Intel Core i5-2500 vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650

Core i5-2500 vs Core 2 Quad Q9650 benchmarks

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i5-2500 is faster than the Core 2 Quad Q9650. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core 2 Quad Q9650 in all gaming tests too.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores and the same number of threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i5-2500 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core 2 Quad Q9650. Both these chips have an identical TDP (Thermal Design Power). This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. For instance, the Core i5-2500 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.