Intel Core i5-7600K vs Intel Core i5-4460 vs Intel Core i5-4590

Intel Core i5-7600K

The Intel Core i5-7600K is a fast quad-core processor for desktops based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. It is the top model of the consumer Kaby-Lake-H Core i5 series at the time of the announcement. The i5 does not support HyperThreading (4 threads only) and runs from 3.8 (base speed) up to 4.2 GHz. As a K-model, the i5-7600K offers an open multiplicator for overclocking.

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 i5-7600K is about 10 percent above the predecessor Core i5-6600K, thanks to clock speed increases and long hold Turbo Boost clocks. Matching clock speed, there is no speed improvement from Skylake. The old top model Core i7-4790K however is still slightly faster.

More information with gaming benchmarks and power measurements can be found in our AMD Ryzen 7 versus Intel CPUs review (upcoming).

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 has 24 Execution Units (similar to previous HD Graphics 530) running at 350 - 1150 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 91 Watts, which is a lot more than the 45 Watts of the mobile Kaby-Lake-H CPUs.

Intel Core i5-4460

The Intel Core i5-4460 is a mid range desktop quad-core processor based on the Haswell architecture. It was introduced in Q2 2014 and is manufactured in 22 nm. The processor does not feature Hyperthreading, and therefore can use only 4 threads with the 4 cores.

The performance is on average somewhere between an older Core i5-4430 (similar but lower clocked) and a new Skylake Core i5-6600T. Compared to mobile processors, the performance is similar to a Core i5-6300HQ. Therefore, the performance should be sufficient for all daily tasks and games.

The CPU also integrates a Intel HD Graphics 4600 called graphics card clocked at 350 to 1100 MHz.

Intel Core i5-4590

The Intel Core i5-4590 is a desktop processor with 4 core and 4 threads (no HyperThreading / SMT) based on the Haswell architecture. The cores clock from 3.3. - 3.7 GHz and the SoC integrates 6 MB level 3 cache. The integrated Intel HD graphics 4600 GPU clocks from 350 - 1150 MHz and the integrated memory controller supports up to 32 GB of DDR3-1600.