Pentium 977 vs Xeon W3505

Pentium 977

2 Cores2 Thrd17 WWMax: 1.4 GHz2012

Xeon W3505

2 Cores2 Thrd130 WWMax: 0.53 GHz2009

Performance Spectrum - CPU

Pentium 977

2 / 2

1,148

0.0%

1,163

+1.3%

About PassMark

PassMark CPU Mark evaluates processor speed through complex mathematical computations. It provides a reliable metric to compare multi-core performance, where higher scores indicate faster processing for multitasking, gaming, and heavy workloads.

Value Upgrade Path

This is the official ChipVERSUS Value Rating, comparing raw performance (PassMark) per dollar. Components placed above yours deliver better value for money. The Pentium 977 is positioned at rank 1117 and the Xeon W3505 is on rank 970, so the Xeon W3505 offers better cost-efficiency for playing games.

MSRP is the manufacturer's suggested retail price.•
Avg price is the current average price collected from markets across the web.

Performance Per Dollar Pentium 977

#1105

Atom x5-Z8300

MSRP: $20|Avg: N/A

3424%

#1106

Atom Z3735G

MSRP: $17|Avg: N/A

3373%

#1107

Core i5-480M

MSRP: $81|Avg: $77

3097%

#1108

Core i5-460M

MSRP: $80|Avg: $129

3083%

#1109

Core i5-2540M

MSRP: $266|Avg: $10

3055%

#1111

Core i5-450M

MSRP: $32|Avg: $31

2950%

#1112

Core i3-380M

MSRP: $49|Avg: $25

2828%

#1113

Core i5-430M

MSRP: N/A|Avg: $33

2824%

#1114

Core 2 Duo T6600

MSRP: N/A|Avg: $4

2748%

#1117

Pentium 977

MSRP: $134|Avg: $10

100%

#1118

Core i7-2715QE

MSRP: $378|Avg: $50

99%

#1119

VIA Nano U2250

MSRP: $50|Avg: $10

99%

#1121

Core i5-560M

MSRP: $225|Avg: N/A

98%

#1122

Pentium U5600

MSRP: $100|Avg: $50

97%

#1123

Core m5-6Y57

MSRP: $281|Avg: $281

97%

#1125

Core i7-610E

MSRP: $250|Avg: $40

97%

#1126

Core i5-5350U

MSRP: $315|Avg: N/A

96%

#1127

Core i7-3520M

MSRP: $346|Avg: N/A

96%

#1128

Pentium Dual Core T4300

MSRP: $150|Avg: $99

96%

#1129

Core i3-4100E

MSRP: $225|Avg: $30

96%

#1130

Core i3-2310E

MSRP: $225|Avg: $20

96%

#1131

Core i5-2510E

MSRP: $230|Avg: $30

96%

#1132

Core m5-6Y54

MSRP: $281|Avg: $281

95%

Based on actual market prices and performance synthetic scores.

Performance Per Dollar Xeon W3505

Xeon Platinum 8454H

MSRP: $6540|Avg: N/A

35708%

Xeon Gold 6240R

MSRP: $2444|Avg: N/A

6742%

#10

Xeon 6337P

MSRP: $60|Avg: $5

5990%

#15

EPYC 9174F

MSRP: $194|Avg: $30

4627%

#535

Xeon W-3245M

MSRP: $5002|Avg: $5002

98%

#536

Xeon W-3265M

MSRP: $6300|Avg: $3500

97%

#969

Xeon E5-2687W v2

MSRP: $2112|Avg: $62

100%

#970

Xeon W3505

MSRP: N/A|Avg: N/A

100%

#971

Xeon L5430

MSRP: $390|Avg: $380

99%

#972

Xeon E5-2470

MSRP: $1440|Avg: $125

99%

#973

Xeon E5-2670

MSRP: $1552|Avg: $60

99%

#975

Xeon X3470

MSRP: $589|Avg: $16

97%

#978

Xeon E5-2689

MSRP: $1800|Avg: $18

95%

#979

Xeon E5-2450L

MSRP: $1106|Avg: $78

94%

#980

Xeon X3480

MSRP: $612|Avg: $48

93%

#981

Xeon E5-2687W

MSRP: $1885|Avg: $70

91%

#982

Xeon E5-4610

MSRP: $1219|Avg: $50

91%

#984

Xeon X7550

MSRP: $1500|Avg: $1400

90%

Based on actual market prices and performance synthetic scores.

Performance Comparison

About PassMark

🏆 Chipversus Verdict

🚀 Performance Leadership

Use Case Distinction: This is a comparison between a Professional Workstation processor ($0) and a Consumer Desktop CPU. The Xeon W3505 is engineered for massive parallel workloads (rendering, scientific simulations), offering significantly higher core counts.

Insight	Pentium 977	Xeon W3505
Gaming	✅ Superior gaming performance	❌ Lower gaming performance
Workstation	❌ Weaker in multi-core tasks	✅ Better multi-core power
Price	⚠️ Higher cost ($10)	✅ More affordable ($0)
Longevity	🛑 Legacy (Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) / 32 nm)	🛑 Legacy (Bloomfield (2008−2010) / 45 nm)

💎 Value Proposition

The Pentium 977 ($10), however, is optimized for mixed workloads and gaming. For most users, it offers superior single-thread performance and responsiveness at a fraction of the cost ($10 less, Infinity% cheaper), making it the better choice for daily use and gaming.

Insight	Pentium 977	Xeon W3505
Cost Efficiency	❌ Lower cost efficiency	❌ Lower cost efficiency
Upfront Cost	⚠️ Higher cost ($10)	✅ More affordable ($0)

Performance Check

Paired with RTX 4090

To accurately isolate CPU performance, all benchmarks below use an NVIDIA RTX 4090 as the reference GPU. This eliminates GPU-side bottlenecks and highlights pure processing throughput differences between the CPUs.

Note: Real-world results may vary based on your actual GPU. CPU performance impact is more visible in processing-intensive titles and high-refresh-rate gaming scenarios.

Pentium 977 Benchmark Check

Xeon W3505 Benchmark Check

Technical Specifications

Side-by-side comparison of Pentium 977 and Xeon W3505

Pentium 977

The Pentium 977 is manufactured by Intel. It was released in 1 January 2012 (13 years ago). It is based on the Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) architecture. It features 2 cores and 2 threads. Base frequency is 1.4 GHz, with boost up to 1.4 GHz. L3 cache: 2 MB (total). L2 cache: 256K (per core). Built on 32 nm process technology. Socket: BGA1023. Thermal design power (TDP): 17 Watt. Memory support: DDR3. Passmark benchmark score: 1,148 points. Launch price was $134.

Xeon W3505

The Xeon W3505 is manufactured by Intel. It was released in 2015-01-01. It is based on the Bloomfield (2008−2010) architecture. It features 2 cores and 2 threads. Base frequency is 2.53 GHz, with boost up to 0.53 GHz. L3 cache: 4 MB (total). L2 cache: 256 kB (per core). Built on 45 nm process technology. Socket: LGA1366. Thermal design power (TDP): 130 Watt. Memory support: DDR3. Passmark benchmark score: 1,163 points. Launch price was $800.

⚡

Processing Power

Both the Pentium 977 and Xeon W3505 share an identical 2-core/2-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 1.4 GHz on the Pentium 977 versus 0.53 GHz on the Xeon W3505 — a 90.2% clock advantage for the Pentium 977 (base: 1.4 GHz vs 2.53 GHz). The Pentium 977 uses the Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) architecture (32 nm), while the Xeon W3505 uses Bloomfield (2008−2010) (45 nm). In PassMark, the Pentium 977 scores 1,148 against the Xeon W3505's 1,163 — a 1.3% lead for the Xeon W3505. L3 cache: 2 MB (total) on the Pentium 977 vs 4 MB (total) on the Xeon W3505.

Feature	Pentium 977	Xeon W3505
Cores / Threads	2 / 2	2 / 2
Boost Clock	1.4 GHz+164%	0.53 GHz
Base Clock	1.4 GHz	2.53 GHz+81%
L3 Cache	2 MB (total)	4 MB (total)+100%
L2 Cache	256K (per core)	256 kB (per core)
Process	32 nm-29%	45 nm
Architecture	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Bloomfield (2008−2010)
PassMark	1,148	1,163+1%

🧠

Memory & Platform

The Pentium 977 uses the BGA1023 socket (PCIe 2.0), while the Xeon W3505 uses LGA1366 (PCIe 2.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard.