Intel BX80684G5500

The G5500's single-thread score of 2255 is its saving grace, but the multi-thread PassMark of 3865 puts it in the bottom third of our database. It's a dual-core chip from 2018 with a 42.4 gaming score and a 42.7 efficiency rating. Fine for basic office work if you can find it cheap, but the European prices we're seeing are borderline criminal.

Let's talk numbers. The G5500 scores 3865 in PassMark multi-thread, which puts it in the bottom third of our database. For context, that's the kind of score you'd expect from a chip that's fine for web browsing, document editing, and maybe light spreadsheet work. The single-thread score of 2255 is more interesting. It's above average, which means everyday tasks feel snappier than the core count suggests. The 4.2GHz boost helps there. But the moment you ask this thing to do anything parallel, like video encoding or running multiple VMs, those two cores start wheezing. The 4MB of L3 cache is fine for this class, and the 0.5MB of L2 is what it is. The integrated UHD 630 graphics will handle 4K video playback and older titles, but don't expect miracles. The gaming score of 42.4 out of 100 in our database backs that up. This is not a gaming chip, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

Stacked against the competition, the G5500 is in a rough spot. The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D absolutely obliterates it in every metric, though that's an unfair fight given the price gap. More relevant is the advice from one customer review: get the i3 instead. A Core i3 from the same Coffee Lake generation gives you four physical cores for a modest price bump, and that alone fixes most of the multi-thread weakness. The D&H Core i9 BX80673I99960X is in a completely different universe, but it's listed as a competitor in our database, which tells you how thin the budget CPU market has gotten. The G.Skill Trident Z Neo and MICRO CENTER 265KFPRO890WIFI are memory and bundle listings, not direct CPU rivals, so the real comparison is against other budget chips from the same era. And in that fight, the G5500 loses on core count, efficiency, and long-term usefulness.

Here's where things get weird. This chip launched in 2018 as a budget part, but current pricing is all over the map. We're seeing EUR 372 to 406 across German, French, and Italian listings, CAD 193 in Canada, and GBP 295 in the UK. Those European prices are frankly absurd for a dual-core chip from six years ago. You could buy a modern quad-core or even six-core processor for less in most markets. The Canadian price of CAD 193 is more in line with what this thing should cost, but even that feels steep when you consider what a used Ryzen 3 or Core i3 goes for these days. The bundled cooler adds a little value, but not enough to justify the premium some retailers are asking.

The Pentium Gold G5500 lands in our database with a PassMark multi-core score of 3865 and a single-core score of 2255. That single-thread number puts it at the 64th percentile, which sounds okay until you realize the multi-thread score drops to the 34th percentile. This is a dual-core chip doing quad-thread duty, and it shows. The 3.8GHz base clock and 4.2GHz boost are respectable for a budget part, but two cores is two cores in 2024. The feature set sits at the 89th percentile, which is the one bright spot here. You get integrated UHD Graphics 630, a boxed cooler, and PCIe 3.0 support. For a basic office machine or a media box, that's genuinely useful. But the efficiency score of 42.7 out of 100 tells you this 54W chip isn't exactly sipping power for what it delivers.

Skip this if you need to do anything beyond basic office work. The multi-thread PassMark of 3865 is in the bottom third of our database, and the gaming score of 42.4 out of 100 is a clear warning sign. If you're building a machine for photo editing, video work, or any kind of gaming, this chip will frustrate you daily. The efficiency rating of 42.7 out of 100 also means you're not even getting good power draw for the performance. And if you're shopping in Europe, the EUR 372 to 406 asking price is frankly insulting for a six-year-old dual-core part. You'd be much better off with a used Ryzen 3 or a newer Core i3 for the same money or less.

The Pentium Gold G5500 is a chip that made sense in 2018 and makes very little sense now. The single-thread performance is genuinely decent at 2255 PassMark, and the feature set is better than you'd expect for a budget part. But the multi-thread score of 3865 is a hard ceiling. Two cores just don't cut it anymore, even for basic multitasking. If you can find this chip for a genuinely low price, like under CAD 100, it might be worth it for a basic office PC or a home server that doesn't need much horsepower. But at the prices we're seeing in Europe, this is a hard pass. The data says it all: 34th percentile multi-thread, 42.4 gaming score, and an efficiency rating that doesn't justify the 54W TDP.