i5-6500 vs i7-6950X

VS

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-6950X
2016
10 cores / 20 threads, 140 Watt
10.92
+208%
Core i5-6500
2015
4 cores / 4 threads, 65 Watt
3.54

Core i7-6950X outperforms Core i5-6500 by a whopping 208% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking7191530
Place by popularitynot in top-10033
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.890.82
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesIntel Core i7 (Desktop)Intel Core i5 (Desktop)
Power efficiency7.385.15
Architecture codenameBroadwell-E (2016)Skylake (2015−2016)
Release date31 May 2016 (8 years ago)1 September 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,723$192

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

i7-6950X has 9% better value for money than i5-6500.

Detailed specifications

Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores10 (Deca-Core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads204
Base clock speed3 GHz3.2 GHz
Boost clock speed4 GHz3.6 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 3.0
Bus rate9.6 GT/s / QPI4 × 8 GT/s
Multiplierno data32
L1 cache32K (per core)256 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)1 MB
L3 cache25 MB (shared)6 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nm14 nm
Die size246 mm2122 mm2
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °C72 °C
Number of transistors3,800 millionno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplier+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration11 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCLGA2011FCLGA1151
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsno dataIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vProno data+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology+-
TSX-+
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring-+
SIPP-+
Smart Response+no data
Turbo Boost Max 3.0+no data

Security technologies

Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT++
EDB++
Secure Keyno data+
MPX-+
Identity Protection-+
SGXno dataYes with Intel® ME
OS Guardno data+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 are enumerated here.

AMD-V-+
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR3, DDR4
Maximum memory size128 GB64 GB
Max memory channels42
Maximum memory bandwidthno data34.134 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardno dataIntel HD Graphics 530
Max video memoryno data64 GB
Quick Sync Video-+
Clear Videono data+
Clear Video HDno data+
Graphics max frequencyno data1.05 GHz
InTru 3Dno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supportedno data3
eDPno data+
DisplayPort-+
HDMI-+
DVIno data+

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution supportno data+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4no data4096x2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDPno data4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPortno data4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAno dataN/A

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno data12
OpenGLno data4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes4016

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i7-6950X 10.92
+208%
i5-6500 3.54

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i7-6950X 17340
+208%
i5-6500 5625

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i7-6950X 1316
+9.9%
i5-6500 1197

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i7-6950X 8570
+163%
i5-6500 3263

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i7-6950X 6231
+8.4%
i5-6500 5746

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i7-6950X 40378
+106%
i5-6500 19577

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i7-6950X 10658
+60.2%
i5-6500 6653

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i7-6950X 3.5
+203%
i5-6500 10.6

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i7-6950X 20
+215%
i5-6500 6

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i7-6950X 1859
+243%
i5-6500 542

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i7-6950X 156
+6.1%
i5-6500 147

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i7-6950X 1.9
+9.2%
i5-6500 1.74

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i7-6950X 10.5
+262%
i5-6500 2.9

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i7-6950X 8450
+173%
i5-6500 3100

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i7-6950X 101
+180%
i5-6500 36

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i7-6950X 196
+12.3%
i5-6500 175

3DMark Fire Strike Physics

i7-6950X 19410
+192%
i5-6500 6640

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.92 3.54
Recency 31 May 2016 1 September 2015
Physical cores 10 4
Threads 20 4
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 65 Watt

i7-6950X has a 208.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 months, and 150% more physical cores and 400% more threads.

i5-6500, on the other hand, has 115.4% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-6950X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-6500 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-6950X and Core i5-6500, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-6950X
Core i7-6950X
Intel Core i5-6500
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Community ratings

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