Intel Core i5 3570K vs 2500K |
Intel Core i5 3570K
- 3.4 GHz
- Quad core
- Unlocked
Reasons to buy the Intel Core i5 3570K
 | Newer manufacturing process 22 nms | | More number of displays supported 3 |
| | Better turbo clock speed 1,150 MHz | | Better performance per dollar 4.97 pt/$ |
Intel Core i5 2500K
- 3.3 GHz
- Quad core
- Unlocked
Reasons to buy the 2500K
| | Higher GPU clock speed 850 MHz | | Higher Maximum Operating Temperature 72.6 °C |
| | Better overclocked clock speed (Air) 5.01 GHz | | Better overclocked clock speed (Water) 5.2 GHz |
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.
CPUBoss Review Our evaluation of 3570K vs 2500K
Performance | |
Benchmark performance using all cores | |
| Cinebench R11.5, Cinebench R10 32-bit, Passmark, GeekBench (32-bit) and 1 more | |
Single-core Performance | |
Individual core benchmark performance | |
| Cinebench R11.5 (1-core), Cinebench R10 32-bit (1-core) and 1 more | |
Overclocking | |
How much speed can you get out of the processor? | |
| Passmark (Overclocked), Unlocked, Maximum Overclocked Clock Speed (Air) and 2 more | |
Value | |
Are you paying a premium for performance? | |
| Performance Per Dollar | |
No winner declared
Too close to call
Cast your vote Do you agree or disagree with CPUBoss?
Differences What are the advantages of each
| |||||||
| Newer manufacturing process | 22 nms | vs | 32 nms | A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| More number of displays supported | 3 | vs | 2 | 1 more number of displays supported | |||
| Better turbo clock speed | 1,150 MHz | vs | 1,100 MHz | Around 5% better turbo clock speed | |||
| Better performance per dollar | 4.97 pt/$ | vs | 3.61 pt/$ | Around 40% better performance per dollar | |||
| Better PassMark (Single core) score | 2,012 | vs | 1,863 | Around 10% better PassMark (Single core) score | |||
| Slightly better PassMark score | 7,161 | vs | 6,383 | More than 10% better PassMark score | |||
| Newer | Apr, 2012 | vs | Jan, 2011 | Release date over 1 years later | |||
| Better cinebench r11.5 score | 6.05 | vs | 5.42 | More than 10% better cinebench r11.5 score | |||
| Better cinebench r10 32Bit 1-core score | 6,557 | vs | 5,860 | More than 10% better cinebench r10 32Bit 1-core score | |||
| Lower annual home energy cost | 38.81 $/year | vs | 41.29 $/year | More than 5% lower annual home energy cost | |||
| |||||||
| Higher GPU clock speed | 850 MHz | vs | 650 MHz | More than 30% higher GPU clock speed | |||
| Higher Maximum Operating Temperature | 72.6 °C | vs | 67.4 °C | Around 10% higher Maximum Operating Temperature | |||
| Better overclocked clock speed (Air) | 5.01 GHz | vs | 4.63 GHz | Around 10% better overclocked clock speed (Air) | |||
| Better overclocked clock speed (Water) | 5.2 GHz | vs | 4.35 GHz | Around 20% better overclocked clock speed (Water) | |||
Report a correction
Benchmarks Real world tests of Core i5 3570K vs 2500K
GeekBench (32-bit)
x264 HD 4.0
3D Mark 11 (Physics)
Cinebench R11.5
Cinebench R11.5 (Single Core)
Passmark
Reviews Word on the street
| Core i5 3570K | vs | 2500K | ||
 | Core i5 2500K | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Core i5 2500K | |||
Overall | Out of 10 | Out of 10 | ||
Specifications Full list of technical specs
summary | Core i5 3570K | vs | 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 | |
| Is hyperthreaded | No | No | |
features | |||
| Has a NX bit | Yes | Yes | |
| Supports trusted computing | No | No | |
| Has virtualization support | Yes | Yes | |
| Instruction-set-extensions | |||
| MMX | |||
| SSE | |||
| SSE4.2 | |||
| AVX | |||
| SSE3 | |||
| SSE2 | |||
| EM64T | |||
| Supplemental SSE3 | |||
| SSE4.1 | |||
| SSE4 | |||
| AES | |||
| Supports dynamic frequency scaling | Yes | Yes | |
gpu | |||
| 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 | |||
| 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 | vs | 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 nms | 32 nms | |
| 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 | 4.63 GHz | 5.01 GHz | |
| Overclocked clock speed (Water) | 4.35 GHz | 5.2 GHz | |
| PassMark (Overclocked) | 5,406.6 | 5,433.6 | |
| Overclocked clock speed (Air) | 4.63 GHz | 5.01 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 | 7.55 pt/W | 5.97 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  Report a correction |  Intel Core i5 2500K Report a correction |
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