Atom N550 vs Core 2 Duo E8400

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Primary details

Comparing Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking2668not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
Seriesno dataIntel Atom
Power efficiency1.07no data
Architecture codenameWolfdale (2008−2010)Pineview (2009−2011)
Release date1 January 2008 (16 years ago)23 August 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$86

Detailed specifications

Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550 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 cores2 (Dual-core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads24
Base clock speed3 GHz1.5 GHz
Boost clock speed3 GHz1.5 GHz
Bus rate1333 MHz666 MHz
L1 cache64 KB (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache6 MB (shared)512K (per core)
L3 cache0 KB0 KB
Chip lithography45 nm45 nm
Die size104 mm287 mm2
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
Number of transistors410 million176 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
VID voltage range0.85V-1.3625Vno data

Compatibility

Information on Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550 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 configuration11
SocketLGA775FCBGA559
Power consumption (TDP)65 Watt8.5 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsno dataIntel® SSE2, Intel® SSE3, Intel® SSSE3
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Turbo Boost Technology--
Hyper-Threading Technology-+
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring++
Demand Based Switching--
FSB parity-no data

Security technologies

Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+-
EDB++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550 are enumerated here.

VT-d+-
VT-x+-

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR1, DDR2, DDR3DDR3
Maximum memory sizeno data2 GB
Max memory channelsno data1

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardOn certain motherboards (Chipset feature)Intel GMA 3150

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550.

PCIe version2.0no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.



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.

Core 2 Duo E8400 1165
+312%
Atom N550 283

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.

Core 2 Duo E8400 370
+478%
Atom N550 64

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.

Core 2 Duo E8400 604
+328%
Atom N550 141

Pros & cons summary


Recency 1 January 2008 23 August 2010
Threads 2 4
Power consumption (TDP) 65 Watt 8 Watt

Atom N550 has an age advantage of 2 years, 100% more threads, and 712.5% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550. We've got no test results to judge.

Note that Core 2 Duo E8400 is a desktop processor while Atom N550 is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core 2 Duo E8400 and Atom N550, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

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Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Core 2 Duo E8400
Intel Atom N550
Atom N550

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Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


3.7 2273 votes

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3 46 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Core 2 Duo E8400 or Atom N550, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.