Intel Core i7-3960X vs Intel Core Ultra 7 155H

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-3960X CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
Intel Core i7-3960X Intel Core Ultra 7 155H

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i7-3960X and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i7-3960X 6 core processor released in Q4/2011 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H which has 16 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2023.
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24) Family Intel Core Ultra 7 (9)
Intel Core i 3000X (4) CPU group Intel Core Ultra 100H (5)
3 Generation 1
Sandy Bridge E Architecture Meteor Lake H
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-3960X is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.30 GHz (3.90 GHz). The processor can compute 12 threads at the same time. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H clocks with 1.40 GHz (4.80 GHz), has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 22 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i7-3960X Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
6 Cores 16
12 Threads 22
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.30 GHz (3.90 GHz) A-Core 1.40 GHz (4.80 GHz)
6x Redwood Cove
-- B-Core 0.90 GHz (3.80 GHz)
8x Crestmont
-- C-Core 0.70 GHz (2.50 GHz)
2x Crestmont

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 i7-3960X Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
-- AI hardware Intel AI engine
-- AI specifications Intel AI Boost @ 1.4 GHz (OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT)

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

no iGPU GPU Intel Iris Xe 8 Core Graphics 128 EUs (Meteor Lake)
GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 2.25 GHz
-- GPU Generation --
Technology 5 nm
Max. displays 4
-- Compute units 128
-- Shader 1024
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.2

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 Iris Xe 8 Core Graphics 128 EUs (Meteor Lake)
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 Decode / Encode
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 64 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i7-3960X, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H supports a maximum of 96 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 120.0 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i7-3960X Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
DDR3-1600 Memory LPDDR5X-7500, DDR5-5600
64 GB Max. Memory 96 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 120.0 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 18.00 MB
15.00 MB L3 Cache 24.00 MB
2.0 PCIe version 5.0
40 PCIe lanes 20
20.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i7-3960X has a TDP of 130 W. The TDP of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is 28 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i7-3960X Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
130 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 28 W
-- TDP (PL2) 115 W
-- TDP up 65 W
-- TDP down 20 W
-- Tjunction max. 110 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-3960X has 15.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 32 nm. The cache of Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is at 42.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

Intel Core i7-3960X Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
32 nm Technology 7 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
LGA 2011 Socket BGA 2049
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d (C2 Stepping) Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2011 Release date Q4/2023
970 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-3960X to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.3 stars (80 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-3960X (39%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-3960X (34%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
804 (46%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.80 GHz
1746 (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 i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
4973 (42%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.20 GHz
11878 (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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
736 (32%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.80 GHz
2294 (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 i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
3488 (27%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.20 GHz
12749 (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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
8454 (34%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.20 GHz
24916 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.80 GHz
1761 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.20 GHz
16825 (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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
Intel Iris Xe 8 Core Graphics 128 EUs (Meteor Lake) @ 2.25 GHz
4460 (100%)

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 i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.30 GHz
2643 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
159 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.80 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 Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
6C 12T @ 3.90 GHz
1158 (100%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16C 22T @ 4.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Intel Core i7-3960X Intel Core i7-3960X
3.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
16,825 CB R23 MC @ 75 W
224 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-3960X Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
Unknown ASUS Zenbook Duo (2024) UX8406

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