Intel Core i7-4770K vs Intel Core i5-7500 vs Intel Core i7-4790

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 i5-7500

The Intel Core i5-7500 is a fast mid-range quad-core processor for desktops based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. It offers four cores (no HyperThreading and therefore also only 4 threads at once) that run at 3.4 - 3.8 GHz.

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

The performance of the i5-7500 is comparable to a mobile Core i7-7700HQ. Therefore, the performance is sufficient even for demanding applications and games.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 has 24 Execution Units (similar to previous HD Graphics 530) running at 350 - 1100 MHz. The performance depends a lot on the memory configuration; it should be comparable to a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 920M in combination with fast DDR4-2133 dual-channel memory.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors, which were 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 slightly. Intel still specifies the TDP with 65 Watts, which is a lot more than the 45 Watts of the mobile Kaby-Lake-H CPUs but less than e.g. the Core i5-7600K (91 Watt).

Intel Core i7-4790

The Intel Core i7-4790 is a high end quad-core desktop processor using the Haswell architecture. It clocks at 3.6 - 4 GHz and can run 8 threads at once thanks to HyperThreading. Compared to the similar named Core i7-4790K, the 4790 clocks a bit lower and offers no open multiplier for overclocking. The TDP is rated at 84 Watt and therefore suited for Desktop-PCs and large laptops.