Intel Core i7-6850K vs AMD Phenom II X4 970

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-6850K CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Phenom II X4 970
Intel Core i7-6850K AMD Phenom II X4 970

CPU comparison

Intel Core i7-6850K or AMD Phenom II X4 970 - 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 i7-6850K has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.80 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-6850K was released in Q2/2016.

The AMD Phenom II X4 970 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Phenom II X4 970 was released in Q3/2010.
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24) Family AMD Phenom II (52)
Intel Core i 6000 (24) CPU group AMD Phenom II - 800/900 (23)
6 Generation 4
Skylake S Architecture Deneb (K10)
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-6850K is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.60 GHz (3.80 GHz). The AMD Phenom II X4 970 has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.50 GHz.

Intel Core i7-6850K Characteristic AMD Phenom II X4 970
6 Cores 4
12 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? Yes
3.60 GHz Frequency 3.50 GHz
3.80 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 i7-6850K Characteristic AMD Phenom II X4 970
-- 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.

no iGPU GPU no iGPU
GPU frequency --
-- GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation --
Technology
Max. displays
-- Compute units --
-- Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory --
-- 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.

no iGPU GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
No Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i7-6850K supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The AMD Phenom II X4 970 can connect up to GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i7-6850K Characteristic AMD Phenom II X4 970
DDR4-2400 Memory DDR3-1333, DDR2-1066
128 GB Max. Memory
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
76.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
15.00 MB L3 Cache 6.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version --
40 PCIe lanes --
39.4 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i7-6850K has a TDP of 140 W, that of the AMD Phenom II X4 970 is 125 W.

Intel Core i7-6850K Characteristic AMD Phenom II X4 970
140 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 125 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-6850K has a 15.00 MB cache, while the AMD Phenom II X4 970 cache has a total of 6.00 MB.

Intel Core i7-6850K Characteristic AMD Phenom II X4 970
14 nm Technology 45 nm
Monolithic Chip design Unknown
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE3, SSE4a
LGA 2011-3 Socket AM3
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization AMD-V
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2016 Release date Q3/2010
628 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-6850K (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 (39%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-6850K (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 (30%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.80 GHz
1116 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
439 (39%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
6711 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
1491 (22%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
11397 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
4361 (38%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.80 GHz
1302 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
6214 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
279.7 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 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 Core i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
3480 (100%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.80 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
92 (100%)

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 i7-6850K Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Phenom II X4 970 AMD Phenom II X4 970
4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz
355 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-6850K AMD Phenom II X4 970
Unknown Unknown

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