Intel Core i5-3550 vs Intel Core i7-2600K

Core i5-3550 vs Core i7-2600K specs and performance

In our benchmarks, the Core i7-2600K beats the Core i5-3550 in overall performance. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i5-3550 in all gaming tests too.

Our spec comparison shows that they have an identical amount of cores but the Core i7-2600K has more threads. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i7-2600K has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i5-3550. Also, the Core i7-2600K has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i5-3550 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-2600K 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 i5-3550 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.