At the time they were current, 6th- and 7th-generation Intel processors seemed to offer only modest CPU improvements over Haswell and Ivy Bridge. Beyond slightly higher clock speeds, better integrated graphics, and features like 4K video encoding, what made them worth buying? Were DDR4, overclocking, newer chipsets, PCIe support, efficiency, and platform features enough to justify choosing them over older Intel CPUs?
5 Answers
The unlocked models were also popular because they overclocked well. A 6600K or 6700K could often run substantially above stock clocks with reasonable cooling, giving buyers extra performance without moving to a more expensive processor. Compared with an older system, the combination of higher IPC, faster memory, and overclocking could add up to a fairly noticeable improvement.
They were simply the newest mainstream chips available, and they were still among the fastest options for gaming. First-generation Ryzen had not arrived yet, and even when it did, Intel generally retained an advantage in single-threaded performance and gaming. For many buyers, getting the latest platform made more sense than purchasing an older system for a relatively small saving.
That makes sense. I was mainly wondering whether Haswell was the better value, but the lack of serious competition and the newer platform explain why people still chose Skylake or Kaby Lake.
The CPU architecture was not radically different, but the platform had several meaningful upgrades. Skylake introduced mainstream DDR4 support, newer chipsets, PCIe 3.0 connectivity, more high-speed chipset lanes, and better support for NVMe drives and newer peripherals. DDR4 was not always a massive gaming improvement, but memory speed could matter in some games and workloads.
I had underestimated the platform improvements. The raw CPU uplift may have been small, but the newer memory, storage, and expansion support made a new build more appealing.
In hindsight, the four-core limit makes those generations look less impressive, especially compared with later Ryzen processors. At the time, though, four cores with strong single-core performance were enough for most games, and there was no clear mainstream alternative offering much more. They are much less attractive as new purchases today, but that does not mean they were poor choices when they were current.
They were also more efficient and generally ran cooler than older platforms while offering newer motherboard features. That mattered for laptops, small PCs, office systems, and people building a machine from scratch. An older CPU could still be perfectly usable, but buyers replacing an entire system usually wanted current parts, current warranties, and support for newer standards.
So for an existing Haswell owner, upgrading was hard to justify, but for a new build the newer socket, memory, storage support, and efficiency made more sense.
That is probably why the 6500K and other Skylake chips had such a strong reputation. The overclocking headroom made the small generational gains more valuable.