Pentium G6960 vs Celeron G540

Primary details

Comparing Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	2531	2455
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.02	0.02
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Clarkdale (2010−2011)
Release date	4 September 2011 (12 years ago)	9 January 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$158	no data
Current price	$19.25 (0.1x MSRP)	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 have a nearly equal value for money.

Detailed specifications

Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 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	2.93 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.5 GHz	0.93 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	2 MB (shared)	3072 KB (shared)
Chip lithography	32 nm	32 nm
Die size	131 mm2	81 mm2
Maximum core temperature	69 °C	73 °C
Number of transistors	504 million	382 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 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	FCLGA1156
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	73 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960. 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	-	-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	no data	-
PAE	no data	36 Bit
FDI	+	+
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Status	Discontinued	Discontinued

Security technologies

Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	-	-
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	32 GB	16.38 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	17 GB/s	17 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

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

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

2

2

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	no data	16

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.

Pentium G6960 outperforms Celeron G540 by 11% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	0.76	0.84
Recency	4 September 2011	9 January 2011
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	73 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Celeron G540 and Pentium G6960, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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