Core i7-2600K vs Intel Pentium G4560

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i7-2600K and the Intel Pentium G4560 are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i7-2600K has 4 cores and 8 threads, and the Intel Pentium G4560 has 2 cores and 4 threads. The extra cores of the Core i7-2600K help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 3.8 GHz and 3.5 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i7-2600K uses the LGA1155 socket and the Intel Pentium G4560 uses LGA1151, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 95 W for the first and 54 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

At launch the Core i7-2600K cost $317 and the Intel Pentium G4560 $64, which gives 5.4 and 26.6 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i7-2600K can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Intel Pentium G4560 reaches the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i7-2600K if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Intel Pentium G4560 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.