Intel Core i7-3960X vs Intel Core i5-3470S. Specifications

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Intel Core i 3000X Intel Core i 3000
• Family
  Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Intel Core i5
• Generation
  3 3
• Segment
  Desktop / Server Desktop / Server

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• Base Frequency
  3.3 GHz 2.9 GHz
• Core architecture
  normal normal
• CPU Cores
  6 4
• CPU Threads
  12 4
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  Yes No
• Overclocking
  Yes No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  3.9 GHz 3.6 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (6 Cores)
  3.9 GHz -
• Turbo Frequency (4 Cores)
  - No turbo

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• DirectX Version
  - 11.0
• Execution units
  - 6
• Generation
  - 7
• GPU Frequency
  - 650 MHz
• GPU name
  no iGPU Intel HD Graphics 2500
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo 1100 MHz
• Max. displays
  - 3
• Release date
  - Q2/2012
• Shader
  - 48
• Technology
  - 22 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  No No
• H.264 / AVC
  No Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  No No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  No No
• JPEG
  No Decode
• VC-1
  No Decode
• VP8
  No No
• VP9
  No No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Intel Core i5-3470S and Intel Core i7-3960X. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  - 32 GB
• Memory channels
  4 2
• Memory type
  DDR3-1600 DDR3-1600
• PCIe lanes
  - 16
• PCIe version
  - 3.0

• AES-NI
  Yes Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Intel Core i7-3960X and Intel Core i5-3470S Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  130 W 65 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Intel Core i7-3960X and Intel Core i5-3470S, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  Sandy Bridge E Ivy Bridge S
• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX
• L3-Cache
  15 MB 6 MB
• Release date
  Q4/2011 Q2/2012
• Socket
  LGA 2011 LGA 1155
• Technology
  32 nm 22 nm
• Virtualization
  VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d (C2 Stepping) VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d