Atom N550 vs Athlon X2 QL-60
Aggregate performance score
Athlon X2 QL-60 outperforms Atom N550 by an impressive 89% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 3071 | 3267 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | 2x AMD Athlon | Intel Atom |
| Power efficiency | 0.92 | 1.89 |
| Architecture codename | Lion (2008−2009) | Pineview (2009−2011) |
| Release date | 3 June 2008 (16 years ago) | 23 August 2010 (14 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $86 |
Detailed specifications
Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 2 (Dual-core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 2 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 1.5 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1.9 GHz | 1.5 GHz |
| Bus rate | 3600 MHz | 666 MHz |
| L1 cache | 256 KB | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 512K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | no data | 87 mm2 |
| Number of transistors | no data | 176 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | 1 |
| Socket | S1 | FCBGA559 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 8.5 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, Enhanced 3DNow!, NX bit, AMD64, PowerNow!, AMD Virtualization | Intel® SSE2, Intel® SSE3, Intel® SSSE3 |
| PowerNow | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
Security technologies
Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | - |
| EDB | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | no data | - |
| VT-x | no data | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | no data | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 2 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 1 |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Intel GMA 3150 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.
Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core
Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.
Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.
3DMark06 CPU
3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.34 | 0.18 |
| Recency | 3 June 2008 | 23 August 2010 |
| Threads | 2 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 8 Watt |
Athlon X2 QL-60 has a 88.9% higher aggregate performance score.
Atom N550, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, 100% more threads, a 44.4% more advanced lithography process, and 337.5% lower power consumption.
The Athlon X2 QL-60 is our recommended choice as it beats the Atom N550 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon X2 QL-60 and Atom N550, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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