Intel Core i7-6800K vs Intel Core i7-4790

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-6800K CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-4790
Intel Core i7-6800K Intel Core i7-4790

CPU comparison

Intel Core i7-6800K or Intel Core i7-4790 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Core i7-6800K has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.60 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-6800K was released in Q2/2016.

The Intel Core i7-4790 has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-4790 was released in Q2/2014.
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition (24) Family Intel Core i7 (293)
Intel Core i 6000 (24) CPU group Intel Core i 4000 (64)
6 Generation 4
Skylake S Architecture Haswell S
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-6800K is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.40 GHz (3.60 GHz). The Intel Core i7-4790 has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.60 GHz (4.00 GHz).

Intel Core i7-6800K Characteristic Intel Core i7-4790
6 Cores 4
12 Threads 8
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.40 GHz Frequency 3.60 GHz
3.60 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 4.00 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.80 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 i7-6800K Characteristic Intel Core i7-4790
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

no iGPU GPU Intel HD Graphics 4600
GPU frequency 0.35 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.20 GHz
-- GPU Generation 7.5
Technology 22 nm
Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 20
-- Shader 160
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
-- DirectX Version 11.1

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.

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

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i7-6800K supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-4790 can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i7-6800K Characteristic Intel Core i7-4790
DDR4-2400 Memory DDR3-1600
128 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
76.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
15.00 MB L3 Cache 8.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 3.0
28 PCIe lanes 16
27.6 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 15.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i7-6800K has a TDP of 140 W, that of the Intel Core i7-4790 is 84 W.

Intel Core i7-6800K Characteristic Intel Core i7-4790
140 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 84 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-6800K has a 15.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i7-4790 cache has a total of 8.00 MB.

Intel Core i7-6800K Characteristic Intel Core i7-4790
14 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 2011-3 Socket LGA 1150
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
Q2/2016 Release date Q2/2014
628 $ Release price 280 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-6800K to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-4790 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (4 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
949 (97%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
974 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
6645 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
4564 (69%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
1080 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
981 (91%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
6314 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
3732 (59%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
1267 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
1217 (96%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
5960 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
4081 (68%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
10752 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
7229 (67%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
3194 (100%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
2062 (65%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
51 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
231 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
384 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
1819 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
Intel HD Graphics 4600 @ 1.20 GHz
384 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
62 (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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
460 (100%)

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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
403 (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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 4.00 GHz
145 (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 i7-6800K Intel Core i7-6800K
6C 12T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-4790 Intel Core i7-4790
4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz
728 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-6800K Intel Core i7-4790
Unknown Unknown

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