Intel Core i3-540 vs AMD Athlon II X4 620

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i3-540 CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Athlon II X4 620
Intel Core i3-540 AMD Athlon II X4 620

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i3-540 and the AMD Athlon II X4 620 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i3-540 2 core processor released in Q1/2010 with the AMD Athlon II X4 620 which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2009.
Intel Core i3 (202) Family AMD Athlon II (52)
Intel Core i3 500 (4) CPU group AMD Athlon II X4 (Propus) (10)
1 Generation 1
Clarkdale Architecture Propus
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i3-540 is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.06 GHz. The processor can compute 4 threads at the same time. The AMD Athlon II X4 620 clocks with 2.60 GHz, has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i3-540 Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 620
2 Cores 4
4 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.06 GHz Frequency 2.60 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Core i3-540 Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 620
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Intel HD Graphics (Westmere) GPU no iGPU
0.50 GHz GPU frequency --
0.73 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
5 GPU Generation --
32 nm Technology
2 Max. displays
12 Compute units --
24 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
10.1 DirectX Version --

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel HD Graphics (Westmere) GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

Up to 16 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i3-540, while the AMD Athlon II X4 620 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 21.3 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i3-540 Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 620
DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333 Memory DDR3-1333
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
21.3 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
Yes ECC No
0.50 MB L2 Cache 2.00 MB
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
2.0 PCIe version 2.0
16 PCIe lanes --
8.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i3-540 has a TDP of 73 W. The TDP of the AMD Athlon II X4 620 is 95 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i3-540 Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 620
73 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 95 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i3-540 has 4.50 MB cache and is manufactured in 32 nm. The cache of AMD Athlon II X4 620 is at 2.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 45 nm.

Intel Core i3-540 Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 620
32 nm Technology 45 nm
Monolithic Chip design Unknown
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2 ISA extensions MMX, 3DNow!, SSE3, SSE4a
LGA 1156 Socket AM3
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization AMD-V
No AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2010 Release date Q3/2009
117 $ Release price --
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
478 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
334 (70%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
1141 (99%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
1155 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
1516 (79%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
1916 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
337 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
1275 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
470 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
952 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
132 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
505 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
Intel HD Graphics (Westmere) @ 0.73 GHz
35 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
685 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
62 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i3-540 Intel Core i3-540
2C 4T @ 3.06 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 620 AMD Athlon II X4 620
4C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
238 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i3-540 AMD Athlon II X4 620
Unknown Unknown

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