Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 6700K or Core i5 6600K: what's better?

Intel Core i7 6700K vs i5 6600K

31 out of 100
Intel Core i7 6700K
VS
30 out of 100
Intel Core i5 6600K
Intel Core i7 6700K
Intel Core i5 6600K

We compared two 4-core desktop CPUs: the 4 GHz Intel Core i7 6700K against the 3.5 GHz i5 6600K. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
8.8
(Bad)
Value Index
13.2
(Bad)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 6600K and 6700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 6700K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 2 MB larger L3 cache size
  • 8% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.2 GHz vs 3.9 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 6700K
vs
Core i5 6600K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 6700K +15%
5072
Core i5 6600K
4409
File compression 428.4 MB/sec 363.1 MB/sec
Clang compilation 35.7 Klines/sec 29.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 116.8 pages/sec 98.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 168.3 Mpixels/sec 150.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 152.1 pages/sec 149.8 pages/sec
Background blur 28 images/sec 28.1 images/sec
Photo processing 50.9 images/sec 47.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 6.53 Mpixels/sec 4.81 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1195 & 800 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 6700K +42%
8939
Core i5 6600K
6303
Integer math 28.2 GOps/sec 16.3 GOps/sec
Floating point math 17.4 GOps/sec 14 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 30M Primes/sec 31M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 15.8M Strings/sec 10.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 3.1 GBytes/sec 1.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 125.7 MBytes/sec 86 MBytes/sec
Physics 636 Frames/sec 507 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 8.3B Matrices/sec 7.5B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 19003 & 7268 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 6700K +50%
81.55
Core i5 6600K
54.45

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 3.1 PPW 2.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 55.7 PPW 48.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 98.2 PPW 69.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 0.9 PPW 0.6 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i7 6700K
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-11-08 (CRSTN)Cinebench 202467 / 328
📘 2024-09-27 (A)Cinebench 202454 / 279
Add View all (2)
Intel Core i5 6600K
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 6700K and i5 6600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released August 5, 2015 August 5, 2015
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Skylake Skylake
Model number i7-6700K i5-6600K
Integrated GPU HD Graphics 530 HD Graphics 530
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus -

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.0 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.2 GHz 3.9 GHz
Total
Total Cores 4 4
Total Threads 8 4
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 40x 35x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s 8 GT/s
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 256K (per core)
L3 Cache 8MB (shared) 6MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors 1.75 billions -
Fabrication Process 14 nm 14 nm
TDP (PL1) 91 W 91 W
Socket LGA-1151 LGA-1151
Desktop CPU ranking (180th and 184th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 530 Intel HD Graphics 530
GPU Boost Clock 1150 MHz 1150 MHz

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2133
- DDR3L-1600		 - DDR4-2133
- DDR3L-1600
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s 34.1 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 6700K official page Intel Core i5 6600K official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 3.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 16

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
19 (57.6%)
14 (42.4%)
Total votes: 33

Competitors

1. Intel Core i7 6700K vs Intel Core i5 8400
2. Intel Core i7 6700K vs Intel Core i5 12600K
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 6600K or i7 6700K?
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