Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 vs Intel Pentium B960

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Pentium B960
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Pentium B960

CPU comparison

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 or Intel Pentium B960 - 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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.50 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 was released in Q1/2008.

The Intel Pentium B960 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Pentium B960 was released in Q4/2011.
Intel Core2 Quad (19) Family Intel Pentium (150)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8000/Q9000 (16) CPU group Intel Pentium 900 (10)
2 Generation 3
Yorkfield (Penryn) Architecture Sandy Bridge U
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 is 2.50 GHz while the Intel Pentium B960 has 2 CPU cores and 2 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Pentium B960 is at 2.20 GHz.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Characteristic Intel Pentium B960
4 Cores 2
4 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.50 GHz Frequency 2.20 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
-- 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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Characteristic Intel Pentium B960
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 or Intel Pentium B960 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

no iGPU GPU Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.10 GHz
-- GPU Generation 6
Technology 32 nm
Max. displays 2
-- Compute units 6
-- Shader 48
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
-- DirectX Version 10.1

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.

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

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 12.8 GB/s. The Intel Pentium B960 supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 21.3 GB/s.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Characteristic Intel Pentium B960
DDR3-1066, DDR2-800 Memory DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
12.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
6.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 2.00 MB
-- PCIe version 2.0
-- PCIe lanes 16
-- PCIe Bandwidth 8.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 is 95 W, while the Intel Pentium B960 has a TDP of 35 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Characteristic Intel Pentium B960
95 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 35 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 85 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 is manufactured in 45 nm and has 6.00 MB cache. The Intel Pentium B960 is manufactured in 32 nm and has a 2.00 MB cache.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Characteristic Intel Pentium B960
45 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
MMX, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2
LGA 775 Socket PGA 988
VT-x, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2008 Release date Q4/2011
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
352 (85%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
413 (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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
1093 (100%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
825 (75%)

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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
3156 (100%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
1029 (33%)

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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
855 (100%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
338 (40%)

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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
383 (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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
679 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
178 (100%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
693 (100%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium B960 Intel Pentium B960
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) @ 1.10 GHz
106 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Intel Pentium B960
Unknown Unknown

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