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Intel Core i5-2500k vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500

Last updated: 2026-06-05

Table of Contents

Summary
Benchmarks
Specifications
User Reviews
Popular Comparisons

Summary

Benchmarks

Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks

Single-core performance

Rank 1 - 100 %

Intel Core i5-2500k

Rank 2 - 62 %

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500

Multi-core performance

Rank 1 - 100 %

Intel Core i5-2500k

Rank 2 - 63 %

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500

Cinebench R23 Single-Core
Single-core performance

4C / 4T · 3.70 GHz

697 pts

4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

427 pts

Cinebench R23 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

4C / 4T · 3.70 GHz

2,450 pts

4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

1,616 pts

Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core
Single-core performance

4C / 4T · 3.70 GHz

760

4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

469

Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

4C / 4T · 3.70 GHz

2,537

4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

1,534

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

4C / 4T · 3.30 GHz

1,336

4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

953

More benchmarks

Cinebench R23 (SC)
690 entries

Cinebench R23 (MC)
665 entries

Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,989 entries

Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,927 entries

Cinebench R20 (SC)
666 entries

Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,512 entries

Cinebench R20 (MC)
615 entries

Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,483 entries

FP32 SP (iGPU)
2,219 entries

PassMark CPU-Mark
2,504 entries

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)
190 entries

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (SC)
250 entries

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (MC)
751 entries

Cinebench R15 (SC)
1,113 entries

Cinebench R15 (MC)
1,110 entries

Geekbench 3 (SC)
945 entries

Geekbench 3 (MC)
941 entries

Cinebench R11.5 (SC)
826 entries

Cinebench R11.5 (MC)
837 entries

Cinebench R11.5 iGPU
383 entries

Specifications

At a glance

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
Family	Intel Core i5 (336)	Intel Core2 Quad (19)
CPU group	Intel Core i 2000 (28)	Intel Core 2 Quad Q8000/Q9000 (16)
Architecture	Sandy Bridge S	Yorkfield (Penryn)
Technology	32 nm	45 nm
Segment	Desktop	Desktop
Socket	LGA 1155	LGA 775
Predecessor
Successor

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
CPU Cores / Threads	4 / 4	4 / 4
Hyperthreading / SMT	✗	✗
Core architecture	normal	normal
Cores:	4x	4x
Frequency:	3.30 GHz	2.83 GHz
Turbo (1 Core):	3.70 GHz
Turbo (All Cores):	3.70 GHz
L2-Cache		6.00 MB
L3-Cache	6.00 MB
Overclocking	✓	✗

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
GPU name	Intel HD Graphics 3000	no iGPU
GPU frequency	0.85 - 1.10 GHz
CUs / Shader	12 / 96	/
Raytracing	✗	✗
Max. displays	2
Max. GPU Memory	2 GB
Technology	32 nm
Release date	Q1/2011

NPU AI performance

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
AI hardware
AI specifications
NPU + CPU + iGPU

Memory & PCIe

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
Memory	DDR3-1333 (21.3 GB/s)	DDR3-1066 (17.1 GB/s) DDR2-800 (12.8 GB/s)
Max. Memory	32 GB	16 GB
Memory channels	2	2
ECC	No	No
PCIe	2.0 x 16
PCIe Bandwidth	8.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
TDP	95 W	95 W
TDP (PL2)
TDP up
TDP down
T. junction max.

Technical details

Wischen	Intel Core i5-2500k	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
Chip design	Monolithic	Monolithic
AES-NI	✓	✗
Operating systems	Windows 10, Linux	Windows 10, Linux
Instruction set	x86-64 (64 bit)	x86-64 (64 bit)
ISA extensions	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX	MMX, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1
Release date	Q1/2011	Q1/2010
Release price
Documents	Technical data sheet

User Reviews

Your rating

Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Intel Core i5-2500k is 3.9 stars (37 ratings), while Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500 has received 4.0 stars (8 ratings).

Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.

Intel Core i5-2500k
4C / 4T · 3.30 - 3.70 GHz

★★★★★

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9500
4C / 4T · 2.83 GHz

★★★★★