Intel Core i7-6700K

Core i7-6700K specifications

What these numbers mean for the Core i7-6700K

On our index the Core i7-6700K scores 57.0, which places it 70th of the 83 processors we track and puts it faster than roughly 16% of them.

The Core i7-6700K and the Core i5-8400 land on exactly the same index score of 57.0, so on raw throughput the two are interchangeable and the choice between them comes down to memory, power draw and price on the day.

The Core i7-6700K is tuned for games rather than throughput, scoring 57.0 for games against 38.0 for multithread work, and that shape is the signature of a part built around cache and per core speed at 4.2 GHz rather than around core count, which is what game engines actually use.

The Core i7-6700K has 4 cores and 8 threads, which is below where modern titles are comfortable: several recent games run badly on 4 cores regardless of a 4.2 GHz boost clock, so this is a chip to pair modestly and plan to replace rather than build around.

A 2015 part, so the platform around the Core i7-6700K matters as much as the chip: expect PCIe 3.0, slower memory support and no upgrade path left on that socket after 11 years. Those cost a few percent on top of whatever its 57.0 index says.

Core i7-6700K frame rate at each resolution

The Core i7-6700K paired with the GeForce RTX 5070 on the High preset with 16 GB of system memory. The processor is the limit at all three resolutions here, so the Core i7-6700K only drops 48% from 97 fps to 50 fps across them and keeps capacity it is never asked for.

How the Core i7-6700K compares

6 processors sit within 30% of the Core i7-6700K on our gaming index, running from the Core i7-11700K at +30% to the Core i5-11600K at +25%, a window narrow enough that price, memory and power decide it rather than raw speed.

What to pair with the Core i7-6700K, and when to upgrade

Best GPU for the Core i7-6700K

When the Core i7-6700K becomes the limit, the Ryzen 5 5600 is the next step worth paying for: 70.0 on our index against 57.0, a jump of 23%, which is roughly where an upgrade stops being something you have to look at a counter to notice. See its specs.

Check the Core i7-6700K against your own parts