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Core i7-6700K vs i5-6400


Description
Both models i7-6700K and i5-6400 are based on Skylake architecture.

Sky Lake is also known as 6th generation Core. Include Thunderbolt 3.0, SATA Express and Iris Pro graphics with DirectX 12. It uses LGA 1151 socket for mainstream models and LGA 2066 for X-Series. Sky Lake comes with AVX2 support in all mainstreams CPUs and AVX-512 in some high end models.

Using the multithread performance as a reference, the i7-6700K gets a score of 254.6 k points while the i5-6400 gets 174.1 k points.

Summarizing, the i7-6700K is 1.5 times faster than the i5-6400 . To get a proper comparison between both models, take a look to the data shown below.

Specs
CPUID
506e3
506e3
Core
Skylake-S
Skylake-S
Architecture
Base frecuency
4 GHz
2.7 GHz
Boost frecuency
4.2 GHz
3.3 GHz
Socket
LGA 1151
LGA 1151
Cores/Threads
4/8
4/4
TDP
95 W
65 W
Cache L1 (d+i)
4x32+4x32 kB
4x32+4x32 kB
Cache L2
256 kB
4x256 kB
Cache L3
8192 kB
6144 kB
Date
May 2015
September 2015
Mean monothread perf.
63.22k points
48.05k points
Mean multithread perf.
254.56k points
174.05k points

Non-optimized benchmark
The benchmark in Mode 0 (FPU) measures cpu performance with non-optimized software. It uses the basic µinstructions from the i386 architecture with the i387 floating point unit. This mode is compatible with all CPUs so it's practical to compare very different CPUs
Monothread
i7-6700K
i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
4.07k
3.2k (x0.79)
Test#2 (FP)
16.62k
12.81k (x0.77)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
5.23k
4.18k (x0.8)
Test#1 (Memory)
6.28k
4.3k (x0.69)
TOTAL
32.2k
24.49k (x0.76)

Multithread

i7-6700K

i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
16.37k
11.45k (x0.7)
Test#2 (FP)
77.34k
46.67k (x0.6)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
25.65k
14.69k (x0.57)
Test#1 (Memory)
10.21k
5.92k (x0.58)
TOTAL
129.57k
78.73k (x0.61)

SSE3 optimized benchmark
The benchmark in mode I (SSE) is optimized for the use of SIMD instructions with 128 bits register and the SSE set up to version 3. Nearly every modern CPU has support for this mode.
Monothread
i7-6700K
i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
14.73k
11.56k (x0.78)
Test#2 (FP)
21.27k
16.53k (x0.78)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
5.52k
4.3k (x0.78)
Test#1 (Memory)
6.32k
3.97k (x0.63)
TOTAL
47.84k
36.36k (x0.76)

Multithread

i7-6700K

i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
61.09k
43.01k (x0.7)
Test#2 (FP)
99.17k
64.46k (x0.65)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
26.57k
16.14k (x0.61)
Test#1 (Memory)
10.26k
5.91k (x0.58)
TOTAL
197.09k
129.51k (x0.66)

AVX2 optimized benchmark
The benchmark in mode III (AVX2), like AVX1, is optimized to used 256 bits registers beside the second version of the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). The first AVX2 compatible CPU was released in 2013.
Monothread
i7-6700K
i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
25.78k
21.1k (x0.82)
Test#2 (FP)
23.08k
18.28k (x0.79)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
5.32k
4.22k (x0.79)
Test#1 (Memory)
9.03k
4.45k (x0.49)
TOTAL
63.22k
48.05k (x0.76)

Multithread

i7-6700K

i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
112.83k
80.03k (x0.71)
Test#2 (FP)
106.86k
71.1k (x0.67)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
25.76k
16.19k (x0.63)
Test#1 (Memory)
9.12k
6.73k (x0.74)
TOTAL
254.56k
174.05k (x0.68)

Performance/W
i7-6700K
i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
1188 points/W
1231 points/W
Test#2 (FP)
1125 points/W
1094 points/W
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
271 points/W
249 points/W
Test#1 (Memory)
96 points/W
104 points/W
TOTAL
2680 points/W
2678 points/W

Performance/GHz
i7-6700K
i5-6400
Test#1 (Integers)
6139 points/GHz
6394 points/GHz
Test#2 (FP)
5495 points/GHz
5539 points/GHz
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
1268 points/GHz
1279 points/GHz
Test#1 (Memory)
2150 points/GHz
1348 points/GHz
TOTAL
15052 points/GHz
14560 points/GHz

Monothread performance graph
Monothread performance graphics gives the performance vs time. They are useful to measure the time it takes to the CPU to reach the maximum performance.

Usually, CPU's performance will be steady during these tests but if it has a slow frequency strategy, the first samples will show a lower score.


Test#1 (Integers) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#2 (FP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#3 (Generic, ZIP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#1 (Memory) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com

Multithread performance graph
Multithread graphs measure the performance against a heavy load during certain time.

If CPU's TDP doesn't limit the frequency and the machine is properly cooled, performance should remain steady vs time. Otherwise, the performance score will oscillate or decrease over time.


Test#1 (Integers) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#2 (FP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#3 (Generic, ZIP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#1 (Memory) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com

Hardlimit Benchmark Central - Ver. 3.11.4