I7-6700k vs i5

A question that is becoming more common is whether it is worth investing in a Core i7 to play or if with a Core i5 we have enough. This is because video games increasingly use more cores / threads of processing so the Core i7 should have an advantage over its younger brother thanks to its 4 cores and 8 threads of processing compared to the 4 cores and 4 threads of the Core i5.

Is it worth spending money on an Intel Core i7 or is an Intel Core i5 enough?

To try to answer this question, the same guys from eurogamer have faced a Core i7 6700K and a Core i5 6600K on the same gaming battery. In this test the Core i7 6700K has been raised to 4.6 GHz and the Core i5 6600K up to 4.5 GHz.

As we can see the difference between a Core i7 6700K and a Core i5 6600K at stock frequency is 28% in Far Cry 4 and 16% in GTA V. In other games the maximum is 10% and even in two games it does not even reach 0.1%. If we increase the frequency of the Core i7 6700K to 4.6 GHz and the Core i5 to 4.5 GHz, the maximum difference is reduced to 10% and in five games it does not even reach 1%.

With this it is demonstrated that a current Core i5 is enough to move any video game with a GeForce GTX Titan X in its stock frequency. If we overclock until the frequency of a Core i7 is equal, the difference will be barely 10% in most cases.

The conclusion is clear, if you have a tight budget opt ​​for a Core i5 and what you save compared to an i7 you invest in a more powerful graphics card, your team will appreciate it in 95% of video games or even more.

Note: Video and data taken from DigitalFoundry.