Athlon II X2 260 vs Celeron G540

Primary Details

Comparing Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	2523	2527
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation	0.02	3.72
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Regor (2009−2013)
Release date	4 September 2011 (12 years ago)	11 May 2010 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$158	$48
Current price	$19.25 (0.1x MSRP)	$17.43 (0.4x MSRP)

Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Athlon II X2 260 has 18500% better value for money than Celeron G540.

Detailed Specifications

Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 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	2
Base clock speed	2.5 GHz	3.2 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.5 GHz	3.2 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	128 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	1 MB
L3 cache	2 MB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm
Die size	131 mm2	117 mm2
Maximum core temperature	69 °C	no data
Number of transistors	504 million	410 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 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	FCLGA1155	AM3
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2	no data
AES-NI	-	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	no data
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Status	Discontinued	no data

Security technologies

Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 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 Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 are enumerated here.

VT-d	-	no data
VT-x	+	no data
EPT	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	32 GB	no data
Max memory channels	2	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	17 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors	no data
Graphics max frequency	1 GHz	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

2

no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260.

PCIe version

2.0

2.0

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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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.

Celeron G540 outperforms Athlon II X2 260 by 1% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Pros & Cons Summary

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Performance score	0.76	0.75
Recency	4 September 2011	11 May 2010
Cost	$158	$48
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm

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Should you still have questions on choice between Celeron G540 and Athlon II X2 260, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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