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This processor uses the LGA 1151 CPU socket. For those upgrading from an older generation chip this means the will need to purchase a new motherboard and possibly RAM in order to use this chip. This can be expensive to replace so many components all for a single new pin in the chips connection. While the performance will be better than the last generation, it may not be worth the price of all new gear to see this performance. See More
The performance of the i5 6660K is similar to a more expensive i7 processor in gaming situations. While the i7 does use more threading (twice as much), there are very few PC games that can actually take advantage of this making the i5 a good choice when building a gaming specific PC. See More
Being a quad-core CPU means that hyperthreading is available, more so than an i5 thanks to the higher clock speeds and available cache. This means that games that take advantage of hyperthreading will perform better than with a CPU that does not have many cores or is just at a lower clock speed and has less cache available. While the jump in performance is not much for games that can only utilize a single core of the CPU, it still is a jump of about 2-3 frames over an i5 of the same generation. See More
Being that this is a Haswell chip that uses the LGA 1150 socket, it is quite easy to find cheap motherboards and cheap RAM (DDR3) to use in those motherboards. This makes a good option as it is still a powerful chip comparable to even newer ones but allows for a wide selection of compatible parts. It also is a good choice for those that are already using a LGA 1150 compatible motherboard and would just like to upgrade from a less powerful CPU. See More
Based on the fourth generation of Intel's core architecture (Haswell) there are newer chips out there two generations ahead (6th gen Skylake). While comparing one to the next there are only slight improvements in the newer generations, but improvements all the same for close to the same price. See More
Being a Skylake 6th generation CPU this chip is able to be used with DDR4 RAM as this is what the new LGA 1151 based motherboards are able to use. DDR4 is available in faster speeds over DDR3 RAM (what was used with previous generation CPUs) meaning an overall speed bump in RAM when using this newer technological chip. See More
The chip itself allows for 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes (which was not available in such high numbers in the previous generation chips). This translates into how many PCIe devices can be used at the same time and how fast they can communicate, which makes for a scenario where multiple PCIe GPUs can be used at their top transfer speed of 16x for one and 8x for two. See More
This processor uses the LGA 1151 CPU socket. For those upgrading from an older generation chip this means the will need to purchase a new motherboard and possibly RAM in order to use this chip. This can be expensive to replace so many components all for a single new pin in the chips connection. While the performance will be better than the last generation, it may not be worth the price of all new gear to see this performance. See More
Being that this is a Haswell chip that uses the LGA 1150 socket, it is quite easy to find cheap motherboards and cheap RAM (DDR3) to use in those motherboards. This makes a good option as it is still a powerful chip comparable to even newer ones but allows for a wide selection of compatible parts. It also is a good choice for those that are already using a LGA 1150 compatible motherboard and would just like to upgrade from a less powerful CPU. See More
When comparing to CPUs in a similar price range such as the AMD 8350, this Intel chip is more efficient for power use. That means less heat and a lower power bill. While newer generation Intel chips may have a slight advantage here, they will be more expensive as well, so this makes a good choice if heat, power and efficiency are a concern in this price range. See More
This chip uses quite a bit of power when compared to a similar performing chip from Intel, which could mean a higher power bill in the long run. The high power consumption also leads to a lot of heat generated from this chip. While a third party cooler can help with this (and is recommended as the stock cooler is loud and does a poor job of cooling), it is an extra cost to using this chip efficiently. See More
Being that this chip requires liquid cooling in order to not burn itself into oblivion it is quite easy to overclock the chip in order to get a better performance than the stock speeds. The chip is not locked, meaning it can be overclocked as high as one can get it to go without locking up. See More
Due to how much power this chips need to perform there is only a small selection of compatible motherboards. This means that anyone with an older AMD compatible board will not be able to use this chip. It also means there will be less variety in good boards to purchase. Using a lot of power also has the downside of a higher electric bill if using the PC a lot as well as more opportunity for the chip to wear itself out early (of which there have been quite a few reports of. Being that this has a high rate of power consumption there is quite a lot of heat produced by this chip. It runs really hot. Running hot is such an issue that it is highly recommended to use this with liquid cooling, which adds to the overall price of using this chip. See More