Intel Core i5-2500 vs Intel Core i7-950

Core i5-2500 vs Core i7-950 specs and performance

In our benchmarks, the Core i5-2500 beats the Core i7-950 in overall performance. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i7-950 in all gaming tests too.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores but the Core i7-950 has more threads. Our comparison shows that the Core i5-2500 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i7-950. Also, the Core i5-2500 has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i5-2500 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-950 CPU because of its slightly lower TDP. 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.