voltage range		0.800V-1.375V
Memory
Supported memory types	DDR2, 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)	25 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)