Pentium 3556U vs Core 2 Quad Q8400
Aggregate performance score
Core 2 Quad Q8400 outperforms Pentium 3556U by an impressive 94% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2281 | 2749 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Pentium |
| Power efficiency | 1.30 | 4.23 |
| Architecture codename | Yorkfield (2007−2009) | Haswell (2013−2015) |
| Release date | 19 April 2009 (15 years ago) | 1 September 2013 (11 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U 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 | 4 (Quad-Core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | 2.66 GHz | 1.7 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 0.67 GHz | 1.7 GHz |
| Bus rate | 1333 MHz | 5 GT/s |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 4 MB (shared) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 2 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 22 nm |
| Die size | 2x 82 mm2 | 118 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 100 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 71 °C | 105 °C |
| Number of transistors | 456 million | 1,400 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| VID voltage range | 0.85V-1.3625V | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U 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 | FCLGA775,LGA775 | FCBGA1168 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | - | - |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Smart Response | no data | - |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| GPIO | no data | + |
| Smart Connect | no data | + |
| FDI | no data | - |
| AMT | no data | 9.5 |
| Matrix Storage | no data | - |
| FSB parity | - | no data |
| HD Audio | no data | + |
| RST | no data | + |
Security technologies
Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | - | - |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| OS Guard | no data | - |
| Anti-Theft | no data | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
| VT-d | no data | - |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR1, DDR2, DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 16 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 25.6 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | On certain motherboards (Chipset feature) | Intel HD Graphics for 4th Generation Intel Processors |
| Clear Video | no data | + |
| Graphics max frequency | no data | 1 GHz |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | no data | 3 |
| eDP | no data | + |
| DisplayPort | - | + |
| HDMI | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 10 |
| PCI support | no data | - |
| USB revision | no data | 3.0 |
| Total number of SATA ports | no data | 2 |
| Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Ports | no data | 2 |
| Integrated IDE | no data | - |
| Number of USB ports | no data | 4 |
| Integrated LAN | no data | - |
| UART | no data | + |
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.
GeekBench 5 Single-Core
GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.30 | 0.67 |
| Recency | 19 April 2009 | 1 September 2013 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 22 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 15 Watt |
Core 2 Quad Q8400 has a 94% higher aggregate performance score, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.
Pentium 3556U, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, a 104.5% more advanced lithography process, and 533.3% lower power consumption.
The Core 2 Quad Q8400 is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium 3556U in performance tests.
Note that Core 2 Quad Q8400 is a desktop processor while Pentium 3556U is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core 2 Quad Q8400 and Pentium 3556U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar processor comparisons
We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.
