Core 2 Quad Q9550 vs Phenom II X2 X640 BE
Aggregate performance score
Core 2 Quad Q9550 outperforms Phenom II X2 X640 BE by an impressive 51% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2745 | 2424 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Series | 2x AMD Phenom II | Core 2 Quad (Desktop) |
| Power efficiency | 0.84 | 0.60 |
| Designer | AMD | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Champlain (2010−2011) | Yorkfield (2007−2009) |
| Release date | 12 May 2011 (14 years ago) | no data |
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X2 X640 BE and Core 2 Quad (Desktop) Q9550 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 | 2 | 4 |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 2.83 GHz |
| Bus rate | 3600 MHz | 1333 MHz |
| L1 cache | 256 KB | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 12288 KB |
| L3 cache | no data | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | no data | 2x 107 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 71 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 820 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X2 X640 BE and Core 2 Quad (Desktop) Q9550 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 | no data | 1 |
| Socket | S1 | LGA775 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 95 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X2 X640 BE and Core 2 Quad (Desktop) Q9550. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | MMX, 3DNow!, SSE1-3A, AMD64, Enhanced Virus Protection, Virtualization | no data |
| VirusProtect | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X2 X640 BE and Core 2 Quad (Desktop) Q9550 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X2 X640 BE and Core 2 Quad (Desktop) Q9550. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR1,DDR2,DDR3 |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.89 | 1.34 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 4 |
| Threads | 2 | 4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 95 Watt |
Phenom II X2 X640 BE has 111.1% lower power consumption.
Core 2 Quad Q9550, on the other hand, has a 50.6% higher aggregate performance score, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.
The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 is our recommended choice as it beats the AMD Phenom II X2 X640 BE in performance tests.
Be aware that Phenom II X2 X640 BE is a notebook processor while Core 2 Quad Q9550 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
