UserBenchmark: Intel Core i5-2500K vs i7-6950X

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IntelBX80671I76950X

BUY • $449

IntelBX80623I52500K

$246

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 149,142 user samples

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6,135 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 100% Base clock 3 GHz, turbo 4.55 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 77% Base clock 3 GHz, turbo 1.25 GHz (avg)

Poor: 77% Great: 100%

SPEED RANK: 171^st / 1456

Gaming 87%

Aircraft carrier

Desktop 86%

Aircraft carrier

Workstation 90%

Aircraft carrier

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: 494^th / 1456

Gaming 66%

Battle cruiser

Desktop 72%

Battleship

Workstation 49%

Yacht


Effective Speed Effective CPU Speed		86.8 %	Much faster effective speed. +32%		65.9 %


Memory Avg. Memory Latency	88.2 Pts	Slightly lower memory latency. +6%	83.1 Pts
1-Core Avg. Single Core Speed	114 Pts	Faster single-core speed. +29%	88.4 Pts
2-Core Avg. Dual Core Speed	228 Pts	Much faster dual-core speed. +31%	174 Pts
4-Core Avg. Quad Core Speed	458 Pts	Much faster quad-core speed. +63%	281 Pts
8-Core Avg. Octa Core Speed	884 Pts	Hugely faster octa-core speed. +195%	300 Pts


Memory OC Memory Latency	95.9 Pts	+1%	94.9 Pts
1-Core OC Single Core Speed	142 Pts	Faster OC single-core speed. +25%	114 Pts
2-Core OC Dual Core Speed	283 Pts	Faster OC dual-core speed. +25%	227 Pts
4-Core OC Quad Core Speed	565 Pts	Much faster OC quad-core speed. +49%	380 Pts
8-Core OC Octa Core Speed	1118 Pts	Hugely faster OC octa-core speed. +180%	399 Pts

Market Share

Based on 68,110,754 CPUs tested

See market share leaders


Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.02 %		0.09 %	Hugely higher market share. +350%
Value Value For Money	76.1 %	Better value. +12%	68.2 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	62 %		76 %	More popular. +23%
Price Price (score)	$449		$246	Much cheaper. +45%


Age Newest	96 Months	Much more recent. +40%	161 Months
TDP Thermal Design Power (TDP)	140 Watts		95 Watts	Much more energy efficient. +32%
Cores CPU Processing Cores	10 cores	Hugely higher core count. +150%	4 cores
Threads CPU Processing Threads	20 threads	Hugely higher thread count. +400%	4 threads
Lithography Manufacturing process	14 nm	Much newer manufacturing. +56%	32 nm
Base Clock Base Clock Speed	3 GHz		3.3 GHz	Slightly faster base frequency. +10%
Turbo Clock Turbo Clock Speed	4 GHz	Slightly faster turbo frequency. +8%	3.7 GHz
64-Core OC Multi Core Speed	1799 Pts	Hugely faster OC 64-core speed. +342%	407 Pts
64-Core Avg. Multi Core Speed	1470 Pts	Hugely faster 64-core speed. +384%	304 Pts


Series CPU Architecture	Broadwell-E	Sandy Bridge
Socket Motherboard Socket	LGA2011-V3	LGA1155
Graphics Integrated Graphics	None	HD 3000
Launch Date Launch Date	Q2'16	Q1'11
Cache Cache	25 MB	6 MB SmartCache
Lithography Lithography	14 nm	32 nm
Max Turbo Frequency Max Turbo Frequency	4 GHz	3.7 GHz
Max Memory Size Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)	128 GB	32 GB
Memory Types Memory Types	DDR4 2400/2133	DDR3 1066/1333
Memory Channels Max # of Memory Channels	4	2
Processor Graphics Processor Graphics ‡	None	Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Hyper-Threading Tech Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ‡	Yes	No
Virtualization for Directed I/O (VT-d) Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) ‡	Yes	No
PCI Express Revision PCI Express Revision	3.0	2.0
Max # of PCI Express Lanes Max # of PCI Express Lanes	40	16
	More specs »	More specs »

The Core i7-6950X is Intel’s new top of the range prosumer CPU. This flagship model has a whopping ten cores with base and turbo frequencies of 3.0 and 4.0 GHz respectively. The 6950X is based on the 14 nm Broadwell-E architecture. It has a TDP of 140 watts, 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes and no integrated graphics. Because of its ridiculously high MSRP of around $2,000, this CPU only makes sense for very niche use cases which could include top end graphics design or video production workstations. Comparing the 6950X and 6700K shows that for typical desktop use the 6950X only offers a gain of around 20% for a whopping 6 fold price increase. This is because desktop computing largely depends on single core performance and the Skylake i7-6700K is both clocked higher and has higher IPC due to its one generation lead over the 6950X. That said, if you want the most powerful desktop processor money can buy, then the 6950X hits the spot. ^{[Jun '16 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 i5-12600K $162	Nvidia RTX 4060 $289	WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $150
Intel Core i5-13600K $249	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $79
Intel Core i5-12400F $110	Nvidia RTX 4070 $520	Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $383

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