AMD Athlon II X2 270u vs Intel Core i7-980X

Comparative analysis of AMD Athlon II X2 270u and Intel Core i7-980X 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 270u

Intel Core i7-980X

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Athlon II X2 270u

CPU is newer: launch date 6 month(s) later
5.2x lower typical power consumption: 25 Watt vs 130 Watt

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

Reasons to consider the Intel Core i7-980X

Processor is unlocked, an unlocked multiplier allows for easier overclocking
4 more cores, run more applications at once: 6 vs 2
Around 80% higher clock speed: 3.60 GHz vs 2 GHz
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor: 32 nm vs 45 nm
3x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
Around 50% more L2 cache; more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later
Around 93% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1524 vs 791
10.1x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 6835 vs 675

Specifications (specs)
Unlocked	Unlocked vs Locked
Number of cores	6 vs 2
Maximum frequency	3.60 GHz vs 2 GHz
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm vs 45 nm
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 128 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core) vs 1024 KB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1524 vs 791
PassMark - CPU mark	6835 vs 675

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Athlon II X2 270u
CPU 2: Intel Core i7-980X

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

791

1524

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

675

6835

Name	AMD Athlon II X2 270u	Intel Core i7-980X
PassMark - Single thread mark	791	1524
PassMark - CPU mark	675	6835
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		628
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		3462
3DMark Fire Strike - Physics Score		0
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		1.652
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		48.42
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)		0.512
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		1.942
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		7.262

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Athlon II X2 270u	Intel Core i7-980X
Essentials
Architecture codename	Regor	Gulftown
Launch date	September 2010	March 2010
Launch price (MSRP)	$68	$959
Place in performance rating	2594	2597
Price now	$67.67	$218.99
Value for money (0-100)	5.88	11.82
Vertical segment	Desktop	Desktop
Processor Number		i7-980X
Series		Legacy Intel® Core™ Processors
Status		Discontinued
Performance
64 bit support
Die size	117 mm	239 mm2
L1 cache	128 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	1024 KB	256 KB (per core)
Manufacturing process technology	45 nm	32 nm
Maximum frequency	2 GHz	3.60 GHz
Number of cores	2	6
Transistor count	410 million	1170 million
Base frequency		3.33 GHz
Bus Speed		6.4 GT/s QPI
L3 cache		12288 KB (shared)
Maximum core temperature		67.9°C
Number of QPI Links		1
Number of threads		12
Unlocked
VID voltage range		0.800V-1.375V
Memory
Supported memory types	DDR2, DDR3	DDR3 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)