When comparing Intel i7-6700K vs Intel i5-4460, the Slant community recommends Intel i7-6700K for most people. In the question“What are the best CPUs for desktop gaming?” Intel i7-6700K is ranked 4th while Intel i5-4460 is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Intel i7-6700K is:
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.
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Pros
Pro Able to be paired with DDR4 RAM
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.
Pro Can allow for extreme gaming solutions
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.
Pro Easy to find cheap components
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.
Pro Efficient power use
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.
Pro Good choice for budget builds
At under $200 the 4460 makes a for a good mid range build. It will handle any casual game or even most AAA games without issue, though some that are really CPU intensive (such as Civ 5) may see some bottleneck.
Cons
Con Does not come with a heatsink
No longer does Intel include a heatsink with their new CPUs, so the user will have to purchase their own. While they are not too expensive, that basically means out of the box this can not be used unless a purchase was made for a heatsink along with this item.
Con Adds another pin to the connection
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.
Con No hyperthreading
Even though this is a quad-core device, there is no hypethreading built into the chip meaning any apps or games that can take advantage of the multiple cores through hyperthreading will be unable to see that performance using this chip.
Con Can not overclock
For those that would like to squeeze a little more power out of their CPU by overclocking, that is not an option with this CPU.