Intel Core i7-4770K vs Intel Core i5-7260U vs Intel Core i7-4790K

Intel Core i7-4770K

The Intel Core i7-4770K is a high-end quad-core processor for desktops and successor of the i7-3770K. It is based on the Haswell architecture and has been launched in Q2/2013. Due to Hyperthreading, the four cores can handle up to eight threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 3.5 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.7 GHz (for 4 active cores), 3.8 GHz (for 2 active cores) and 3.9 GHz (for 1 active core). Furthermore, the Extreme CPUs offer an unlocked multiplicator for easy overclocking.

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving especially the Hyper-Threading performance. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Due to these changes, the performance per clock has been improved by about 8 percent compared to the Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K.

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 400 MHz up to 1250 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it about 30 % faster than the HD 4000.

The i7-4770K is rated at a TDP of 84 W including graphics card, memory controller and VRMs. This is significantly higher than the 3770K which is rated at 77 Watt.

Intel Core i5-7260U

The Intel Core i5-7260U is a fast dual-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. The CPU has two processor cores clocked at 2.2-3.4 GHz (two cores also up to 3.4 GHz). The processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper Threading. It is also equipped with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 GPU with 64 MB eDRAM, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR4) as well as VP9 and H.265 video decoding as well as encoding. The chip is still manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

Compared to the Core i7-7360U, the i5-7260 does have lower CPU (-200 MHz Turbo, -100 MHz Base) and GPU (-50 MHz) clocks.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

At 2.2-3.4 GHz, the Core i5-7260U has much lower clocks compared to the old Core i5-6267U (2.9-3.3 GHz), but has slightly higher Turbo clocks. Similar to the 6267U, the i6-7260U can also use the 64 MB eDRAM, which should increase the performance in some scenarios.

Graphics

The integrated Intel Iris Plus 640 Graphics is the GT3e model of the Kaby Lake GPU (Intel Gen. 9.5). It has 48 Execution Units running at 300-950 MHz (i7 models up to 1050 MHz) and the performance is comparable to a GeForce 920MX thanks to fast eDRAM cache. However, there aren't any significant improvements compared to the old Iris Pro 540, so modern games can often not be played smoothly or only at the lowest or medium settings, respectively.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency even further. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, which is typical for ULV chips. Depending on the usage scenario, the TDP can vary between 7.5 (cTDP Down) and 25 Watts.

Intel Core i7-4790K

The Intel Core i7-4790K is a high end quad-core desktop processor using the Haswell architecture. It was announced in the second quarter of 2014 and was the top model of the 4000 series consumer processors. Compared to the Core i7-4770K, the 4790K offers 500 MHz more base and turbo clock speed and reaches 4.4 GHz.