The Intel Core i7-2960XM was a mobile processor with 4 cores, launched in September 2011, at an MSRP of $1096. It is part of the Core i7 Extreme lineup, using the Sandy Bridge architecture with Socket G2 (988B). Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 8 threads. Core i7-2960XM has 8 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.7 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.7 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core i7-2960XM on a 32 nm production node using 1,160 million transistors. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i7-2960XM, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 55 W, the Core i7-2960XM consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1600 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the machine, Core i7-2960XM uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. This processor features the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-2960XM, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.