A9-9420 vs Xeon W3540
Aggregate performance score
Xeon W3540 outperforms A9-9420 by a whopping 106% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon W3540 and A9-9420 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1952 | 2520 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.21 | no data |
| Market segment | Server | Laptop |
| Series | no data | AMD Bristol Ridge |
| Power efficiency | 1.43 | 5.99 |
| Architecture codename | Bloomfield (2008−2010) | Stoney Ridge (2016−2019) |
| Release date | 30 March 2009 (15 years ago) | 31 May 2016 (8 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $699 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Xeon W3540 and A9-9420 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 | 8 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | 2.93 GHz | 3 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 160 KB |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (per core) | 1 MB (shared) |
| L3 cache | 8 MB (shared) | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 28 nm |
| Die size | 263 mm2 | 125 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 68 °C | 90 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 74 °C |
| Number of transistors | 731 million | 1,200 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon W3540 and A9-9420 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 | FCLGA1366 | FT4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon W3540 and A9-9420. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2 | Virtualization, |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 1.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | + | no data |
| PAE | 36 Bit | no data |
Security technologies
Xeon W3540 and A9-9420 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon W3540 and A9-9420 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon W3540 and A9-9420. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4 |
| Maximum memory size | 24 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 3 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | N/A | Radeon R5 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon W3540 and A9-9420.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 8 |
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 | 1.96 | 0.95 |
| Recency | 30 March 2009 | 31 May 2016 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Threads | 8 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 15 Watt |
Xeon W3540 has a 106.3% higher aggregate performance score, and 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads.
A9-9420, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 7 years, a 60.7% more advanced lithography process, and 766.7% lower power consumption.
The Xeon W3540 is our recommended choice as it beats the A9-9420 in performance tests.
Be aware that Xeon W3540 is a server/workstation processor while A9-9420 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon W3540 and A9-9420, 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.
