Intel Core i3-540 vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Compare Intel Core 2 core CPU vs Intel Core 4 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

1037 points
3% slightly better overall score
1002 points

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

2070 points
11% slightly better gaming score
1852 points

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

769 points
0.92% slightly better multitasking score
762 points

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

739 points
1% slightly better heavy workload score
730 points

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i3-540 and the Core 2 Quad Q6600? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

14.86 points
18.16 points
22% slightly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

818 points
5% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
776 points
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

386 points
41% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
272 points
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

836 points
9% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
763 points
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

404 points
50% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score
268 points

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

2
4
100% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

4
Identical
4

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.06 GHz
27% slightly higher clock speed
2.40 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

73 W
43% significantly lower TDP
105 W

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

963rd of 1,116
969th of 1,116

Family

The product line

Core
Core

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2010 February
2007 February

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR3-1066
-

Core i3-540 vs Core 2 Quad Q6600 benchmarks

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i3-540 is faster than the Core 2 Quad Q6600. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core 2 Quad Q6600 in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 has significantly more cores than the Core i3-540. Indeed, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 has 4 cores compared to 2 cores found in the Core i3-540. But they both have the same number of threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i3-540 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core 2 Quad Q6600. A Core i3-540 CPU outputs less heat than a Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

The more cores a CPU has, the better the overall performance will be in parallel workloads such as multitasking. Many CPUs have more threads than cores, this means that each physical core is split into multiple logical cores, making them more efficient. Indeed, the Core i3-540 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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