i7-5500U vs i7-6700K

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Aggregate performance score

Core i7-6700K
2015
4 cores / 8 threads, 91 Watt
5.62
+221%
Core i7-5500U
2015
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
1.75

Core i7-6700K outperforms Core i7-5500U by a whopping 221% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking11492034
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.19no data
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7 (Desktop)Intel Core i7
Power efficiency5.8411.03
Architecture codenameSkylake (2015−2016)Broadwell-U (2015)
Release date5 August 2015 (9 years ago)1 March 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$339$393

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores4 (Quad-Core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads84
Base clock speed4 GHz2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed4.2 GHz3 GHz
Bus typeDMI 3.0no data
Bus rate4 × 8 GT/s5 GT/s
Multiplier40no data
L1 cache64 KB (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache256 KB (per core)256K (per core)
L3 cache8 MB (shared)4 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nm14 nm
Die size122 mm282 mm2
Maximum core temperatureno data105 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)64 °C105 °C
Number of transistors1750 Million1300 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplier+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1
SocketFCLGA1151FCBGA1168
Power consumption (TDP)91 Watt15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vPro+no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
TSX+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Accessno data+
Smart Responseno data+
FDIno data+
Fast Memory Accessno data+

Security technologies

Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT--
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX+-
Identity Protection++
SGXYes with Intel® MEno data
OS Guard++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U are enumerated here.

AMD-V++
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3, DDR4DDR3
Maximum memory size64 GB16 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth34.134 GB/s25.6 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel HD Graphics 530Intel HD Graphics 5500
Max video memory64 GB16 GB
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video++
Clear Video HD++
Graphics max frequency1.15 GHz950 MHz
InTru 3D++

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported33
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
DVI+no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support+no data
Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096x2304@24Hz2560x1600@60Hz
Max resolution over eDP4096x2304@60Hzno data
Max resolution over DisplayPort4096x2304@60Hz3840x2160@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAN/Ano data

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX1211.2/12
OpenGL4.54.3

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes1612

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i7-6700K 5.62
+221%
i7-5500U 1.75

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i7-6700K 8934
+221%
i7-5500U 2786

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i7-6700K 1506
+71.1%
i7-5500U 880

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i7-6700K 4941
+193%
i7-5500U 1687

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i7-6700K 6531
+41.5%
i7-5500U 4615

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i7-6700K 25817
+164%
i7-5500U 9791

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i7-6700K 9037
+136%
i7-5500U 3826

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i7-6700K 6.66
+152%
i7-5500U 16.76

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i7-6700K 10
+205%
i7-5500U 3

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i7-6700K 880
+204%
i7-5500U 289

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i7-6700K 178
+46.7%
i7-5500U 121

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i7-6700K 1.97
+39.7%
i7-5500U 1.41

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i7-6700K 4.4
+156%
i7-5500U 1.7

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i7-6700K 5877
+138%
i7-5500U 2474

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i7-6700K 55
+207%
i7-5500U 18

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i7-6700K 205
+116%
i7-5500U 95

Geekbench 3 32-bit multi-core

i7-6700K 16365
+173%
i7-5500U 6004

Geekbench 3 32-bit single-core

i7-6700K 4225
+46%
i7-5500U 2894

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.62 1.75
Integrated graphics card 2.60 1.51
Recency 5 August 2015 1 March 2015
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 8 4
Power consumption (TDP) 91 Watt 15 Watt

i7-6700K has a 221.1% higher aggregate performance score, 72.2% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 5 months, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.

i7-5500U, on the other hand, has 506.7% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-6700K is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-5500U in performance tests.

Note that Core i7-6700K is a desktop processor while Core i7-5500U is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-6700K and Core i7-5500U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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