Intel Core i7-860 vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550

Core i7-860 vs Core 2 Quad Q9550 benchmarks

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i7-860 is faster than the Core 2 Quad Q9550. Despite this, the Core 2 Quad Q9550 has the advantage in our gaming benchmark.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores but the Core i7-860 has more threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core 2 Quad Q9550 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core i7-860. 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. Indeed, the Core i7-860 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.