Celeron N4020C vs Pentium N3540

Place in the ranking	2660	2499
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Pentium	no data
Power efficiency	9.60	15.31
Architecture codename	Bay Trail-M (2013−2014)	no data
Release date	22 May 2014 (10 years ago)	1 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$251	no data

Detailed specifications

Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C 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	2.16 GHz	1.1 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.66 GHz	2.8 GHz
L1 cache	224 KB	no data
L2 cache	2 MB	no data
L3 cache	2 MB L2 Cache	4 MB
Chip lithography	22 nm	14 nm
Maximum core temperature	100 °C	105 °C
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C 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	FCBGA1170	FCBGA1090
Power consumption (TDP)	7.5 Watt	6 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	-	+
vPro	no data	-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	no data	-
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Smart Response	no data	-
GPIO	no data	+
Smart Connect	+	no data
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	no data	-

Security technologies

Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

EDB	+	+
Secure Key	+	+
MPX	-	+
Identity Protection	-	+
SGX	no data	Yes with Intel® ME
OS Guard	no data	+
Anti-Theft	-	-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3L-1333	DDR4/LPDDR4 up to 2400 MT/s
Maximum memory size	8 GB	8 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21.32 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card Compare	Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Processor Z3700 Series	Intel UHD Graphics 600
Max video memory	no data	8 GB
Quick Sync Video	+	+
Graphics max frequency	896 MHz	650 MHz
Execution Units	no data	12

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C 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 Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support	no data	+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4	no data	4096x2160@30Hz
Max resolution over eDP	no data	4096x2160@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort	no data	4096x2160@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX	11.2	12
OpenGL	no data	4.4

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	4	6
USB revision	3.0 and 2.0	2.0/3.0
Total number of SATA ports	2	2
Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Ports	no data	2
Number of USB ports	5	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.

Pentium N3540 0.76

Celeron N4020C 0.97
+27.6%

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.

Pentium N3540 1201

Celeron N4020C 1534
+27.7%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.76	0.97
Integrated graphics card	0.77	0.87
Recency	22 May 2014	1 January 2021
Physical cores	4	2
Threads	4	2
Chip lithography	22 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	7 Watt	6 Watt

Pentium N3540 has 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.

Celeron N4020C, on the other hand, has a 27.6% higher aggregate performance score, 13% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 6 years, a 57.1% more advanced lithography process, and 16.7% lower power consumption.

The Celeron N4020C is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium N3540 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium N3540 and Celeron N4020C, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.