i5-2500 vs i5-2500s

[LM3]

Is it my imagination or is the i5-2500 just the i5-2500s running at a higher voltage?

 

[Araxie]

they are basically the same chip, but not necessary the same chip running at higher voltage, the i5 2500S its a low powered version of the i5 2500 with a base clock much lower at 2.7ghz targeted to HTPC mainly... it can turbo up to 3.7ghz in single threading scenarios as the regular 2500.. but in full 4 cores loads it run at 2.8ghz - 3.0ghz. while the 2500K run at full 4 cores load.. so even if they are basically the same chip, they perform very different..

 

[drescherjm]

Is it my imagination or is the i5-2500 just the i5-2500s running at a higher voltage?

The i5-2500s is a factory underclocked and undervolted chip. They are most likely the same silicon.