Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s vs Intel Core i3-540. Specifications

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Intel Core 2 Quad Q8000/Q9000 Intel Core i 500
• Family
  Intel Core2 Duo Intel Core i3
• Generation
  2 1
• Predecessor
  No -
• Segment
  Desktop Desktop / Server
• Successor
  No -

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• Base Frequency
  2.83 GHz 3.06 GHz
• Core architecture
  normal normal
• CPU Cores
  4 2
• CPU Threads
  4 4
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No Yes
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  No No turbo
• Turbo Frequency (2 Cores)
  No turbo No turbo

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• DirectX Version
  - 10.1
• Execution units
  - 12
• Generation
  - 5
• GPU Frequency
  - 500 MHz
• GPU name
  - Intel HD Graphics (Westmere)
• GPU Turbo
  - 730 MHz
• Max. displays
  - 2
• Release date
  - Q1/2010
• Shader
  - 24
• Technology
  - 32 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  - No
• H.264 / AVC
  - Decode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  - No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  - No
• JPEG
  - No
• VC-1
  - No
• VP8
  - No
• VP9
  - No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Intel Core i3-540 and Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No Yes
• Max. Memory
  16 GB -
• Memory channels
  2 2
• Memory type
  DDR2-800 / DDR3-1066 DDR3-1066DDR3-1333
• PCIe
  - 2.0 x 16

• AES-NI
  No No

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s and Intel Core i3-540 Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• Maximum Operating Temperature
  80 °C -
• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  65 W 73 W
• TDP (PL2)
  No -
• TDP down
  No -
• TDP up
  No -

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s and Intel Core i3-540, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  Yorkfield Clarkdale
• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  MMX, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1 SSE4.1, SSE4.2
• L2-Cache
  12 MB -
• L3-Cache
  No 4 MB
• Release date
  Q1/2008 Q1/2010
• Socket
  LGA 775 LGA 1156
• Technology
  45 nm 32 nm
• Virtualization
  VT-x, VT-d VT-x, VT-x EPT