Intel Core i5 3570K vs 2500K

older Released April, 2012

Intel Core i5 3570K

3.4 GHz
Quad core
Unlocked

8.2 Out of 10

older Released January, 2011

Intel Core i5 2500K

3.3 GHz
Quad core
Unlocked

8.3 Out of 10

PC enthusiasts love the i5 series because it's a mainstream Quad Core that's fast and reliable. They especially favor the K series, because its unlocked multiplier can be overclocked for even better performance. But compared to the Sandy Bridge CPU, is the newer Ivy Bridge a compelling upgrade? For this matchup, we're comparing the Intel Core i5 3570K versus the Intel Core i5 2500K to find out.

The 3570K is newer by 15 months, and is based on Ivy Bridge's more efficient 22nm manufacturing process. It's a 3.4 GHz Quad Core with 4 threads and 6MB cache. Aside from being overclockable, it can also turbo boost up to 3.8 GHz which kicks in when demanding applications require extra processing power. This chip consumes only 77W TDP of power.

In contrast is the 2500K, clocked at 3.3 GHz with 4 threads and 6MB cache. It's also overclockable and it turbo boosts up to 3.7 GHz. Part of the Sandy Bridge architecture, it has a less efficient 32nm manufacturing process which outputs a more wasteful power consumption of 95W TDP.

Benchmarks show that the 3570K is dominant and consistently leads by 8-11% in the PassMark, Single Core and Cinebench tests. However, overclocking seems to favor the 2500K: it can reach 5.13 GHz on water cooling compared to only 4.83 GHz on the 3570K. But this overclock only resulted to a 2% lead in our test results.

Considering that both chips are priced similarly, there's no reason not to upgrade to the newer and more powerful Intel Core i5 3570K. But if overclocking's your thing, you'll reach higher speeds with the Intel Core i5 2500K.

	Performance
	Benchmark performance using all cores
Core i5 3570K 6.7 Core i5 2500K 5.8 FX 8350 7.1
PCMark 8 Home 3.0 Accelerated, PassMark and 1 more

	Single-core Performance
	Individual core benchmark performance
Core i5 3570K 7.6 Core i5 2500K 7.1 FX 8350 5.8
PassMark (Single Core), Geekbench 3 Single Core and 1 more

	Integrated Graphics
	Integrated GPU performance for graphics
Core i5 3570K 4.9 Core i5 2500K n.d. FX 8350 0.0
Fire Strike

	Integrated Graphics (OpenCL)
	Integrated GPU performance for parallel computing
Core i5 3570K 4.3 Core i5 2500K n.d. FX 8350 0.0
CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 4 more

	Performance per Watt
	How efficiently does the processor use electricity?
Core i5 3570K 8.8 Core i5 2500K 8.2 FX 8350 5.0
Fire Strike, CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 11 more

	Value
	Are you paying a premium for performance?
Core i5 3570K 6.8 Core i5 2500K 6.6 FX 8350 6.3
Fire Strike, CompuBench 1.5 Bitcoin mining and 11 more

No winner declared

Too close to call

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Reasons to consider the
Intel Core i5 3570K

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CPUBoss is not aware of any important advantages of the 3570K vs the 2500K.

Reasons to consider the
Intel Core i5 2500K

Report a correction

CPUBoss is not aware of any important advantages of the 2500K vs the 3570K.

PCMark 8 Home 3.0 Accelerated Data courtesy FutureMark

Core i5 3570K

2,999

Core i5 2500K

2,750

GeekBench 3 (Multi-core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core i5 3570K

10,311

Core i5 2500K

9,382

GeekBench 3 (Single core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core i5 3570K

3,213

Core i5 2500K

2,994

GeekBench 3 (AES single core) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core i5 3570K

2,650,000 MB/s

Core i5 2500K

2,530,000 MB/s

GeekBench (32-bit) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core i5 3570K

10,832

Core i5 2500K

10,319

GeekBench (64-bit) Data courtesy Primate Labs

Core i5 3570K

11,824

Core i5 2500K

11,186

PassMark Data courtesy Passmark

Core i5 3570K

7,152

Core i5 2500K

6,383

PassMark (Single Core)

Core i5 3570K

2,012

Core i5 2500K

1,863

Core i5 3570K		vs	2500K

	8.0 read review		9.0 read review	In terms of 3D performance, the detail spec changes include an upgrade from DX10 to DX10. Core i5 2500K

	9.0 read review		9.8 read review	Boots up faster, daily things are faster, gaming results in more FPS and it clocks 10x better and higher. Core i5 2500K

Overall	8.9 Out of 10		9.4 Out of 10

summary	Core i5 3570K	2500K
Clock speed	3.4 GHz	3.3 GHz
Turbo clock speed	3.8 GHz	3.7 GHz
Cores	Quad core	Quad core
Socket type
LGA 1155
Is unlocked	Yes	Yes
features
Has a NX bit	Yes	Yes
Supports trusted computing	No	No
Has virtualization support	Yes	Yes
Instruction set extensions
SSE2
MMX
SSE4
AVX
SSE3
EM64T
SSE
SSE4.1
SSE4.2
Supplemental SSE3
AES
Supports dynamic frequency scaling	Yes	Yes
integrated graphics
GPU	GPU	GPU
Label	Intel® HD Graphics 4000	Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Latest DirectX	10.x	10.1
Number of displays supported	3	2
GPU clock speed	650 MHz	850 MHz
Turbo clock speed	1,150 MHz	1,100 MHz
3DMark06	5,339.9	5,275
memory controller
Memory controller	Built-in	Built-in
Memory type
DDR3-1600
DDR3-1333
DDR3-1066
DDR3
Channels	Dual Channel	Dual Channel
Supports ECC	No	No
Maximum bandwidth	25,600 MB/s	21,333.32 MB/s
Maximum memory size	32,768 MB	32,768 MB

details	Core i5 3570K	2500K
Architecture	x86-64	x86-64
Threads	4	4
L2 cache	1 MB	1 MB
L2 cache per core	0.25 MB/core	0.25 MB/core
L3 cache	6 MB	6 MB
L3 cache per core	1.5 MB/core	1.5 MB/core
Manufacture process	22 nm	32 nm
Transistor count	1,400,000,000	1,160,000,000
Max CPUs	1	1
Clock multiplier	34	33
Operating temperature	Unknown - 67.4°C	5 - 72.6°C
overclocking
Overclock popularity	470	3,179
Overclock review score	4	5
Overclocked clock speed	4.59 GHz	4.98 GHz
Overclocked clock speed (Water)	4.71 GHz	4.88 GHz
PassMark (Overclocked)	5,406.6	5,433.6
Overclocked clock speed (Air)	4.59 GHz	4.98 GHz
power consumption
TDP	77W	95W
Annual home energy cost	38.81 $/year	41.29 $/year
Annual commercial energy cost	106 $/year	110.03 $/year
Performance per watt	4.69 pt/W	6.79 pt/W
Idle power consumption	67W	73.4W
Peak power consumption	121W	125.6W
Typical power consumption	107.5W	112.55W
bus
Architecture	DMI	DMI
Number of links	1	1
Transfer rate	5,000 MT/s	5,000 MT/s

Intel Core i5 3570K

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Intel Core i5 2500K

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Intel Core i5 3570K vs AMD FX 8350

Comments

Showing 3 comments.

Theo WolF (04:50 PM, November 24, 2018)

As a follow up, I scored a $58 3570k off eBay. Was able to OC (air) it to 4.3 GHz, exactly what the 2500k (eBay, $99 2 years ago) was at. The result is a technical upgrade resulting in noticeable xfer improvements and a small bump in FPS. Also leaves me with a 2500k to replace a 2105, Even with no OC available, that will be a nice bump.

Theo WolF (07:33 AM, September 30, 2017)

Have to agree with Dana here. Though, it does seem the 2500k achieves better overclock. That said, you don't get PCIe 3 until 22nm as I understand it.

Dana Simmons (03:23 PM, December 31, 2016)

Saywhatnow? 2500k loses every benchmark, is more expensive and less power efficient, yet you recommend it over the 3570k? Your comparison/article bot needs an upgrade.

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Intel Core i5 3570K vs 2500K