Intel Pentium G860 vs Apple A9

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Pentium G860 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A9
Intel Pentium G860 Apple A9

CPU comparison

Intel Pentium G860 or Apple A9 - 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 Pentium G860 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.00 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Pentium G860 was released in Q3/2011.

The Apple A9 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.85 GHz. The CPU supports up to 2 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple A9 was released in Q3/2015.
Intel Pentium (150) Family Apple A series (22)
Intel Pentium G800 (2) CPU group Apple A9/A9X (2)
3 Generation 9
Sandy Bridge S Architecture A9
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A8
-- Successor Apple A10 Fusion

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Pentium G860 has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Pentium G860 is 3.00 GHz while the Apple A9 has 2 CPU cores and 2 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple A9 is at 1.85 GHz.

Intel Pentium G860 Characteristic Apple A9
2 Cores 2
2 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.00 GHz Frequency 1.85 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 Pentium G860 Characteristic Apple A9
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Pentium G860 or Apple A9 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.

Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) GPU Apple A9
0.85 GHz GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
1.10 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation 6
32 nm Technology 16 nm
2 Max. displays 1
6 Compute units 24
48 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
10.1 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 (Sandy Bridge GT1) GPU Apple A9
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Pentium G860 can use up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 21.3 GB/s. The Apple A9 supports up to 2 GB of memory in 1 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 25.6 GB/s.

Intel Pentium G860 Characteristic Apple A9
DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333 Memory LPDDR4-3200
32 GB Max. Memory 2 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
21.3 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 3.00 MB
3.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
2.0 PCIe version --
16 PCIe lanes --
8.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Pentium G860 is 65 W, while the Apple A9 has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Pentium G860 Characteristic Apple A9
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Pentium G860 is manufactured in 32 nm and has 3.00 MB cache. The Apple A9 is manufactured in 16 nm and has a 7.00 MB cache.

Intel Pentium G860 Characteristic Apple A9
32 nm Technology 16 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2 ISA extensions --
LGA 1155 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems iOS
Q3/2011 Release date Q3/2015
-- Release price --
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Pentium G860 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.5 stars (2 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple A9 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Pentium G860 (90%)
Apple A9 (96%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Pentium G860 (89%)
Apple A9 (97%)

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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
611 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
558 (91%)

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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
1115 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
1024 (92%)

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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
500 (79%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
632 (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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
882 (96%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
921 (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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) @ 1.10 GHz
106 (42%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
Apple A9 @ 0.65 GHz
250 (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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
1455 (71%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
2053 (100%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
172160 (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 Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
574 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Pentium G860 Apple A9
Unknown Apple iPhone 6s
Apple iPhone SE (1. Gen)

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