Intel SR335

The i5-7500's 94th percentile affordability ranking is the main reason to buy one. Its single-core PassMark of 2244 keeps older games and daily tasks feeling fine, but the 6044 multi-core score and 4-thread design mean it struggles with anything modern. No cooler, no warranty, and a 43rd percentile multi-core ranking make this a budget stopgap, not a long-term solution.

The single-core score of 2244 is the bright spot here. It's above average for its class, which means snappy responsiveness in older games, light productivity, and general desktop use. The 3.8GHz boost clock helps, and Kaby Lake's IPC was genuinely decent for its day. But the multi-core score of 6044 is where the 4-thread ceiling hits hard. Modern games that want 6 or 8 threads will leave this chip gasping, and anything involving rendering, streaming, or heavy multitasking is going to feel sluggish.

The 6MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 support up to 64GB give it some breathing room, but the 65W TDP is more a reflection of the 14nm process maturity than efficiency. Our database puts its efficiency at 51.7 out of 100, which is about average for a chip of this vintage. The server score of 38.7 out of 100 is the weakest area, which makes sense. Nobody should be running a server on a 4-thread consumer CPU from 2017.

Against the AMD Ryzen 5 5500, this i5 gets embarrassed. The Ryzen has 6 cores and 12 threads, and its multi-core PassMark score roughly doubles the i5's 6044. But the Ryzen also costs more and needs a different motherboard, so it's not a fair fight for someone already on LGA 1151. The Dell Xeon E5-2637 V2 is an interesting alternative, it's older but offers more cores for server-ish workloads, though its single-core performance is weaker. The be quiet! and Thermal Grizzly entries in our competitor list are cooling products, not CPUs, so they're not really in the same conversation. For pure drop-in LGA 1151 upgrades, the i5-7500's main competition is the i7-7700, which adds hyperthreading but typically costs significantly more on the used market.

At USD 40 to USD 60 across US listings, this chip is a steal if you already own an LGA 1151 board. The 94th percentile affordability ranking backs that up. Amazon has the best US deal at the USD 40 end of that spread, while Newegg listings run closer to USD 60. The CAD spread is wider, CAD 45 to CAD 86, so Canadian buyers should shop around. The catch is the hidden cost: no cooler in the box means another USD 20 to USD 30 for something decent, and no official warranty means you're rolling the dice on a used part. Factor that in and the value proposition gets a little murkier, but for a budget build or an upgrade from a Pentium or Celeron, it's hard to beat.

The Core i5-7500 posts a PassMark multi-core score of 6044 and a single-core score of 2244. That single-core number lands in the 63rd percentile, which is solid for a 2017 quad-core, but the multi-core score sits at the 43rd percentile. Translation: this chip handles everyday tasks and older games fine, but it's not going to impress anyone running modern multi-threaded workloads. The 94th percentile affordability ranking is the real headline here. At USD 40 to USD 60 on the used market, this is one of the cheapest ways to breathe life into an LGA 1151 board.

It's a 4-core, 4-thread Kaby Lake part with a 3.4GHz base and 3.8GHz boost, 6MB of L3 cache, and a 65W TDP. No hyperthreading, no overclocking headroom, and the HD Graphics 630 iGPU is fine for desktop use but nothing more. The efficiency score of 51.7 out of 100 tells the story: this is a chip from a different era, and it shows in both power draw per unit of work and raw throughput compared to anything modern.

If you're building a new system, skip this. The 43rd percentile multi-core score and 4-thread design will frustrate you within a year or two. Anyone doing streaming, video editing, rendering, or heavy multitasking should look elsewhere, the 6044 multi-core PassMark simply can't keep up. Server use is out of the question with a 38.7 out of 100 server score. And if you're not comfortable buying a used OEM part with no warranty and no cooler, the hidden costs and risk probably aren't worth the savings.

The i5-7500 is a budget-friendly lifeline for aging LGA 1151 systems. The 94th percentile affordability ranking and 4.1-star owner rating say people who buy it are generally happy, especially those upgrading from dual-core Pentiums or Celerons. The single-core performance keeps it relevant for older games and daily tasks. But the 43rd percentile multi-core score is a hard ceiling, and the lack of a cooler and warranty means you're accepting real risk. If you can find one at the USD 40 end of the range and you have a compatible board already, it's a reasonable stopgap. If you're building from scratch, spend a bit more on something modern.