Athlon II X3 400e vs i5-2540M
Aggregate performance score
Core i5-2540M outperforms Athlon II X3 400e by an impressive 80% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2147 | 2579 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 0.03 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Series | Intel Core i5 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 4.03 | 1.75 |
| Architecture codename | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) | Rana (2009−2011) |
| Release date | 1 February 2011 (13 years ago) | 20 October 2009 (15 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $266 | $107 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e 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 cores | 2 (Dual-core) | 3 (Tri-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Base clock speed | 2.6 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.3 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 2.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 4 × 5 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 26 | no data |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 128 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 512 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 3 MB (shared) | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 149 mm2 | 169 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 100 °C | no data |
| Number of transistors | 624 million | 300 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e 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 configuration | 1 (Uniprocessor) | 1 |
| Socket | FCBGA1023,PPGA988 | AM3 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 45 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX | no data |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| FMA | + | - |
| AVX | + | - |
| vPro | + | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| My WiFi | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Flex Memory Access | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| FDI | + | no data |
| Fast Memory Access | + | no data |
Security technologies
Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
| Identity Protection | + | - |
| Anti-Theft | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 16 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 2 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 21.335 GB/s | no data |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | On certain motherboards (Chipset feature) |
| Quick Sync Video | + | - |
| Clear Video HD | + | no data |
| Graphics max frequency | 1.3 GHz | no data |
| InTru 3D | + | no data |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 2 | no data |
| eDP | + | no data |
| DisplayPort | + | - |
| HDMI | + | - |
| SDVO | + | no data |
| CRT | + | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | no 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.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
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.
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.49 | 0.83 |
| Recency | 1 February 2011 | 20 October 2009 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 3 |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 45 Watt |
i5-2540M has a 79.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, 33.3% more threads, a 40.6% more advanced lithography process, and 28.6% lower power consumption.
Athlon II X3 400e, on the other hand, has 50% more physical cores.
The Core i5-2540M is our recommended choice as it beats the Athlon II X3 400e in performance tests.
Be aware that Core i5-2540M is a notebook processor while Athlon II X3 400e is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-2540M and Athlon II X3 400e, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar processor comparisons
We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.
