Intel Core i7-4770K vs Core i7-2600K Gaming-Performance
Category : 2013
Published by Marc Büchel on 18.10.13
Especially gamer see themselves confronted with the question which is the best CPU for their system from a performance as well as a price perspective. This is meanwhile the sixth article in our CPU Gaming Performance series of articles, where we compare the gaming performance of two CPU's in recent games. Obvisously you will see the performance difference and we will also point to the price of these chips. Last but not least you will get an overview which CPU is most suitable for the type of gaming PC you want to build.
[pagebreak]
Test Setup
Hardware
| Mainboard |
- ASUS Maximus V Gene
- ASUS Maximus VI Gene
|
| CPUs |
- Intel Core i7-4770K @ Stock (Turbo On / HT On)
- Intel Core i7-4770K @ 4.5 GHz (Turbo Off / HT On)
- Intel Core i7-2600K @ Stock (Turbo On)
- Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.5 GHz (Turbo Off)
|
| Memory |
- 2x4GB RipjawZ 2400C11 @ CL9-9-9-24-1T-Auto DDR3-1600 MHz
|
| Graphic Cards (Driver) |
- AMD Radeon HD 7970
Matrix @ 1'100 MHz / 1'650 MHz
|
| Drivers |
|
| Games and OS |
- Windows 7 x64 (Up to date on the 25/07/2013
- All games were up to date on the 25/07/2013)
|
| HDD |
- OCZ Technology Octane 512 GB SSD
|
PSU
|
- Seasonic Platinum SS-1000XP / 1000 Watts
|
[pagebreak]
3DMark - Fire Strike
| Overall Score |
Points |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
7296 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
7466 |
102.33 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
7192 |
98.57 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
7292 |
99.95 % |
| |
More is better |
| GPU Score |
Points |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
8271 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
8274 |
100.04 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
8200 |
99.14 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
8233 |
99.54 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Unigine Heaven 4.0 Extreme Preset
| Basic Preset |
Points |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
4265 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
4280 |
100.35 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
4155 |
97.42 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
4243 |
99.48 % |
| |
More is better |
| Extreme Preset |
Points |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
1192 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
1207 |
101.26 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
1182 |
99.16 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
1198 |
100.50 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
BattleField 3
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
186.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
200.0 |
107.18 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
181.0 |
97.00 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
199.8 |
107.07 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
82.0 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
82.0 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
80.8 |
101.49 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
81.2 |
99.02 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Bioshock Infinite - Benchmark
| 1280 x 720, low details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
248.62 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
265.90 |
106.95 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
222.20 |
89.37 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
243.20 |
97.82 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
166.00 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
166.43 |
100.26 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
162.79 |
98.07 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
163.66 |
98.59 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Crysis 3
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
86.2 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
93.0 |
107.89 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
80.4 |
93.27 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
91.0 |
94.73 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
21.2 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
21.8 |
102.83 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
21.0 |
99.06 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
21.4 |
100.94 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
357.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
382.8 |
107.05 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
347.8 |
97.26 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
355.4 |
99.38 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
93.0 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
94.0 |
101.08 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
91.6 |
98.49 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
93.0 |
100.00 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Far Cry 3
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
200.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
222.8 |
111.07 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
180.6 |
90.03 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
195.2 |
97.31 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
31.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
32.6 |
103.16 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
31.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
32.2 |
101.90 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Sleeping Dogs - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
199.6 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
234.0 |
117.23 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
187.8 |
94.09 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
208.5 |
104.46 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
54.2 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
54.0 |
99.63 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
53.8 |
99.26 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
53.6 |
98.89 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| 1280 x 720, low details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
243.0 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
288.2 |
118.60 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
229.4 |
94.40 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
269.8 |
111.03 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
114.2 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
115.4 |
101.05 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
107.4 |
94.05 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
114.6 |
100.35 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Metro: Last Light - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
132.39 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
149.56 |
112.97 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
123.21 |
93.07 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
138.09 |
104.31 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
39.90 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
40.27 |
100.93 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
40.08 |
100.45 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
40.38 |
101.20 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Power Consumption
| load (wPrime 1024M,
peak during first minute) |
Watt |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
123 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
169 |
137.40 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
137 |
111.38 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
155 |
126.02 % |
| |
less is better |
| peak (LinX, peak during
first run) |
Watt |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
134 |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
190 |
141.79 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
152 |
113.43 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
175 |
130.60 % |
| |
less is
better |
[pagebreak]
Performance Index Games and
Price
| Low |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
111.12 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
93.56 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
102.01 % |
| |
More is better |
| High |
Index |
| Core i7-4770K Stock |
100.00 % |
| Core i7-4770K 4.5G |
101.12 % |
| Core i7-2600K Stock |
98.86 % |
| Core i7-2600K 4.5G |
100.11 % |
| |
More is better |
| CPU |
Geizhals |
Toppreise |
| Core i7-4770K |
 |
 |
| Core i7-2600K |
 |
 |
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
Last
summer we published a similar series of articles, where we were analyzing gaming
performance on the basis of two different processors. Back in the days it became
very clear that performance differences between two CPU's at high resolutions
are close to zero. The reason for this can be found within the fact, that the
processor isn't the bottleneck of a system, when you're playing games at high
resolutions. In this case it's the graphics card, which has to work overtime. In
case of lower resolutions the influence of the processor becomes clearly
visible, since the graphics card isn't the limiting factor anymore.
Having a closer look at the results we gathered while testing eight different
games and two different benchmarks with two different presets, we see that the
Core i7-4770K, with our "low-preset" is on average 6.4 percent faster than the
Core i7-2600K. Switching to our "high-preset" makes the Core i7-4770K's
become 1.1 percent quicker than the Core i7-2600K. Overclocking the Core i7-4770K to 4.5 GHz makes the performance
with our "low-preset" go up by 11 percent but when it comes to the high-preset
the increase in performance is only 1 percent. Regarding the Core i7-2600K the
situation is similar: 8.5 percent gain with "low-preset" and 1.3 percent
with "high-preset".
What's quite interesting to see is how the wattage of our test system increased
while maintaining 4.5 GHz stably. The 4770K needed 40 percent more power and in case of the
2600K the increase was "only" 17 percent.
If you bought a Core i7-2600K a while back, then we can tell you without the
shadow of a doubt, that there is absolutely no need to get rid of it and replace
it with a Core i7-4770K. From a gaming performance point of view it really
doesn't matter which of the two CPU's you have in your system. Should you
actually want to upgrade your gaming PC, then don't go for a new CPU in this
case, you should rather choose a new graphics card.
Article in English
Artikel in Deutsch
Article en français
Articolo in italiano
