Is Intel i7 high-end?
Intel® Core™ i7 Processors
These processors power high-end PCs with excellent CPU performance for discrete-level graphics and AI acceleration.
A Core i7 will typically be better for multitasking, media-editing and media-creation tasks, high-end gaming, and similar demanding workloads.
For Gaming, Even a 6-Core i5/i7 is often more than enough, and you'll be happy. So in that case, even going for the 8-Core i7/i9s, or 10-Core i9s will be a worthless investment. If you stream and game, or do something like Video Editing, Graphic Design on the side, then you might appreciate more power.
The Core i7-12700K comes with all of the gaming performance of its higher-priced i9 counterpart while beating competing Ryzen chips, but it's significantly less expensive. That makes the Core i7-12700K the go-to chip for gamers looking for the highest performance at a forgiving price point.
The Core i9-12900K is Intel's first truly innovative high-end desktop CPU in years, showing great potential in its performance/efficiency mixed-core design and support for DDR5 memory.
Best high-performance Intel CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K
If you're building a PC that needs to be able to operate at the absolute highest tier of performance, this is the only choice. It's even got the edge over AMD's high-end Ryzens, the traditional choice for high core-count CPUs in recent years.
The Intel Core i5 is an all-purpose processor that offers solid performance for gaming, web browsing, and doing basic work. The Intel Core i7 has more processing power and is better for high-performance gaming, content creation, multimedia editing, and specialized applications.
The i5 processor offer great value for money if you're looking to game in 2022. However you'll need an i7 to be able to handle more demanding taks. Plus, with an i7 you'll be future-proofed for a few years down the line. So if you can afford it, go for the i7!
i7 vs i9 – How do they compare? Speaking generally, i9s are simply faster processors than are i7s – more cores, higher clock, more cache. The big differentiator is when it comes to Hyperthreading, the feature that creates two processing threads for every physical core.
Intel® Core™ Laptop Processor Family | Supported Memory Type | Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) |
---|---|---|
7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Laptop Processors | DDR3L-1600, LPDDR3-2133, LPDDR3-1866, DDR4-2133, DDR4-2400 | 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB |
How long will Core i7 last?
A minimum two years. Easy. The i7 is very powerful. Even in years to come it could still be used for gaming and such.
Manufacturers typically provide the default "it isn't going to fail" figure of 100,000 hours, which is just over ten years. But most likely, it will continue to work until it's technologically obsolete.

When working on video files, it reaches temperatures of 96 degrees Celsius!
The Intel Core i7-11800H is a high-end octa-core SoC for gaming laptops and mobile workstations. It is belongs to the Tiger Lake H45 family and was announced in mid 2021. It integrates eight Willow Cove processor cores (16 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading).
Best answer: Yes, absolutely. The affordable i7-12700K ranks high in CPU performance tests, placing just below the more expensive Intel Core i9-12900K and AMD Ryzen 9 5900X.
Rank | Processor Name | GeekBench 5* |
---|---|---|
1 | Apple A16 Bionic | 1887 / 5455 |
2 | Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 | 1351 / 3808 |
3 | Dimensity 9000 Plus | 1349 / 4342 |
4 | Apple A15 Bionic | 1722 / 4685 |
Rank | Device | MSRP Price |
---|---|---|
1 | Intel Core i9-12900KS Processor DirectX 12.00 | $739 |
2 | Intel Core i9-13900KF Processor DirectX 12.00 | n/a |
3 | Intel Core i9-13900K Processor DirectX 12.00 | n/a |
4 | Intel Core i7-13700K Processor DirectX 12.00 | n/a |
- Intel Core i9-13900K. The best processor overall. ...
- AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. The perfect mix of performance and value. ...
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. The best AMD processor available right now. ...
- Intel Core i5-12600K. The best Intel chip by value. ...
- AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D. ...
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700X.
The latest CPU generations have another tier above Core i7, the Intel Core i9. The Intel Core i9 series is Intel's extreme performance line.
Intel has processors like the Celeron and Pentium on the lower end, but if you're building or buying a PC in this modern day, then chances are you'll be looking at Intel's Core CPUs. Those include the Core i3 at the low end, the Core i5 in the middle, and then the Core i7 and Core i9 at the high end.
Is Core i7 good for gaming?
For ideal results, a machine running an Intel® Core™ i7 processor or better with at least 8GB of RAM is sufficient for playing games and streaming at the same time. If you're hoping for less impact on your gaming performance, an Intel® Core™ i9 processor makes for an even smoother experience.
Intel Core i5 vs i7: What's the difference? Core i5 processors are great all-purpose chips, offering solid performance for gaming, web browsing, and light productivity tasks. Core i7 processors have a little more power, and they're best for users running demanding applications and games at the highest settings.
The Differences and Price Delta
The base clock speeds on the i7 are faster than the i5 (meaning it's faster), and you can bump up to a higher clock speed on the i7 with Turbo Boost than the i5. So it's basically a naming convention, putting the i5 in the mainstream tier and the i7 in the enthusiast tier.
Key Difference between Intel Core i5 and i7
The clock speed of Core i5 is 1.2-3.6 GHz, while the clock speed of corei7 is 1.3-3.5 GHz. The cache size of Core i5 is 3MB-6MB. On the other hand, the cache size of Core i7 is 4MB-8MB.
Both the CPUs perform extremely well in terms of benchmarks but it is the Intel i7 that beats AMD Ryzen 7 5800X by a margin of up to 15-20% better performance.