Pentium N3540 vs i5-6500

Aggregate performance score

Core i5-6500
2015
4 cores / 4 threads, 65 Watt
3.54
+366%
Pentium N3540
2014
4 cores / 4 threads, 7 Watt
0.76

Core i5-6500 outperforms Pentium N3540 by a whopping 366% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking15182645
Place by popularity28not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.70no data
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i5 (Desktop)Intel Pentium
Power efficiency5.159.59
Architecture codenameSkylake (2015−2016)Bay Trail-M (2013−2014)
Release date2 July 2015 (9 years ago)22 May 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$192$251

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads44
Base clock speed3.2 GHz2.16 GHz
Boost clock speed3.6 GHz2.66 GHz
Bus typeDMI 3.0no data
Bus rate4 × 8 GT/sno data
Multiplier32no data
L1 cache64K (per core)224 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)2 MB
L3 cache6 MB (shared)2 MB L2 Cache
Chip lithography14 nm22 nm
Die size177 mm2no data
Maximum core temperatureno data100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1
SocketFCLGA1151FCBGA1170
Power consumption (TDP)65 Watt7.5 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2no data
AES-NI+-
AVX+-
vPro+no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Turbo Boost Technology2.0-
Hyper-Threading Technology--
TSX+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring+-
SIPP+-
Smart Connectno data+

Security technologies

Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+no data
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX+-
Identity Protection+-
SGXYes with Intel® MEno data
OS Guard+no data
Anti-Theftno data-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3, DDR4DDR3L-1333
Maximum memory size64 GB8 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth34.134 GB/s21.32 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 530Intel® HD Graphics for Intel Atom® Processor Z3700 Series
Max video memory64 GBno data
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video+no data
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.05 GHz896 MHz
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported32
eDP+no data
DisplayPort+-
HDMI+-
DVI+no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support+no data
Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096x2304@24Hzno data
Max resolution over eDP4096x2304@60Hzno data
Max resolution over DisplayPort4096x2304@60Hzno data
Max resolution over VGAN/Ano data

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX1211.2
OpenGL4.5no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes164
USB revisionno data3.0 and 2.0
Total number of SATA portsno data2
Number of USB portsno data5

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.

i5-6500 3.54
+366%
Pentium N3540 0.76

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.

i5-6500 5625
+369%
Pentium N3540 1200

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.

i5-6500 1199
+524%
Pentium N3540 192

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.

i5-6500 3268
+495%
Pentium N3540 549

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.

i5-6500 5746
+321%
Pentium N3540 1364

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.

i5-6500 19577
+312%
Pentium N3540 4752

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i5-6500 10.6
+107%
Pentium N3540 21.92

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i5-6500 6
+234%
Pentium N3540 2

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i5-6500 542
+246%
Pentium N3540 157

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i5-6500 147
+249%
Pentium N3540 42

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i5-6500 1.74
+248%
Pentium N3540 0.5

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i5-6500 2.9
+900%
Pentium N3540 0.3

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i5-6500 36
+225%
Pentium N3540 11

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i5-6500 175
+221%
Pentium N3540 54

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i5-6500 3100
+156%
Pentium N3540 1210

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.54 0.76
Recency 2 July 2015 22 May 2014
Chip lithography 14 nm 22 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 65 Watt 7 Watt

i5-6500 has a 365.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 57.1% more advanced lithography process.

Pentium N3540, on the other hand, has 828.6% lower power consumption.

The Core i5-6500 is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium N3540 in performance tests.

Note that Core i5-6500 is a desktop processor while Pentium N3540 is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-6500 and Pentium N3540, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i5-6500
Core i5-6500
Intel Pentium N3540
Pentium N3540

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.

Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


3.6 2311 votes

Rate Core i5-6500 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.2 508 votes

Rate Pentium N3540 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Core i5-6500 or Pentium N3540, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.