CPU Charts 2012: 86 Processors From AMD And Intel, Tested

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Benchmarking 86 CPUs takes a while. After long last, though, we have 51 models from AMD and 35 from Intel tested in our current suite. If you want to know how your processor sizes up to its competition, you'll find plenty of comparison data inside!

Intel: Nehalem

Intel’s Nehalem architecture is partially based on an advanced Core design. These flexible 45 nm desktop CPUs are available as Core i3, i5, and i7 versions, and include two, four, or six cores.

The first Nehalem-based CPUs hit the market in 2008 under the code name Bloomfield. The quad-core family of CPUs sold as Core i7 and dropped into Intel's LGA 1366 interface. The company followed up with a mainstream incarnation code-named Lynnfield toward the end of 2009. Lynnfield-based chips also sported four cores, but surfaced under the Core i5 Core i7 brands, and leveraged an LGA 1156 interface.

Nehalem at 45 nm was succeeded by Westmere (32 nm) at the beginning of 2010. The architectural update materialized as the dual-core Clarkdale design for mainstream desktops and the hexa-core Gulftown configuration for enthusiasts.

Westmere was replaced by Sandy Bridge in 2011.

More information:

Benchmarked Intel Nehalem-Based CPUs:

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NehalemCode NameRev.ManufacturingProcessSocketNumber ofCoresClockFrequencyL2 CacheL3 CacheMemoryControllerTDP
Core i3-530ClarkdaleC232 nm115622.93 GHz2 x 256 KB4 MBon-package up to DDR3-133373 W
Core i5-661ClarkdaleC232 nm115623.33 GHz2 x 256 KB4 MBon-package up to DDR3-133387 W
Core i5-670ClarkdaleC232 nm115623.47 GHz2 x 256 KB4 MBon-package up to DDR3-133373 W
Core i5-750LynnfieldB145 nm115642.67 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i5-750SLynnfieldB145 nm115642.4 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133382 W
Core i5-760LynnfieldB145 nm115642.8 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i7-860LynnfieldB145 nm115642.8 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i7-870LynnfieldB145 nm115642.93 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i7-875KLynnfieldB145 nm115642.93 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i7-880LynnfieldB145 nm115643.07 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-133395 W
Core i7-920BloomfieldC145 nm136642.67 Ghz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-930BloomfieldD045 nm136642.8 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-960BloomfieldD045 nm136643.2 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-970GulftownB132 nm136663.2 GHz6 x 256 KB12 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-975Extreme EditionBloomfieldD045 nm136643.33 GHz4 x 256 KB8 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-980GulftownB132 nm136663.33 GHz6 x 256 KB12 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-980XGulftownB132 nm136663.33 GHz6 x 256 KB12 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Core i7-990XGulftownB132 nm136663.47 GHz6 x 256 KB12 MBintegrated up to DDR3-1066130 W
Manuel Masiero
108 Comments Comment from the forums
  • amdfangirl
    Sometimes I wish you updated legacy CPUs like the Core 2 Duo or even perhaps the Athlon 64 X2 series, just one or two models so that people upgrading can have an idea how much faster the CPU is in relation to their new purchase.
    Reply
  • Where are the Visual Studio Test results?
    Reply
  • johnsonjohnson
    Sandy and Ivy i3s are MIA.
    Reply
  • emperor piehead
    Why is the fx6300 missing i wanted to see how it fit into this
    Reply
  • Thanks Toms, now i know that i can get double the performance and 3/4 the power consumption going from AMD 955 to a Core i5 3570K.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Great benchmarks.
    But i want some processors which were legendary overclockers, and representatives of their generation of CPU's, included with a nominal OC :

    intel C2D E7300 : 2.66- > 3.33
    Intel C2Q Q6600 : 2.4- > 3.0ghz
    Intel i5-750 : 2.66 - >3.33

    Its highly likely that a person has owned at least one of these CPU's. I want to know how well these compare to modern processors.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    And please update the Winrar to version 4.2 . The 3.9 you are using is quite old and has poor multithreading.
    Reply
  • bak0n
    amdfangirlSometimes I wish you updated legacy CPUs like the Core 2 Duo or even perhaps the Athlon 64 X2 series, just one or two models so that people upgrading can have an idea how much faster the CPU is in relation to their new purchase.I always wish this. Beyond that the AM3 Athlon X2's are still being sold at newegg and the Phenom X2's are not...
    Reply
  • Soma42
    amdfangirlSometimes I wish you updated legacy CPUs like the Core 2 Duo or even perhaps the Athlon 64 X2 series, just one or two models so that people upgrading can have an idea how much faster the CPU is in relation to their new purchase.
    Agreed, maybe just one dual core and one quad? q9550 and e6850? not that I still own both of those or anything...

    But let's do some math. Just for a rough order of magnitude I figure an average of 15% increase in performance per clock cycle, per generation (not including clock speed, number of cores, etc.). So if we start back at Conroe and work our way to present day Ivy Bridge, that's 5 new generations of processors. 1.15^5 = 2.01

    Which means that an Ivy Bridge CPU at the same speed as a Conroe CPU (2006ish) is about 2x as fast per clock cycle, on average. Once you take into account faster clock speeds, number of cores, cache sizes, integrated memory controllers, etc. and more importantly what software will be used with the CPUs the real world performance difference could be almost nothing to somewhere around 10-15x as fast.

    I digress. The point being, is I would like to see some more benchies Tom's! Prove me wrong!
    Reply
  • flyflinger
    Lot of great info here, but missing Core i3 info leaves a big hole in the data point. Please add.
    Reply