Intel Pentium G4560 vs Core i5-2500K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Intel Pentium G4560 scores 17 and the Core i5-2500K scores 16, about 6% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Intel Pentium G4560 has 2 cores and 4 threads, and the Core i5-2500K has 4 cores and 4 threads. The extra cores of the Core i5-2500K help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 3.5 GHz and 3.7 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Intel Pentium G4560 uses the LGA1151 socket and the Core i5-2500K uses LGA1155, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 54 W for the first and 95 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

At launch the Intel Pentium G4560 cost $64 and the Core i5-2500K $216, which gives 26.6 and 7.4 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 Intel Pentium G4560 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i5-2500K reaches the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Intel Pentium G4560 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Core i5-2500K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.