Digital Foundry brings an extensive comparative performance of the two newly launched Intel Skylake CPUs, these are the Core i7-6700K (4.00 / 4.20 GHz) and the Core i5-6600K (3.50 / 3.90 GHz) to check that these two chips really worth for the price in terms of gaming?
i7-6700K Vs i5-6600K Vs i7-4790K Vs i7-3770K Vs Core i7-2600K
Testing begins with a set of games at a resolution 1080p facing both CPUs and as expected, there are not enough improvements to consider investing more money in the i7, since in the best case, under the game Crysis 3 or Far Cry 4 the performance difference is about 10 and 15 FPS, whereas if we compare the performance with Overclocking (in order to remove the disadvantage of the frequency) in both CPUs to even more performance per core. This difference is reduced in favor of the i7 in 4 and 6 FPS.
Remember that if you look at the current market prices, the Core i7-6700K is priced at 385 euros compared to 269 euros the Core i5-6600K, almost difference of 116 euros.
| 1920 × 1080 / Titan X OC (Avg FPS) | Core i7 6700K | Core i7 6700K / 4.6GHz | Core i5 6600K preset | Core i5 6600K preset / 4.5GHz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Witcher 3 Ultra, Hairworks Off | 99.8 | 100.8 | 95.7 | 98.2 |
| Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ultra High, FXAA | 87.1 | 87.3 | 86.8 | 87.2 |
| Battlefield 4, Ultra, 4x MSAA | 130.2 | 131.4 | 127.8 | 130.6 |
| Crysis 3, Very High, SMAA | 119.5 | 121.9 | 109.4 | 117.0 |
| COD Warfare Advanced, Extra, FSMAA | 203.6 | 205.4 | 192.0 | 203.7 |
| Grand Theft Auto 5, Ultra, no MSAA | 81.7 | 88.7 | 70.2 | 80.6 |
| Far Cry 4, Ultra, SMAA | 115.4 | 121.5 | 89.9 | 115.4 |
| Shadow of Mordor, Ultra High Textures | 137.3 | 138.6 | 132.7 | 138.7 |
| Ryse: Son of Rome, High, SMAA | 116.1 | 116.5 | 112.9 | 116.1 |
Now we have something interesting, compare performance with previous generation CPUs. A performance tests incorporated the Core i7-4790K, the Core i7-3770K and the Core i7-2600K. Summarizing the details, if we go to the old Core i7-2600K, the difference in average performance is about 15 FPS, so a CPU launched in early 2013 is not a profitable substitute for Core i7-6700K. If we go to the Core i7-4790K, performance is almost same.
| 1920 × 1080 / Titan X OC (Avg FPS) | Core i7 6700K | Core i7 6700K / 4.6GHz | Core i7 4790K | Core i7 3770K | Core i7 2600K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Witcher 3 Ultra, Hairworks Off | 99.8 | 100.8 | 92.4 | 91.9 | 87.1 |
| Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ultra High, FXAA | 87.1 | 87.3 | 86.9 | 85.0 | 82.9 |
| Battlefield 4, Ultra, 4x MSAA | 130.2 | 131.4 | 126.1 | 124.5 | 118.3 |
| Crysis 3, Very High, SMAA | 119.5 | 121.9 | 116.4 | 112.0 | 106.8 |
| COD Warfare Advanced, Extra, FSMAA | 203.6 | 205.4 | 187.5 | 178.4 | 169.9 |
| Grand Theft Auto 5, Ultra, no MSAA | 81.7 | 88.7 | 67.9 | 60.9 | 58.9 |
| Far Cry 4, Ultra, SMAA | 115.4 | 121.5 | 98.6 | 82.6 | 80.6 |
| Shadow of Mordor, Ultra High Textures | 137.3 | 138.6 | 133.7 | 130.0 | 126.7 |
| Ryse: Son of Rome, High, SMAA | 116.1 | 116.5 | 111.3 | 108.9 | 106.4 |
If the previous CPUs Overclocked to 4.40 GHz to suppress the advantage of a higher frequency in the top models, the performance differences are significantly shortened. Four generations of CPUs offer practically the same performance.
| 1920 × 1080 / Titan X OC (Average FPS) | Core i7 6700K 4.4GHz | Core i7 4790K 4.4GHz | Core i7 3770K 4.4GHz | Core i7 2600K 4.4GHz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Witcher 3 Ultra, Hairworks Off | 100.3 | 94.9 | 91.9 | 89.6 |
| Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ultra High, FXAA | 86.8 | 86.8 | 86.1 | 83.8 |
| Battlefield 4, Ultra, 4x MSAA | 131.1 | 126.5 | 126.7 | 120.8 |
| Crysis 3, Very High, SMAA | 120.5 | 117.9 | 116.7 | 112.0 |
| COD Warfare Advanced, Extra, FSMAA | 204.5 | 191.5 | 190.8 | 175.2 |
| Grand Theft Auto 5, Ultra, no MSAA | 86.1 | 73.6 | 66.7 | 66.5 |
| Far Cry 4, Ultra, SMAA | 120.3 | 102.6 | 91.4 | 91.1 |
| Shadow of Mordor, Ultra High Textures | 136.9 | 137.8 | 135.4 | 130.4 |
| Ryse: Son of Rome, High, SMAA | 116.1 | 113.8 | 112.4 | 108.3 |
Conclusion:
As we announced in the review of the Core i7-6700K, we can say that the Skylake CPU’s are a bad buy if you are already using a Sandy Bridge CPU (above from Core i5-2500K), these CPUs are capable of running any Current top-end GPU without generating bottleneck, so if you own one, will a thousand times more profitable to invest in a high-end GPU to renew the CPU and thus the platform.
If you have an older computer, you should think if it compensates more going for Core i7-4790K, since the CPU is 68 euros cheaper and clear, motherboards and DDR3 RAM help to reduce the final cost. If you have a large budget, you can go directly to the Core i5-6600K and the Core i7-6700K that, if nothing changes, have a CPU that does not have anything to envy in the coming years.
And if we keep beating around the bush, we silently around the Core i7-5820K, processor 6 cheaper than the i7-6600K cores that takes advantage of DDR4 memory and would have much to tell whether DirectX 12 does the job of squeezing six cores. Undoubtedly our budget will have the last word.
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[Comparisons Expert]
Abdemanaf is a skilled creative writer who has been honing his craft since 2011. While initially working in different fields, he found a passion for technology and has been exploring the tech world since early 2015. Over the years, he has developed an in-depth knowledge of the latest tech trends and product offerings by various companies.
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