Core i7-2600 vs Core i5-3470

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Core i7-2600 scores 16 and the Core i5-3470 scores 15, about 7% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Core i7-2600 has 4 cores and 8 threads, and the Core i5-3470 has 4 cores and 4 threads. Core counts are the same, so cache size and clock speed decide the difference. Boost clocks are 3.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the LGA1155 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 95 W for the first and 77 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i7-2600 cost $294 and the Core i5-3470 $184, which gives 5.4 and 8.2 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i7-2600 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i5-3470 reaches the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i7-2600 if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i5-3470 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.