| Highlights |
| Feature | MPC8540 | MPC8548E | MPC8555E | MPC8560 |
| Core/speeds | e500 Up to 1.0GHz | e500 Up to 1.5GHz | e500 Up to 1.0GHz | e500 Up to 1.0GHz |
| DRAM controller | Y-DDR | Y-DDR | Y-DDR | Y-DDR |
| USB | N | N | Via SCC | N |
| SPI controller | N | N | Y | Y |
| I2C controller | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Ethernet 10/100 | 1 | Via GigE | Via SCC | Via SCC |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| UART | 2 | 2 | 2 | Via SCC |
| PCI controller | PCI/PCI-X | PCI/PCI-X | PCI | PCI/PCI-X |
| Rapid IO | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Security engine | N | Y | Y | N |
| SCC | | | 3 | 4 |
| FCC | | | 2 | 3 |