UserBenchmark: Intel Core i5-2500K vs i7-950

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IntelBX80601950

BUY • $100

IntelBX80623I52500K

$246

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 179,396 user samples

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36,389 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 74% Base clock 4.2 GHz, turbo 4.15 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 54% Base clock 3.05 GHz, turbo 3.05 GHz (avg)

Poor: 54% Great: 74%

SPEED RANK: 485^th / 1442

Gaming 66%

Battle cruiser

Desktop 69%

Battle cruiser

Workstation 50%

Yacht

143,007 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 79% Base clock 3.3 GHz, turbo 4.6 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 44% Base clock 3.3 GHz, turbo 0.5 GHz (avg)

Poor: 44% Great: 79%

SPEED RANK: 484^th / 1442

Gaming 66%

Battle cruiser

Desktop 72%

Battleship

Workstation 49%

Yacht


Effective Speed Effective CPU Speed		65.9 %			65.9 %	+0%


Memory Avg. Memory Latency	86.7 Pts	+4%	83.1 Pts
1-Core Avg. Single Core Speed	75.5 Pts		88.4 Pts	Faster single-core speed. +17%
2-Core Avg. Dual Core Speed	144 Pts		174 Pts	Faster dual-core speed. +21%
4-Core Avg. Quad Core Speed	248 Pts		281 Pts	Faster quad-core speed. +13%
8-Core Avg. Octa Core Speed	350 Pts	Faster octa-core speed. +17%	300 Pts


Memory OC Memory Latency	96.1 Pts	+1%	94.9 Pts
1-Core OC Single Core Speed	88 Pts		114 Pts	Faster OC single-core speed. +30%
2-Core OC Dual Core Speed	170 Pts		227 Pts	Much faster OC dual-core speed. +34%
4-Core OC Quad Core Speed	309 Pts		380 Pts	Faster OC quad-core speed. +23%
8-Core OC Octa Core Speed	417 Pts	+5%	399 Pts

Market Share

Based on 67,716,520 CPUs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.02 %		0.23 %	Insanely higher market share. +1,050%
Value Value For Money	87.3 %	Better value. +28%	68.2 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	55 %		76 %	Much more popular. +38%
Price Price (score)	$100	Much cheaper. +59%	$246


Age Newest	181 Months		159 Months	More recent. +12%
TDP Thermal Design Power (TDP)	130 Watts		95 Watts	More energy efficient. +27%
Cores CPU Processing Cores	4 cores		4 cores
Threads CPU Processing Threads	8 threads	Hugely higher thread count. +100%	4 threads
Lithography Manufacturing process	45 nm		32 nm	Newer manufacturing. +29%
Base Clock Base Clock Speed	3.07 GHz		3.3 GHz	Slightly faster base frequency. +7%
Turbo Clock Turbo Clock Speed	3.33 GHz		3.7 GHz	Faster turbo frequency. +11%
64-Core OC Multi Core Speed	434 Pts	Slightly faster OC 64-core speed. +7%	407 Pts
64-Core Avg. Multi Core Speed	356 Pts	Faster 64-core speed. +17%	304 Pts


Series CPU Architecture	Nehalem	Sandy Bridge
Socket Motherboard Socket	LGA1366	LGA1155
Graphics Integrated Graphics	None	HD 3000
Launch Date Launch Date	Q2'09	Q1'11
Cache Cache	8 MB SmartCache	6 MB SmartCache
Instruction Set Extensions Instruction Set Extensions	SSE4.2	SSE4.1/4.2, AVX
Lithography Lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Recommended Price Recommended Customer Price	$305.00	N/A
Max Turbo Frequency Max Turbo Frequency	3.33 GHz	3.7 GHz
Bus Speed Bus Speed	4.8 GT/s QPI	5 GT/s DMI
Max Memory Size Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)	24 GB	32 GB
Memory Types Memory Types	DDR3 800/1066	DDR3 1066/1333
Memory Channels Max # of Memory Channels	3	2
Memory Bandwidth Max Memory Bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	21 GB/s
Package Size Package Size	42.5mm x 45.0mm	37.5mm x 37.5mm
Thermal Monitoring Technologies Thermal Monitoring Technologies	No	Yes
Turbo Boost Tech Intel® Turbo Boost Technology ‡	1.0	2.0
Hyper-Threading Tech Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ‡	Yes	No
AES New Instructions Intel® AES New Instructions	No	Yes
	More specs »	More specs »

The i7-950 is a first generation Core processor which is now three generations and four years old. The 950 was included in the group test as a reference for how fast processors were back in 2009. This particular generation of processor heralded the 4 core 8 thread configuration that Intel has been kitting its top end processors with ever since. In terms of real world performance based on single core horsepower (most applications are still unable to make use of multiple cores concurrently), with a PassMark Single Thread score of 1320 the i7-950 is approximately 50% slower than its modern day equivalent, the i7 4770K. ^{[Feb '12 CPUPro]}

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The i5-2500K is a second generation Sandy Bridge processor which is currently two generations old and nearly three years out of date. The many users that had the good sense to purchase this processor should feel in no hurry to upgrade as it's still no slouch, even by today's standards. The benchmark figures indicate that, even at stock clock rates, in terms of real-world performance this processor is approximately 20% slower than the best currently available, not bad considering its age. Given that the 2500K has an unlocked multiplier upping its performance by 10% with stock cooling should not pose much of a problem for the majority of owners. Here is a detailed performance comparison of the 2500K vs 4670K. ^{[Jul '13 CPUPro]}

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $279	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $134	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $184	Nvidia RTX 4070 $409	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $30	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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