Intel Core i5-3550S vs Intel Pentium G860

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-3550S CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Pentium G860
Intel Core i5-3550S Intel Pentium G860

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-3550S or Intel Pentium G860 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Core i5-3550S has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-3550S was released in Q2/2012.

The Intel Pentium G860 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Pentium G860 was released in Q3/2011.
Intel Core i5 (328) Family Intel Pentium (150)
Intel Core i 3000 (31) CPU group Intel Pentium G800 (2)
3 Generation 3
Ivy Bridge S Architecture Sandy Bridge S
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-3550S is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.00 GHz (3.70 GHz). The Intel Pentium G860 has 2 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.00 GHz.

Intel Core i5-3550S Characteristic Intel Pentium G860
4 Cores 2
4 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.00 GHz Frequency 3.00 GHz
3.70 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 i5-3550S Characteristic Intel Pentium G860
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Intel HD Graphics 2500 GPU Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
0.65 GHz GPU frequency 0.85 GHz
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.10 GHz
7 GPU Generation 6
22 nm Technology 32 nm
3 Max. displays 2
6 Compute units 6
48 Shader 48
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
11.0 DirectX Version 10.1

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 2500 GPU Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1)
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i5-3550S supports a maximum of 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Pentium G860 can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i5-3550S Characteristic Intel Pentium G860
DDR3-1600 Memory DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
32 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
6.00 MB L3 Cache 3.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 2.0
16 PCIe lanes 16
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 8.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i5-3550S has a TDP of 65 W, that of the Intel Pentium G860 is 65 W.

Intel Core i5-3550S Characteristic Intel Pentium G860
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-3550S has a 6.00 MB cache, while the Intel Pentium G860 cache has a total of 3.00 MB.

Intel Core i5-3550S Characteristic Intel Pentium G860
22 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2
LGA 1155 Socket LGA 1155
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2012 Release date Q3/2011
197 $ Release price --
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
781 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
611 (78%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
2528 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
1115 (44%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
722 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
500 (69%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
2082 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
882 (42%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
Intel HD Graphics 2500 @ 1.15 GHz
110 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge GT1) @ 1.10 GHz
106 (96%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
4512 (100%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
1455 (32%)

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 i5-3550S Intel Core i5-3550S
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Pentium G860 Intel Pentium G860
2C 2T @ 3.00 GHz
574 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-3550S Intel Pentium G860
Unknown Unknown

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