List of Top i7 CPUs Which You Can Buy for Gaming, 3D Rendering & Workstation
Report Data Collected On: 1/Nov/2018
Actually, this article is very demanding by most of you guys because recently I got a lot of request from you guys to write on this topic and believe it or not, but this single article takes around my 1 week of Searching, Testing & Writing to get it done.
But now, you can feel stress-free because I wrote about all the aspects and reason to buy the i7 Processor and make your CPU shopping a lot worthy and useful.
So let’s get started.
Do you know, what’s the basic need of any computer in the world, apart from the electricity? The answer is the brain of the computer i.e. the CPU. We can’t think of a computer without having a processor. It is an elementary and the most important component used in your computer because all the calculations and processors are going to be done by the CPU. You can also read my this article “CPU and its working” to gain the maximum knowledge about this topic.
CPU comes in tons of variety in them. Two processor maybe looks same but the price difference in between them is huge! Anyone can confuse when someone looks at the list of available CPUs in the market.
Since 2008 Intel is releasing better and advanced versions of i7 processors, this CPU becomes most admired and preferred by most of the techno Greeks. I also always preferred i7 over AMD as it gives a much better performance and a great experience to me.
Every year I see the new i7’s releasing with better clock speed, increasing in the numbers of cores and etc. Up to now, the i7 is released in 7 different generations. In 1st Gen. 12 processors were there, 2nd Gen. or Sandy Bridge have 11 processors in it, 3th Gen. or Ivy Bridge have 14 processors in it, 4th Gen. or Haswell have 17 processor in it, the 5th Gen. or Broadwell have 9 processor in it, 6th Gen. or Skylake have 9 processors in it and the latest 7th Generation or the Kaby Bridge has 14 processors in it but, till now not all the 14 is available in the market.
A lot of people asks me that they need i5 or i7, the answer is simple, it all depends on how much performance do you actually need?
Most of the people choose i7 over i5 because of these following reasons:
- I7 has better cache memory with better hyperthreading
- Even in some models of i7, there are more numbers of cores than the i5.
- I7 also offers better turbo boost than the i5 provides.
Having an i7 in your motherboard is now considered to be a High-Class PC. The i7 is the only processor in the “I” series which is capable of all your high performance required processes. The gaming in ultra-high quality and video editing and rendering in high resolution up to 4K is done by the i7 whereas the other processor like i5 may not give that much satisfactory results and the i3 processor, it hardly manages to do that. So why don’t have an i7!
People also prefer the lower model of i7 over the higher model of i5 or i3, it is only because of the higher performance provided by the i7. They take a 4th Gen CPU of i7 over the 6th or even 7th gen of i5 or i3. Even the lower model of i7 can perform higher as compared to the higher version of i5 and i3!
Normally, not just i5 vs. i7, when a person see the benchmarking results of all the processor and then they saw that the Intel Xeon has the highest number of benchmarks scores. They save lots of money and buy a Xeon processor just to do the high-end gaming on their PC.
And results is shocking;
If somebody asks me, it’s good to invest a large amount of money on Xeon only for gaming?
The answer what I always say, a BIG NO!!!
I know It’s true that Xeon CPUs are on the top in every list of benchmarking but the thing is, it mainly used for a high-end workload like heavy multitasking which you’ll never do on your PC while playing a game. Suppose if you use a Xeon processor in your computer, then you may see that during intense gaming the CPU’s processes is only at 10%! Hard to believe, but it’s true, but what’s the benefit when you are playing a game.
Xeon is a heavy processor and it normally used in the servers for controlling and managing it. Most Xeon processor comes in 2.5 or 3 GHz clock speed and with 20 cores. So each core has a clock speed of about 3 GHz or less. But in the i7, the clock speed is about 4 GHz which can overclock up to the 5GHz comes with 6 cores.
So, each core has a clock speed of about 4.5 GHz or more. The heaviest game you may know only wanted a limited amount of powerful cores as compared to the higher core with lower speed, and that’s the reason why an i7 processor can archives much higher frames rates in your favorite game as compared to the Xeon.
Nowadays people only want performance from any component, the price doesn’t bother them much. So they spend extra money for more than better results in their component’s performance, but I want you to make sure about your needs and spend only for what you actually need or otherwise, you’ll just wastage your money which you can spend on other useful things.
These are the possible reasons that i7 is preferred more over the other CPUs and if you think, i7 will become a perfect match for your computer than this article will definitely going to help you out to buy a best i7 processors for your computer.
Something Important About The List:
This list is made by lots of effort and hard work. Firstly I made a list of all the i7 processor with the model numbers then I arrange them according to the various conditions like numbers of core, clock speed, benchmark results and etc.
To be budget friendly, I also added the current price tag of all the available processors and arrange them accordingly in my list.
Then the comparisons goes;
But the thing is, I was not able to satisfy myself with only the comparison. So, I bought all the top 10 processors from my list just to test it by myself.
After having those 10 processors in my hand, I test every single one of them to find which one of them is the worthy deal. Finally, I have a list of the best i7 processor that you must really look upon.
At the end, in between all those 10 processors, there are only 4 who performs brilliant and made a space on top in my list. These processors are the best of the i7 series and if you are planning to buy an i7 series processor, then I can proudly say you can look at the list and choose a right one for you PC.
So, Let’s See How Many Best i7 Processors Are Available In The Market, In This Month:
In the following list, all the processors mentioned are latest and best in their class. I have not chosen the older models as the i3 7th gen processor and the i7 2nd gen processor gives almost the same performance, so there was no use of mentioning the older models.
I also don’t suggest to buy any old model processor as they all are outdated and having the lower processor.
In case, If you already have a computer and planning to buy a new i7 Processor for your PC, then please make sure that the socket of both processor and motherboard should match. If they don’t, then you won’t be able to run that processor and it becomes useless for that motherboard.
Let’s see the list now;
Top 4th CPU – Intel® Core™ i7-7700K Processor
- Numbers of Cores and Threads – 4 Cores / 8 Threads
- Processor Base Frequency – 4.20 GHz
- Max Turbo Frequency – 4.50 GHz
- Cache – 8 MB SmartCache
- Max Memory Size – 64 GB DDR4-2133/2400, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V
- Max Numbers of PCI Express Lanes – 16
- Socket Support – LGA 1151
About it: If you saw the gaming performance of i7 then you may probably notice that the internet is full of the 7700K reviews. But why it is so? It is because it is the best processor for the budget users. Anyone can take it as its cost is less in comparison to others similar processors.
It actually comes at an unbelievable price of around 350$. It is a 7th Gen Kaby Lake Intel “I” series processor. It’s really a fantastic product which you should look upon. It has 4 cores of 7th Gen with the clock speed of 4.2 GHz which delivers amazing performance and can be suitable for all your performance needs.
One thing which I like about this product is that it comes with 8MB Smart Cache Memory which is great for the overall performance of the computer. Having more RAM always results better in heavy processes and to do that, this processor is actually capable of supporting up to 64 GB of DDR3L and as well as the latest DDR4 Memory. So, even if you wanted to put some extra RAM in your PC then I don’t think you’ll face any kind of difficulty as your processor will support it all.
The resolution is one of the important things when it comes to watch movies or play a game and this processor can support resolution up to 4k at 60Hz, isn’t it great? But there is one problem in this CPU and that is, it only has 16 PCIe lanes which is actually not that bad as the price tag is also low, but the thing is, if you install 2 different cards on your motherboard then this 16 lanes will split the performance as 8 for the 1st one and the remaining 8 for the other one.
Some people use extra components like a Sound Card, LAN Card or PCIe SSD with their graphics card, but with this CPU you can’t take the full performance of your graphic card as its only supports 16 Lanes. So, if you are planning to buy this CPU then I’ll only recommend you to use a single GPU card on your motherboard, or otherwise, you’ll ruin the performance.
When it comes to the overclocking, many websites provides information which seems false to me. They have mentioned overclocking to 5.5-5.8 GHz but when I tested the processor by myself. The results were different what I saw, on my computer this product was overclocked only up to 5.3 GHz at most, which I don’t know why but, 5.3 is really a huge number.
This product is perfect for gaming. After use of this product, I am able to achieve much higher frames rates. I tested the all-time favorite game GTA V and it got the frame rates up to the 160FPS! Even the CPU process was up to only 60%! Video rendering was pretty well too but when I try to render the high-resolution video, it lost its speed.
Conclusion: Best in the budget because you are getting 7th Gen i7 processor in just 350$. Great for normal multitasking, you can play any game with ultra setting on high resolution, video or 3D rendering isn’t that good but good for all nominal work. Just like almost every i7 processors, this one only has 16 PCI lanes, which is I think enough to get the full performance out from any graphic card.
If you badly wanted to add extra cards on your mobo, then now you should move to the next one.
Top 3rd CPU – Intel® Core™ i7-6850K Processor
- Numbers of Cores and Threads – 6 Cores / 12 Threads
- Processor Base Frequency – 3.60 GHz
- Max Turbo Frequency – 3.80 GHz
- Cache – 15 MB
- Max Memory Size – 128 GB DDR4 2400/2133
- Max Numbers of PCI Express Lanes – 40
- Socket Support – LGA 2011-3
About it: 6850K is a high-end processor of Intel 6th generation series. If you don’t know what K is, then let me tell you a short story, K in the model number indicates that the processor has unlocked multiplier. By mentioning unlocked processor, it simply means that you can overclock your processor from the bios by simply increasing the processor multiplier. If the model number has not K mentioned in it, then you can’t overclock it properly.
Coming back to the processor. This CPU got 6 numbers of cores and each one has the clock speed of 3.60 GHz which can exceed by turbo to 3.80 GHz. It has 15 MB of cache memory which means that you can do your work a lot much faster. It also supports up to 128 GB of DDR4 RAM, so you don’t have to worry about increasing the RAM in future as it can support up to 128 GB.
The best thing about this CPU is that it has 40 PCI Express lanes which is huge!!! The more number of PCI lanes means that you can add extra components like Sound Card, LAN Card and not just that, with this CPU you can even run 2 or 3 Graphics Card in SLI or Crossfire at the same. 40 lanes means this CPU will not going to compromise when it comes to taking the performance out from all the external cards.
Just like the above one I also test this processor together with GTX 1080 which was actually far better than any results. I got the frame rates about 187FPS with only 40% CPU usage, it was just unbelievable. This processor is capable of ultra-gaming with ultimate multitasking. What else do you need!
As you all know, high-resolution video rendering requires a processor which is capable of doing thing quickly and this processor can edit and render your video perfectly because I saw around 20 % performance difference as compared the top 4th one (7700K). So, if you wish to edit videos at a much higher resolution like 4K or 8K, then it may take some little more time to do it.
Conclusion: If you are video editor then this is the best budget processor what you can buy for your work and If you are a hardcore gamer, then this processor is perfect for you as it’s the best processor till now for gaming because this one can get you the highest FPS even seen on the computer screen.
- >>Click To Check the Price of “ i7-6850K” @ Amazon
- >>Click To Check the Price of “ i7-6850K” @ Newegg
Top 2nd CPU – Intel® Core™ i7-6900K Processor
- Numbers of Cores and Threads – 8 Cores / 16 Threads
- Processor Base Frequency – 3.20 GHz
- Max Turbo Frequency – 3.70 GHz
- Cache – 20 MB
- Max Memory Size – 128 GB DDR4-2133/2400
- Max Numbers of PCI Express Lanes – 40
- Socket Support – LGA 2011-3
About it: Here’s another 6th gen processor on my list. Actually, 3 out of 4 processors in my list are from 6th gen Intel i7 series. This processor is also an unlocked processor, it simply means that you can overclock it. It has 6th gen 8 cores in it, which means it really is an ultimate CPU. These cores comes in 3.20 GHz base clock speed who can increase up to 3.70 GHz by the Intel turbo.
It also has pretty huge cache memory of 20 MB which makes the processing of this processor really fast or you can say lighting fast. The 20MB cache memory lets you multitask up to the higher level.
This processor can support up to 128 GB of DDR4 2400 and 2133 MHz up to maximum 4 Memory Channels. Just like the above one, It also has 40 PCIe lanes too which simply means you can connect all external cards and run at the same time even without compromising the quality of the components what you’ll connect.
When it comes to the gaming, I didn’t see much difference in the performance offer by this 6900K, except when I was playing a game using this CPU, the CPU usage was only 35% as compared to the 40% of 6850K, or nothing else.
The myth which most people suffered from is that more the price of the processor is, more it’s better for gaming;
But it’s not true. It is not necessary that more performance is achieved using a higher performer CPU. Even the heavies’ game is not able to consume that much performance as you think of, and the thing is, you can’t utilize the proper performance of this processor by just gaming.
Conclusion: The price of this processor is around 1000 dollars, I really don’t want you to spend that kind of amount of money just for gaming. But if you are looking for a CPU for heavy multitasking or video editing or rendering, then this processor is just perfect for you because you’ll get 20% more performance increment as compared to the top 3rd one (6850k).
Top 1st CPU – Intel® Core™ i7-6950X Processor Extreme Edition
- Numbers of Cores and Threads – 10 Cores / 20 Threads
- Processor Base Frequency – 3.00 GHz
- Max Turbo Frequency – 3.50 GHz
- Cache – 25 MB
- Max Memory Size – 128 GB DDR4-2133/2400
- Max Numbers of PCI Express Lanes – 40
- Socket Support – LGA 2011-3
About it: And here comes the number 1 processor of my list. This is the best processor of Intel “I” series released till now. Just like other two, this is also a 6th Gen Processor but this one is special, do you know why? Let me explain.
Have you heard about Processor with 10 Cores? Yeah, this processor have 10 cores in it! Quite amazing to have that number of cores in a consumer processor. Apart from the 10 cores, it also has a large cache memory of 25 MB, which performs ultimate while doing heavy multitasking. It has a clock speed of 3.0 GHz which can be maximized up to 3.5 GHz by the turbo.
This processor also supports ram up to 128 GB of DDR4 2400 and 2133 Mhz with maximum 4 Memory Channels. Since the evolution of SSD, a lot of people bought PCIe SSD for the lighting fast transfer of data but with this CPU, you can use run 3 or 4 different cards at the same time because it has enough PCIe lanes to connect all of your extra devices. Just like other two, this one also has 40 PCIe lanes, which is great!!
Using a lower-end Xeon CPU for workstation becomes past because of its cost, but nowadays people becomes smarter and starts to use consumer CPUs on the business machine and i7 is the perfect example of it. As this processor has an extreme configuration, many people prefer this 6950X processor for their workstations because it really delivers the best performance when it’s get installed on a workstation motherboard.
This CPU also has a great Cinebench score of 2193 and believe it or not, but there are only some high-end CPU are available who can hardly manage to reach that much score in the Cinebench.
So, having this processor allows the user to quickly render high-resolution videos like a 3D animation and much more. This processor is top in its class. Since its price is very high therefore I do not recommend this processor for any gamer or a mid-profile video editor.
Conclusion: Go for it, only if you wanted to do something that not every PC is capable of!
But make sure you purchase wisely;
I did my best and all these processors are just best in their respective class! And now it’s all upon you to choose which one for your own computer. Thank You!! 🙂
Happy Shopping !!!
