i9-8950HK vs i5-6500

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Aggregate performance score

Core i5-6500
2015
4 cores / 4 threads, 65 Watt
3.54
Core i9-8950HK
2018
6 cores / 12 threads, 45 Watt
6.58
+85.9%

Core i9-8950HK outperforms Core i5-6500 by an impressive 86% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking15301044
Place by popularity33not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.82no data
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i5 (Desktop)Intel Core i9
Power efficiency5.166.56
Architecture codenameSkylake (2015−2016)Coffee Lake-H (2018−2019)
Release date2 July 2015 (9 years ago)2 April 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$192$583

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads412
Base clock speed3.2 GHz2.9 GHz
Boost clock speed3.6 GHz4.8 GHz
Bus typeDMI 3.0DMI 3.0
Bus rate4 × 8 GT/s4 × 8 GT/s
Multiplier3229
L1 cache64K (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)256K (per core)
L3 cache6 MB (shared)12 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nm14 nm
Die size177 mm2149 mm2
Maximum core temperatureno data100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °C72 °C
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplier-+

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCLGA1151FCBGA1440
Power consumption (TDP)65 Watt45 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vPro+no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Speed Shiftno data+
My WiFino data+
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology-+
TSX++
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Accessno data+
SIPP+-

Security technologies

Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+-
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX++
Identity Protection++
SGXYes with Intel® MEYes with Intel® ME
OS Guard++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3, DDR4DDR4
Maximum memory size64 GB64 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth34.134 GB/s42.671 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel HD Graphics 530Intel UHD Graphics 630
Max video memory64 GB64 GB
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video++
Clear Video HD++
Graphics max frequency1.05 GHz1.2 GHz
InTru 3D++

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported33
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
DVI++

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support++
Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096x2304@24Hz4096x2304@30Hz
Max resolution over eDP4096x2304@60Hz4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort4096x2304@60Hz4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAN/AN/A

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX1212
OpenGL4.54.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes1616

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.

i5-6500 3.54
i9-8950HK 6.58
+85.9%

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.

i5-6500 5624
i9-8950HK 10453
+85.9%

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.

i5-6500 1197
i9-8950HK 1413
+18%

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.

i5-6500 3263
i9-8950HK 5118
+56.8%

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.

i5-6500 5746
i9-8950HK 7149
+24.4%

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.

i5-6500 19577
i9-8950HK 36591
+86.9%

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.

i5-6500 6653
i9-8950HK 11055
+66.2%

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.

i5-6500 10.6
i9-8950HK 8.08
+31.2%

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.

i5-6500 6
i9-8950HK 13
+108%

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i5-6500 542
i9-8950HK 1224
+126%

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.

i5-6500 147
i9-8950HK 195
+33.1%

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.

i5-6500 1.74
i9-8950HK 2.24
+28.7%

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.

i5-6500 2.9
i9-8950HK 7.2
+148%

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.

i5-6500 3100
i9-8950HK 6421
+107%

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.  

i5-6500 36
i9-8950HK 78
+116%

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.  

i5-6500 175
i9-8950HK 225
+28.9%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.54 6.58
Integrated graphics card 2.60 3.09
Recency 2 July 2015 2 April 2018
Physical cores 4 6
Threads 4 12
Power consumption (TDP) 65 Watt 45 Watt

i9-8950HK has a 85.9% higher aggregate performance score, 18.8% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 2 years, 50% more physical cores and 200% more threads, and 44.4% lower power consumption.

The Core i9-8950HK is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-6500 in performance tests.

Note that Core i5-6500 is a desktop processor while Core i9-8950HK is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-6500 and Core i9-8950HK, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i5-6500
Core i5-6500
Intel Core i9-8950HK
Core i9-8950HK

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