| Attribute |
Intel Core i7-3970X × |
Intel Core i7-3960X × |
| General Information | | |
| Brand | Intel | Intel |
| Series | Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition | Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition |
| Model | Intel Core i7-3970X | Intel Core i7-3960X |
| CPU Cores and Base Frequency | | |
| CPU Cores | 6 | 6 |
| Frequency (GHz) | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| CPU Threads | 12 | 12 |
| Core architecture | normal | normal |
| Hyperthreading | + | + |
| Overclocking | + | + |
| Turbo (1 Core) (GHz) | 4 | 3.9 |
| Turbo (6 Cores) (GHz) | 4 | 3.9 |
| Encryption | | |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| Hardware codec support | | |
| JPEG | No | No |
| h264 | No | No |
| h265 / HEVC (8 bit) | No | No |
| h265 / HEVC (10 bit) | No | No |
| VP8 | No | No |
| AV1 | No | No |
| VC-1 | No | No |
| VP9 | No | No |
| AVC | No | No |
| Memory And PCIe | | |
| Memory type | DDR3-1600 | DDR3-1600 |
| ECC | - | - |
| Memory channels | 4 | 4 |
| Technical details | | |
| Release date (year) | 2012 | 2011 |
| Technology (Nm) | 32 | 32 |
| Socket | LGA 2011 | LGA 2011 |
| Virtualization | | |
| L3-Cache (MB) | 15 | 15 |
| Architecture | Sandy Bridge E | Sandy Bridge E |
| Instruction set (ISA) | x86-64 (64 bit) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| Thermal Management | | |
| TDP (PL1) (W) | 150 | 130 |
| Benchmarks | | |
| Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark | 12,790 | 12,712 |
| Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core) | 801 | 836 |
| Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core) | 4,981 | 4,973 |
| Cinebench R15 (Single-Core) | 135 | 159 |
| Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core) | 1,065 | 1,158 |
| Cinebench R11.5, 64bit (Single-Core) | 1.61 | 1.57 |
| Cinebench R11.5, 64bit (Multi-Core) | 10.12 | 11.35 |
| Geekbench 3, 64bit (Single-Core) | 3,350 | 3,314 |
| Geekbench 3, 64bit (Multi-Core) | 19,425 | 19,300 |