Intel Haswell 4th Generation Core i7 Processors

See also Intel Haswell 4th Generation [url=haswell-i3]entry-level Core i3[/url] and [url=haswell-i5]mid-range Core i5[/url] Processors.

The Intel Core i7 Processors

Launched in June 2014, Intel’s latest CPUs are codenamed ‘Haswell Refresh’ but are more officially known as 4th Generation Intel Core processors. The familiar i3 /i5 / i7 branding is retained and easily allows customers to identify the budget, mid-range and premium versions respectively. As you might expect, with this new generation of processors comes improved performance and an overall reduction in power requirements, although the highest-performance variants actually consume 4 watts more than their previous generation Haswell counterparts at full throttle.

Improved on-board graphics

Perhaps the biggest improvement is in the area of embedded graphics. With this new generation of CPUs the graphics are now known as HD 4600 and with the change of name comes about a significant improvement in performance, especially for 3D games and applications. Furthermore, up to three separate displays can now be driven simultaneously, reducing the need for a discrete graphics card where triple-head monitors are required.

Guide to suffix variants

The single-letter suffix on each model of processor denotes whether it can be overclocked (K), or is low-power (S) or ultra-low power (T). Note that ‘power’ in this context refers to electrical power, not computational power. We recommend S or T suffix processors where cool-running / energy saving is required, or K-series processors where maximum performance is desirable and sufficient cooling can be provided accordingly.

Variant performance comparisons

In terms of computational performance, Intel don’t provide official figures for their processors because so much depends on other hardware such as motherboard, type of memory, etc. So instead, we would suggest that potential customers refer to real-world empirical performance benchmarks such as those published by Passmark and quoted in the specification table below. These allow a simple comparison to be made between the different variants of processors and are based upon the averaged results of many users’ PC systems across the world. An opinion about the relative performance differences between each model of processor can therefore be quickly formed.

Core i5 / Core i7 differences

In essence, Core i5 processors are designed to be more affordable, lower performing versions of the Core i7 parts. There will certainly be some overlap in performance between the highest-end i5 processors and the cheapest i7 versions, but in essence the Core i5 range has a smaller cache (6MB rather than 8MB), a fewer maximum number of threads (4 not 8) and the omission of Hyper-Threading (HT Technology).