Intel Core i5-3450 vs Intel Core i7-3960X. Specifications

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

• CPU group
  Intel Core i 3000 Intel Core i 3000X
• Family
  Intel Core i5 Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition
• 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
  3.1 GHz 3.3 GHz
• Core architecture
  normal normal
• CPU Cores
  4 6
• CPU Threads
  4 12
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No Yes
• Overclocking
  No Yes
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  3.5 GHz 3.9 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (4 Cores)
  No turbo -
• Turbo Frequency (6 Cores)
  - 3.9 GHz

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
  Intel HD Graphics 2500 no iGPU
• GPU Turbo
  1100 MHz No turbo
• 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
  Decode / Encode No
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  No No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  No No
• JPEG
  Decode No
• VC-1
  Decode No
• VP8
  No No
• VP9
  No No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Intel Core i7-3960X and Intel Core i5-3450. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  32 GB -
• Memory channels
  2 4
• 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 i5-3450 and Intel Core i7-3960X 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)
  77 W 130 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Intel Core i5-3450 and Intel Core i7-3960X, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  Ivy Bridge S Sandy Bridge E
• 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
  6 MB 15 MB
• Release date
  Q2/2012 Q4/2011
• Socket
  LGA 1155 LGA 2011
• Technology
  22 nm 32 nm
• Virtualization
  VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d (C2 Stepping)