Intel Core i7-4600M vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650

Compare Intel 4th Generation Core i7 2 core CPU vs Intel Core 4 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

1394 points
1506 points
8% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

2774 points
0.25% slightly better gaming score
2767 points

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

1034 points
1150 points
11% slightly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

992 points
1103 points
11% slightly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i7-4600M and the Core 2 Quad Q9650? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

30.90 points
70% significantly higher Blender score
18.13 points
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

1735 points
53% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
1133 points
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

961 points
142% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
397 points
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

1926 points
81% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
1064 points
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1013 points
167% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score
379 points

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

2
4
100% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

4
Identical
4

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.9 GHz
3.00 GHz
3% slightly higher clock speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

37 W
156% significantly lower TDP
95 W

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

841st of 1,089
806th of 1,089

Family

The product line

4th Generation Core i7
Core

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2013 November
2008 August

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR3-1333
-

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
-

Core i7-4600M vs Core 2 Quad Q9650 comparison

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core 2 Quad Q9650 is faster than the Core i7-4600M. Despite this, the Core i7-4600M has the advantage in our gaming benchmark.

With info from our database, we find that the Core 2 Quad Q9650 has significantly more cores with 4 cores whereas the Core i7-4600M has 2 cores. But they both have the same number of threads. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core 2 Quad Q9650 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i7-4600M. A Core i7-4600M CPU outputs less heat than a Core 2 Quad Q9650 CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Modern CPUs generally have more logical cores than physical cores, this means that each core is split into multiple virtual cores, improving efficiency for parallel workloads. Indeed, the Core i7-4600M has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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