Intel Core i5-3210M vs Intel Core i7-3540M

Core i5-3210M vs Core i7-3540M specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-3540M performs better than the Core i5-3210M. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i5-3210M in all gaming tests too.

Info from our database shows that they both have the same core count and the same number of threads. Our comparison shows that the Core i7-3540M has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i5-3210M. Also, the Core i7-3540M has a slightly higher turbo speed. Both these chips have an identical TDP (Thermal Design Power). This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i5-3210M has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.