Core i7-640M vs Core 2 Duo SP9400

Place in the ranking	2832	2263
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core 2 Duo	Intel Core i7
Power efficiency	2.07	3.53
Architecture codename	Penryn (2008−2011)	Arrandale (2010−2011)
Release date	20 August 2008 (16 years ago)	13 September 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$284	$346

Detailed specifications

Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M 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	2.4 GHz	2.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.4 GHz	3.46 GHz
Bus type	no data	DMI 1.0
Bus rate	1066 MHz	1 × 2.5 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	21
L1 cache	no data	128 KB
L2 cache	6 MB	512 KB
L3 cache	6 MB L2 Cache	4 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Die size	107 mm²	81+114 mm²
Maximum core temperature	105 °C	105 °C
Number of transistors	410 Million	382 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M 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	no data	1 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	BGA956	BGA1288,PGA988
Power consumption (TDP)	25 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	-	+
FMA	-	+
vPro	no data	+
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	no data	+
Fast Memory Access	no data	+
FSB parity	-	no data

Security technologies

Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	no data	DDR3
Maximum memory size	no data	8 GB
Max memory channels	no data	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	no data	17.051 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	no data	Intel® HD Graphics for Previous Generation Intel® Processors
Clear Video	no data	+
Clear Video HD	no data	+
Graphics max frequency	no data	766 MHz

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M.

PCIe version	no data	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.

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.

Core 2 Duo SP9400 0.55

i7-640M 1.31
+138%

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.

Core 2 Duo SP9400 863

i7-640M 2070
+140%

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.

Core 2 Duo SP9400 2083

i7-640M 3708
+78%

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.

Core 2 Duo SP9400 3950

i7-640M 7906
+100%

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.

Core 2 Duo SP9400 2059

i7-640M 3307
+60.6%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.55	1.31
Recency	20 August 2008	13 September 2010
Threads	2	4
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	25 Watt	35 Watt

Core 2 Duo SP9400 has 40% lower power consumption.

i7-640M, on the other hand, has a 138.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, 100% more threads, and a 40.6% more advanced lithography process.

The Core i7-640M is our recommended choice as it beats the Core 2 Duo SP9400 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core 2 Duo SP9400 and Core i7-640M, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.