Intel Core i7-4790K vs Intel Core i7-5960X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-4790K CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-5960X
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-5960X

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i7-4790K and the Intel Core i7-5960X and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i7-4790K 4 core processor released in Q2/2014 with the Intel Core i7-5960X which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2014.
Intel Core i7 (293) Family Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24)
Intel Core i 4000 (2) CPU group Intel Core i 5000X (3)
4 Generation 5
Devils Canyon S Architecture Haswell E
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor Intel Core i7-4960X
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-4790K is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 4.00 GHz (4.40 GHz). The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i7-5960X clocks with 3.00 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i7-4790K Characteristic Intel Core i7-5960X
4 Cores 8
8 Threads 16
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? Yes
4.00 GHz Frequency 3.00 GHz
4.40 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.50 GHz
4.20 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.20 GHz

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Core i7-4790K Characteristic Intel Core i7-5960X
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Intel HD Graphics 4600 GPU no iGPU
0.35 GHz GPU frequency --
1.25 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
7.5 GPU Generation --
22 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
20 Compute units --
160 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
11.1 DirectX Version --

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel HD Graphics 4600 GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

Up to 32 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i7-4790K, while the Intel Core i7-5960X supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 68.2 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i7-4790K Characteristic Intel Core i7-5960X
DDR3-1600, DDR3L-1600 Memory DDR4-2133
32 GB Max. Memory 64 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 68.2 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
8.00 MB L3 Cache 20.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 3.0
16 PCIe lanes 40
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 39.4 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i7-4790K has a TDP of 88 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i7-5960X is 140 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i7-4790K Characteristic Intel Core i7-5960X
88 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 140 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-4790K has 8.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 22 nm. The cache of Intel Core i7-5960X is at 20.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 22 nm.

Intel Core i7-4790K Characteristic Intel Core i7-5960X
22 nm Technology 22 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
LGA 1150 Socket LGA 2011-3
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2014 Release date Q3/2014
310 $ Release price 829 $
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 7 CPU benchmarks

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
64 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
55 (86%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
262 (53%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
498 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
1073 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
1002 (93%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
4001 (51%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
7843 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
1387 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
1154 (83%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
4674 (61%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
7640 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
8058 (63%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
12709 (100%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
407 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
254.1 (62%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
2311 (59%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.00 GHz
3944 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
169 (95%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
177 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
854 (63%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
1360 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
1069 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
4936 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
411 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
1982 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
Intel HD Graphics 4600 @ 1.25 GHz
400 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
84 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-4790K
4C 8T @ 4.20 GHz
456 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5960X
8C 16T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i7-5960X
Unknown Unknown

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