Pentium Silver N5000 vs i3-540
Aggregate performance score
Pentium Silver N5000 outperforms Core i3-540 by an impressive 59% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2481 | 2119 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.11 | no data |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Pentium Silver |
| Power efficiency | 1.25 | 24.19 |
| Architecture codename | Clarkdale (2010−2011) | Goldmont Plus (2017) |
| Release date | 7 January 2010 (14 years ago) | 11 December 2017 (6 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $45 | $161 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 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) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 3.06 GHz | 1.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 0.07 GHz | 2.7 GHz |
| Bus rate | 2.5 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | no data | 11 |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 256 KB |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (per core) | 4 MB (shared) |
| L3 cache | 4 MB (shared) | 4 MB |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 81 mm2 | 93 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 73 °C | 105 °C |
| Number of transistors | 382 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 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 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA1156 | FCBGA1090 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 73 Watt | 6 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | - |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | - |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Smart Response | no data | - |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| PAE | 36 Bit | no data |
| GPIO | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | - |
| FDI | + | no data |
Security technologies
Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | - | no data |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| MPX | - | + |
| Identity Protection | - | + |
| SGX | no data | Yes with Intel® ME |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
| Anti-Theft | no data | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4 |
| Maximum memory size | 16.38 GB | 8 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 21 GB/s | 38.397 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel® HD Graphics for Previous Generation Intel® Processors | Intel UHD Graphics 605 |
| Max video memory | no data | 8 GB |
| Quick Sync Video | - | + |
| Clear Video HD | + | no data |
| Graphics max frequency | no data | 750 MHz |
| Execution Units | no data | 18 |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 2 | 3 |
| eDP | no data | + |
| DisplayPort | - | + |
| HDMI | - | + |
| MIPI-DSI | no data | + |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | no data | + |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | no data | 12 |
| OpenGL | no data | 4.4 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | 6 |
| USB revision | no data | 2.0/3.0 |
| Total number of SATA ports | no data | 2 |
| Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Ports | no data | 2 |
| Number of USB ports | no data | 8 |
| 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 | 0.97 | 1.54 |
| Recency | 7 January 2010 | 11 December 2017 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 73 Watt | 6 Watt |
Pentium Silver N5000 has a 58.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, 100% more physical cores, a 128.6% more advanced lithography process, and 1116.7% lower power consumption.
The Pentium Silver N5000 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i3-540 in performance tests.
Note that Core i3-540 is a desktop processor while Pentium Silver N5000 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i3-540 and Pentium Silver N5000, 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.
