Intel Core i5-2500k vs AMD Athlon II X4 740

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-2500k CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Athlon II X4 740
Intel Core i5-2500k AMD Athlon II X4 740

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-2500k or AMD Athlon II X4 740 - 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 i5-2500k has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-2500k was released in Q1/2011.

The AMD Athlon II X4 740 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.70 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X4 740 was released in Q4/2012.
Intel Core i5 (328) Family AMD Athlon II (52)
Intel Core i 2000 (28) CPU group AMD Athlon II X4 (Trinity) (2)
2 Generation 3
Sandy Bridge S Architecture Trinity
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor AMD Athlon II X4 640
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-2500k is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.30 GHz (3.70 GHz). The AMD Athlon II X4 740 has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.20 GHz (3.70 GHz).

Intel Core i5-2500k Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 740
4 Cores 4
4 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.30 GHz Frequency 3.20 GHz
3.70 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.70 GHz
3.70 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 i5-2500k Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 740
-- 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 3000 GPU no iGPU
0.85 GHz GPU frequency --
1.10 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation --
32 nm Technology
2 Max. displays
12 Compute units --
96 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
10.1 DirectX Version --

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 3000 GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i5-2500k supports a maximum of 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X4 740 can connect up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i5-2500k Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 740
DDR3-1333 Memory DDR3-1866
32 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
21.3 GB/s Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 4.00 MB
6.00 MB L3 Cache --
2.0 PCIe version --
16 PCIe lanes --
8.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i5-2500k has a TDP of 95 W, that of the AMD Athlon II X4 740 is 65 W.

Intel Core i5-2500k Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 740
95 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-2500k has a 6.00 MB cache, while the AMD Athlon II X4 740 cache has a total of 4.00 MB.

Intel Core i5-2500k Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 740
32 nm Technology 32 nm
Monolithic Chip design Unknown
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX ISA extensions MMX, 3DNow!, SSE3, SSE4a
LGA 1155 Socket FM2
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization AMD-V
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2011 Release date Q4/2012
-- Release price 60 $
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
760 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
461 (61%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
2537 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
1391 (55%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
4155 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
2705 (65%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.30 GHz
1336 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
651 (49%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
127 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
80 (63%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
461 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
288 (62%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
697 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
2450 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
651 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
1948 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
262 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
894 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.10 GHz
211 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
778.7 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i5-2500k Intel Core i5-2500k
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
372 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 740 AMD Athlon II X4 740
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-2500k AMD Athlon II X4 740
Unknown Unknown

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