Intel Core i9-9960X vs Intel Pentium 997

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-9960X CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Pentium 997
Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Pentium 997

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i9-9960X and the Intel Pentium 997 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i9-9960X 16 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Intel Pentium 997 which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2012.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Intel Pentium (150)
Intel Core i 9000X (8) CPU group Intel Pentium 900 (10)
9 Generation 3
Skylake X Refresh Architecture Sandy Bridge U
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
Intel Core i9-7960X Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-9960X is a 16 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.10 GHz (4.50 GHz). The processor can compute 32 threads at the same time. The Intel Pentium 997 clocks with 1.60 GHz, has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Intel Pentium 997
16 Cores 2
32 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.10 GHz Frequency 1.60 GHz
4.50 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
4.10 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 Core i9-9960X Characteristic Intel Pentium 997
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

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 HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
GPU frequency 0.35 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.00 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

Up to 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i9-9960X, while the Intel Pentium 997 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 21.3 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Intel Pentium 997
DDR4-2666 Memory DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
128 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
85.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
22.00 MB L3 Cache 2.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 2.0
44 PCIe lanes 16
43.3 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 8.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i9-9960X has a TDP of 165 W. The TDP of the Intel Pentium 997 is 17 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Intel Pentium 997
165 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 17 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
92 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-9960X has 22.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Intel Pentium 997 is at 2.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 32 nm.

Intel Core i9-9960X Characteristic Intel Pentium 997
14 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2
LGA 2066 Socket BGA 1023
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2018 Release date Q3/2012
1684 $ Release price --
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-9960X (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 (27%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-9960X (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 (4%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1174 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 GHz
312 (27%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
14314 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 GHz
596 (4%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
30355 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 GHz
786 (3%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
1459 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
11020 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
457 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
6671 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) @ 1.00 GHz
96 (100%)

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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
104.3 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz
200 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 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 i9-9960X Intel Core i9-9960X
16C 32T @ 4.10 GHz
2872 (100%)
Intel Pentium 997 Intel Pentium 997
2C 2T @ 1.60 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-9960X Intel Pentium 997
Unknown Unknown

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