Pentium N3540 was positioned by Intel as an excellent processor for entry-level laptops, netbooks and tablets. The chip itself was released in 2014 and currently, from the standpoint of technical specifications, it continues to remain relevant for its niche. Another important feature of this product is its almost impeccable energy efficiency.
Socket
Like any other Bay Trail CPU, the Pentium N3540 can be installed in the FCBGA1170 socket. A review of existing mobile personal computers based on it indicates that this CPU in most cases is simply wired to the system board. Due to this, the production process of such computers is simplified, but the repair or modernization of such equipment is completely and completely eliminated.
Technology
A fairly fresh process was used in the manufacture of the Pentium N3540 semiconductor crystal. Its characteristics indicate that it fully complies with the tolerance standards of 22nm. Its key feature is a three-dimensional, three-dimensional arrangement of transistors. Modern CPUs are manufactured according to 14nm standards, and this process was mastered as follows after 22nm. If we compare the hero of this review with the products of a competing company, it becomes obvious that AMD is far behind in this regard. Her products for this niche are manufactured according to the standards of 28nm. Therefore, their energy efficiency is worse, and the size of the crystal is much larger.
Cache
Pentium N3540 is equipped with a cache system of 2 levels. It is this nuance that significantly reduces its performance. The total size of its first level is 224 Kb. It is divided into 4 parts of 56 Kb. Each of these segments is tied to a specific CPU processing unit. In turn, these 56 Kb are divided into 2 parts. One of them, 24 Kb, is used to store the processed data, and the remaining 32 Kb is used for instructions of the program code of the central processor. The total size of the second level cache is 2 MB. It is divided into 2 parts of 1 MB, which again are tied to a specific pair of computing modules.
RAM
The RAM controller, like the rest of the CPUs of this manufacturer, is included in the semiconductor chip of the chip. It supports a two-channel mode of operation and is oriented to work in combination with the DDR3L 1333 strips. Only here, typical RAM strips in this case certainly cannot be found. Most manufacturers are trying to save as much as possible on the production of mobile computers. This leads to the fact that the RAM chips are soldered on the motherboard. On the one hand, this approach allows to reduce the cost of the device, and on the other hand, it completely eliminates repair and modernization in the future.
Thermal pack
The thermal package declared by the manufacturer for this processor device is 7.5 watts. If we take into account the fact that the composition of this silicon product, in addition to 4 computational modules, also includes a graphics accelerator, and a chipset of system logic with a RAM controller, we get absolutely fantastic value. Such a CPU can even work with a passive cooling system. But such a high energy efficiency of the processor is achieved by reducing performance.
Frequencies
There is no fixed operating frequency in the Pentium N3540. The feedback from the owners of mobile PCs based on it indicates that it can dynamically change it depending on the complexity of the task being solved (or even several tasks in the case of multi-threaded work) and the degree of heating of the silicon crystal. The minimum value in this case is 2.1 GHz, and the maximum is 2.6 GHz.
Number of threads and cores
Pentium N3540 includes 4 independent computing units. The number of processing threads of the program code is equal to the number of physical cores, that is 4. That is, the proprietary technology from Intel in the face of NT is not supported in this case, and information in 2 threads cannot be processed on one core.
Graphic arts
As noted earlier, the integrated video accelerator is part of the Pentium N3540 silicon crystal. Reviews experts say that it was borrowed from chips of the IVI BRIDGE family. It is even called identically - HD Graphics. Only the technical specifications indicate that this is a stripped-down version of that graphics adapter. The minimum GPU frequency for this case is 313 MHz. If the task is more complicated, then the accelerator frequency automatically rises to 896 MHz. This allows you to dynamically change the energy efficiency and performance of the graphical solution, depending on the degree of complexity of the task currently being solved.
And what is the result? Owners opinion
A very balanced entry-level product is the Pentium N3540. It is great for organizing an entry-level laptop or netbook. Its computing capabilities are enough to solve a wide range of the most simple tasks. Well, nothing more can be expected from such budget-class devices.