Pentium 3556U vs i7-6500U

VS

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-6500U
2015
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
2.06
+207%
Pentium 3556U
2013
2 cores / 2 threads, 15 Watt
0.67

Core i7-6500U outperforms Pentium 3556U by a whopping 207% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking18902733
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7Intel Pentium
Power efficiency13.004.23
Architecture codenameSkylake (2015−2016)Haswell (2013−2015)
Release date1 September 2015 (9 years ago)1 September 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$393no data

Detailed specifications

Core i7-6500U 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 cores2 (Dual-core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads42
Base clock speed2.5 GHz1.7 GHz
Boost clock speed3.1 GHz1.7 GHz
Bus typeOPIno data
Bus rate4 GT/s5 GT/s
Multiplier25no data
L1 cache128 KB64K (per core)
L2 cache512 KB256K (per core)
L3 cache4 MB2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nm22 nm
Die size98.57 mm2118 mm2
Maximum core temperature100 °C100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data105 °C
Number of transistors1750 Million1,400 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-6500U 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1
SocketFCBGA1356FCBGA1168
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI+-
AVX+-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0-
Hyper-Threading Technology+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access+no data
Smart Response+-
GPIOno data+
Smart Connectno data+
FDIno data-
AMTno data9.5
Matrix Storageno data-
HD Audiono data+
RSTno data+

Security technologies

Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT--
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX+-
Identity Protection+-
SGXYes with Intel® MEno data
OS Guard+-
Anti-Theftno data-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U are enumerated here.

AMD-V++
VT-d+-
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3, DDR4DDR3
Maximum memory size32 GB16 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth34.134 GB/s25.6 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 520Intel® HD Graphics for 4th Generation Intel® Processors
Max video memory32 GBno data
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video++
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.05 GHz1 GHz
InTru 3D+no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported33
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
DVI+no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U 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 i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX12no data
OpenGL4.5no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes1210
PCI supportno data-
USB revisionno data3.0
Total number of SATA portsno data2
Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Portsno data2
Integrated IDEno data-
Number of USB portsno data4
Integrated LANno data-
UARTno 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.

i7-6500U 2.06
+207%
Pentium 3556U 0.67

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.

i7-6500U 3275
+209%
Pentium 3556U 1061

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.

i7-6500U 719
+138%
Pentium 3556U 302

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.

i7-6500U 1641
+233%
Pentium 3556U 493

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.

i7-6500U 4886
+94.3%
Pentium 3556U 2515

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.

i7-6500U 10844
+123%
Pentium 3556U 4854

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.

i7-6500U 4231
+118%
Pentium 3556U 1939

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.

i7-6500U 15.68
+195%
Pentium 3556U 46.23

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.

i7-6500U 4
+145%
Pentium 3556U 1

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i7-6500U 316
+152%
Pentium 3556U 126

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.

i7-6500U 128
+95.4%
Pentium 3556U 66

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.

i7-6500U 1.46
+94.7%
Pentium 3556U 0.75

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.

i7-6500U 1.8
+1100%
Pentium 3556U 0.2

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.  

i7-6500U 20
+125%
Pentium 3556U 9

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.  

i7-6500U 105
+113%
Pentium 3556U 49

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.

i7-6500U 2482
+109%
Pentium 3556U 1190

Geekbench 3 32-bit multi-core

i7-6500U 6489
+162%
Pentium 3556U 2478

Geekbench 3 32-bit single-core

i7-6500U 2998
+104%
Pentium 3556U 1467

Geekbench 2

i7-6500U 7572
+142%
Pentium 3556U 3129

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.06 0.67
Recency 1 September 2015 1 September 2013
Threads 4 2
Chip lithography 14 nm 22 nm

i7-6500U has a 207.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, 100% more threads, and a 57.1% more advanced lithography process.

The Core i7-6500U is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium 3556U in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-6500U and Pentium 3556U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-6500U
Core i7-6500U
Intel Pentium 3556U
Pentium 3556U

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