Intel Celeron 2981U vs Intel Core i7-990X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Celeron 2981U CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-990X
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Core i7-990X

CPU comparison

Intel Celeron 2981U or Intel Core i7-990X - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Celeron 2981U has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.40 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Celeron 2981U was released in Q3/2013.

The Intel Core i7-990X has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.73 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 3 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-990X was released in Q1/2011.
Intel Celeron (165) Family Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24)
Intel Celeron 2000 (7) CPU group Intel Core i7 900 (4)
4 Generation 1
Haswell U Architecture Gulftown
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Celeron 2981U is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.40 GHz. The Intel Core i7-990X has 6 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.46 GHz (3.73 GHz).

Intel Celeron 2981U Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
2 Cores 6
2 Threads 12
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? Yes
1.40 GHz Frequency 3.46 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.73 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Celeron 2981U Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1) GPU no iGPU
0.20 GHz GPU frequency --
1.00 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
7.5 GPU Generation --
22 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
10 Compute units --
80 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
11.1 DirectX Version --

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1) GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Celeron 2981U supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-990X can connect up to 24 GB of memory in 3 memory channels.

Intel Celeron 2981U Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
LPDDR3-1600, DDR3L-1600 Memory DDR3-1066
16 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 3
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 1.50 MB
2.00 MB L3 Cache 12.00 MB
2.0 PCIe version --
12 PCIe lanes --
6.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Celeron 2981U has a TDP of 15 W, that of the Intel Core i7-990X is 130 W.

Intel Celeron 2981U Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 130 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Celeron 2981U has a 2.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i7-990X cache has a total of 13.50 MB.

Intel Celeron 2981U Characteristic Intel Core i7-990X
22 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2
BGA 1168 Socket LGA 1366
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2013 Release date Q1/2011
-- Release price 1059 $
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Celeron 2981U (55%)
Intel Core i7-990X (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Celeron 2981U (17%)
Intel Core i7-990X (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
354 (55%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
639 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
694 (18%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
3765 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
1024 (15%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
6975 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
660 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
3247 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1) @ 1.00 GHz
160 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
2460 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
63 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.73 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
124 (100%)
Intel Core i7-990X Intel Core i7-990X
6C 12T @ 3.46 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Core i7-990X
Unknown Unknown

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