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Intel Core i5-2500

Intel Core i5-2500: A Retro Processor for Budget Tasks in 2025

Introduction

Even 14 years after its release (2011), the Intel Core i5-2500 remains an iconic processor for enthusiasts and budget-conscious users. But how relevant is it in 2025? Let's delve into the details to understand who should pay attention to it.

1. Key Specifications: Sandy Bridge and More

Architecture and Manufacturing Process

The Core i5-2500 is built on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture with a manufacturing process of 32 nm. This is the second generation of the Core i-series, which brought significant performance improvements over the first generation (Nehalem). Key features include:

- 4 cores / 4 threads (no Hyper-Threading).

- Base clock speed of 3.3 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.7 GHz (for one core).

- Integrated graphics: Intel HD Graphics 2000 (the i5-2500K version has HD 3000).

- Support for AVX instructions, which speeds up vectorized tasks.

Performance

According to Geekbench 6:

- Single-Core: 600 (comparable to the Pentium G4560 from 2017).

- Multi-Core: 1459 (comparable to the Ryzen 3 1200 from 2017).

In real-world tasks:

- Office applications (Word, Excel) run without delays.

- 1080p video (YouTube, Netflix) plays smoothly, but 4K may cause stuttering.

- Games from the 2010s (Skyrim, GTA V) can run on minimum settings with a discrete graphics card (e.g., GTX 1050 Ti).

Key Features

- Turbo Boost 2.0 — automatic overclocking under load.

- Intel Quick Sync Video — hardware video encoding (useful for conversions).

- PCIe 2.0 — 16 lanes for connecting a graphics card.

2. Compatible Motherboards: LGA 1155 Socket

Chipsets and Their Features

The processor uses the LGA 1155 socket. Compatible chipsets include:

- H61 / B65 — basic models without overclocking and with limited ports.

- P67 / Z68 / Z77 — support for overclocking (only for the i5-2500K version), additional SATA III and USB 3.0.

Examples of Motherboards:

- ASUS P8Z68-V (Z68) — overclocking support, SSD compatibility via SATA III.

- Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2PV (H61) — budget option for office PCs.

Important in 2025:

- New motherboards for LGA 1155 are not being produced. Prices for used ones start at $20.

- Modern features (Wi-Fi 6, USB-C, NVMe) are absent.

3. Supported Memory: Only DDR3

- Officially: DDR3-1066/1333 MHz.

- In practice: Many boards with Z68/Z77 chipsets allow the use of DDR3-1600 MHz.

- Maximum capacity: 32 GB (4 slots of 8 GB each).

Limitations:

- DDR4/DDR5 are not supported.

- Latencies (CL9-CL11) are higher than those of modern memory.

4. Power Supply: Power Calculation

With a TDP of 95 watts and a build with a GTX 1650 level graphics card:

- Minimum PSU: 450 watts (e.g., EVGA 450 BR).

- Recommendations:

- 80+ Bronze certification for stability.

- Separate power cable for GPU.

- For upgrades, it's better to get a PSU with a reserve (550 watts) if planning to install a more powerful graphics card.

5. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Reliability — many units have worked for over 10 years.

- Low price — a used CPU costs $15–25.

- Energy efficiency for its age.

Cons:

- No support for modern technologies (PCIe 3.0/4.0, USB 3.1, NVMe).

- Weak single-thread performance — lags behind modern budget CPUs (e.g., Core i3-12100) by 2-3 times.

- Limited performance in multi-threaded tasks (rendering, streaming).

6. Use Cases

Office and Multimedia

- Working with documents, browsing (10–15 tabs), Zoom.

- Viewing Full HD video, basic editing in Shotcut.

Gaming

- Retro gaming: Half-Life 2, CS:GO (60 FPS on low settings).

- Modern games: only through cloud services (GeForce NOW).

Hobby Projects

- Home NAS or media center based on Linux.

- Console emulators (PS2, Wii).

7. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Phenom II X4 965 (2010)

- Pros: Cheaper ($10 used).

- Cons: 30% slower in single-core, higher TDP (125 watts).

Intel Core i3-12100 (2023)

- Pros: 3 times faster in Geekbench 6, support for DDR4/PCIe 5.0.

- Cons: New price — $120.

8. Practical Assembly Tips

- SSD is a must: Kingston A400 240 GB ($25) will reduce OS boot time to 15 seconds.

- Graphics card: Choose models with low power consumption (GTX 1050 Ti, RX 560).

- Cooling: The standard cooler is sufficient, but the Arctic Freezer 34 ($30) is good for quiet operation.

- OS: Windows 10 LTSC or Linux (Ubuntu LTS).

9. Final Verdict: Who is the i5-2500 Suitable for in 2025?

- Budget users: For basic tasks (internet, office) with a total budget of up to $100 for the entire build.

- Retro hardware enthusiasts: Building a PC in the style of the 2010s.

- Temporary solution: While saving for an upgrade.

Why not to buy:

If you need to work with 4K, modern games, or heavy software (Blender, Photoshop 2025), it’s better to spend an extra $100 and buy a Ryzen 5 5500 or Core i3-13100.

Conclusion

The Intel Core i5-2500 is a legend, but in 2025, it's a choice for very specific scenarios. It emphasizes that even old hardware can still be useful, but it requires a clear understanding of its limitations.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

January 2011

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-2500

Code Name

Sandy Bridge

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.30 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

3.70 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.70 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

LGA1155

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

32 nm

TDP

95 W

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

2.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR3 1066/1333

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

32 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

5 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

21 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

GPU Name

Intel® HD Graphics 2000

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

850 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.10 GHz

Number of Displays Supported

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Instruction Set Extensions

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

6 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel Flex Memory Access

Yes

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

600

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

1459

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

741

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

2402

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1708

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

4126

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Xeon Bronze 3204

679 +13.2%

Xeon E7-8857 v2

642 +7%

Core i5-2500

600

Xeon E7-4880 v2

563 -6.2%

Core i7-3667U

526 -12.3%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i5-3330S

1752 +20.1%

Core i7-2675QM

1591 +9%

Core i5-2500

1459

Athlon 300U

1273 -12.7%

Ryzen Embedded R1305G

1127 -22.8%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Athlon 320GE

780 +5.3%

Core i7-5650U

761 +2.7%

Core i5-2500

741

Xeon D-2187NT

727 -1.9%

Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U

705 -4.9%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Ryzen 3 2200G with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics

2664 +10.9%

Core i3-8100T

2541 +5.8%

Core i5-2500

2402

Xeon E5-2407

2230 -7.2%

Core i3-8109U

2074 -13.7%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i5-1030NG7

1763 +3.2%

Core i7-2600S

1743 +2%

Core i5-2500

1708

Core i3-6100E

1688 -1.2%

Atom x7433RE

1646 -3.6%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i5-4570R

4566 +10.7%

Core i3-8121U

4388 +6.3%

Core i5-2500

4126

Ryzen Embedded R1505G

3909 -5.3%

Ryzen 3 2200U

3710 -10.1%