Intel Core i7-6700K vs Intel Core i5-2500k

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-6700K CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i5-2500k
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i5-2500k

CPU comparison

Intel Core i7-6700K or Intel Core i5-2500k - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Core i7-6700K has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.20 GHz. Up to 64 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-6700K was released in Q3/2015.

The Intel Core i5-2500k has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-2500k was released in Q1/2011.
Intel Core i7 (293) Family Intel Core i5 (328)
Intel Core i 6000 (24) CPU group Intel Core i 2000 (28)
6 Generation 2
Skylake S Architecture Sandy Bridge S
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
Intel Core i7-4770K Predecessor --
Intel Core i7-7700K Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-6700K is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 4.00 GHz (4.20 GHz). The Intel Core i5-2500k has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.30 GHz (3.70 GHz).

Intel Core i7-6700K Characteristic Intel Core i5-2500k
4 Cores 4
8 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? Yes
4.00 GHz Frequency 3.30 GHz
4.20 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.70 GHz
4.00 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.70 GHz

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Core i7-6700K Characteristic Intel Core i5-2500k
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Intel HD Graphics 530 GPU Intel HD Graphics 3000
0.35 GHz GPU frequency 0.85 GHz
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.10 GHz
9 GPU Generation 6
14 nm Technology 32 nm
3 Max. displays 2
24 Compute units 12
192 Shader 96
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
12 DirectX Version 10.1

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel HD Graphics 530 GPU Intel HD Graphics 3000
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i7-6700K supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-2500k can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i7-6700K Characteristic Intel Core i5-2500k
DDR4-2133, DDR3-1866 Memory DDR3-1333
64 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
34.1 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
8.00 MB L3 Cache 6.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 2.0
16 PCIe lanes 16
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 8.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i7-6700K has a TDP of 91 W, that of the Intel Core i5-2500k is 95 W.

Intel Core i7-6700K Characteristic Intel Core i5-2500k
91 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 95 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-6700K has a 8.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i5-2500k cache has a total of 6.00 MB.

Intel Core i7-6700K Characteristic Intel Core i5-2500k
14 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX
LGA 1151 Socket LGA 1155
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2015 Release date Q1/2011
420 $ Release price --
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 8 CPU benchmarks

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
1124 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
697 (62%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
5640 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
2450 (43%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
1151 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
760 (66%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
4459 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
2537 (57%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
1347 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
651 (48%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
4665 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
1948 (42%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
421 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
262 (62%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
2059 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
894 (43%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
Intel HD Graphics 530 @ 1.15 GHz
442 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.10 GHz
211 (48%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
8955 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
4155 (46%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
369.3 (47%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
778.7 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
464 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
372 (80%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
2313 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.30 GHz
1336 (58%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
180 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
127 (71%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
888 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
461 (52%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-6700K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
82 (100%)
Intel Core i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i5-2500k
Unknown Unknown

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