CPU Comparison
Intel Core i5-4460
Core i5-6500TE
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: Intel Core i5-4460 vs Intel Core i5-6500TE
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The head-to-head data paints a surprisingly one-sided picture on paper, with the Intel Core i5-6500TE taking seven of eight benchmark wins. The margins, however, are mostly narrow. In the Cinebench suite, the i5-6500TE leads by 1.7% in both R15 multicore (428 vs 421) and R15 singlecore (60 vs 59). That pattern holds through Cinebench R20, where the i5-6500TE posts 1787 multicore against the i5-4460’s 1758 (a 1.6% edge), and in singlecore the gap remains 1.6% (252 vs 248). Moving to R23, the i5-6500TE again wins multicore with 4255 versus 4188, a 1.6% advantage, while singlecore shows 600 against 591, a 1.5% lead.
The only reversal comes in Geekbench multicore, and it is decisive. The i5-4460 scores 3035 versus the i5-6500TE’s 2749, a 9.4% swing in favor of the older Haswell part. That is the single largest delta in the entire comparison, dwarfing the sub-2% margins seen elsewhere. Interestingly, in Geekbench singlecore the i5-6500TE flips the result back, winning 1062 to 1018 with a 4.3% margin, the second-largest gap of the set.
When placed against their respective nearest rivals, both CPUs sit in a similar performance tier. The i5-6500TE’s average benchmark score of 1399 places it within 0.4% of the Intel Xeon E3-1220 v5 (1401), the Intel Xeon E-2104G (1402), and the Intel Pentium Gold G7400TE (1404), while trailing the Intel Xeon E3-1240L v3 (1396) by 0.2%. The i5-4460, with an average score of 1415, matches the AMD Ryzen Embedded R2314 and AMD Ryzen 7 2700U exactly (both 1415), sits 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-3840QM (1416), and trails the Intel Core i7-2700K (1419) by 0.3%. Both processors land at the 37th percentile among all CPUs, reinforcing that despite the architectural gap, they occupy essentially the same performance class.
Where Each One Wins
The i5-6500TE is the clear winner in sustained rendering workloads that scale with modern instruction sets. Across every Cinebench iteration, R15, R20, and R23, both singlecore and multicore, it comes out ahead. The margins are consistent, hovering between 1.5% and 1.7%, which suggests a small but real efficiency advantage in this workload. The singlecore Geekbench result also falls to the i5-6500TE, with a more substantial 4.3% lead, indicating that its newer architecture extracts better performance from lightly threaded integer and floating-point tasks.
The i5-4460’s sole victory is Geekbench multicore, and it is emphatic. A 9.4% lead over the i5-6500TE in that test is not a trivial outlier; it suggests that the older Haswell design handles the specific mix of memory access patterns and thread coordination in Geekbench’s multicore suite better than Skylake does. For users whose workloads resemble Geekbench’s multicore test, which includes file compression, cryptography, and parallel PDF rendering, the i5-4460 would be the stronger choice despite losing every other benchmark.
In practical terms, the i5-6500TE wins anywhere that Cinebench-style rendering is representative, which covers most 3D content creation and video encoding tasks. The i5-4460 wins in the narrower case of Geekbench-style general-purpose multitasking. The gap between them in the i5-6500TE’s wins is small enough that real-world differences would be difficult to perceive, whereas the 9.4% Geekbench multicore advantage for the i5-4460 is a margin that could show up in responsive multitasking or parallel compilation workloads.
Architecture Differences
The two processors represent two distinct Intel microarchitectures and process nodes. The i5-6500TE is built on Skylake at 14 nm, while the i5-4460 uses Haswell at 22 nm. This node shrink is reflected in the die size: the Skylake part measures 122 mm², compared to 177 mm² for Haswell. The transistor count for the i5-6500TE is not listed, but the i5-4460 contains 1,400 million transistors.
Both CPUs offer four cores and four threads, with identical cache hierarchies: 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 6 MB of shared L3. The memory controllers differ, however. The i5-6500TE supports both DDR3 and DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, yielding 34.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The i5-4460 is limited to DDR3, also dual-channel, with 25.6 GB/s of bandwidth. That 8.5 GB/s difference is significant for memory-bound workloads and may partially explain the Geekbench multicore discrepancy, though not in the direction one might expect, since the higher-bandwidth part loses that test.
The integrated graphics also differ: the i5-6500TE carries HD Graphics 530, while the i5-4460 has Intel HD 4600. Both use PCIe Gen 3 with 16 CPU lanes, and neither supports ECC memory. The sockets are incompatible, the i5-6500TE uses Intel Socket 1151, the i5-4460 uses Intel Socket 1150, meaning platform upgrades require a motherboard change regardless of which direction one moves.
Power characteristics diverge sharply. The i5-6500TE has a TDP of 35 watts, less than half of the i5-4460’s 84 watts. This is the most striking architectural difference in practical terms: the Skylake part delivers comparable or better performance in most benchmarks while consuming dramatically less power. The base clocks tell the story, with the i5-6500TE running at 2.30 GHz base and 3.30 GHz boost, versus the i5-4460’s 3.20 GHz base and 3.40 GHz boost. The Haswell part has higher clocks but loses most benchmarks anyway, underscoring the IPC advantage of Skylake.
FAQ
Q: Which CPU is faster in Cinebench R23 multicore?
A: The Intel Core i5-6500TE scores 4255 versus the i5-4460’s 4188, a 1.6% advantage.
Q: Why does the i5-4460 win Geekbench multicore despite losing every other benchmark?
A: The Geekbench multicore delta is 9.4% in favor of the i5-4460 (3035 vs 2749). The test’s specific mix of memory access and parallel workloads appears to favor the Haswell design, even though the i5-6500TE has higher memory bandwidth (34.1 GB/s vs 25.6 GB/s).
Q: What is the TDP difference between these two CPUs?
A: The i5-6500TE has a TDP of 35 watts, while the i5-4460 has a TDP of 84 watts, a difference of 49 watts.
Q: Can I use either CPU on the same motherboard?
A: No. The i5-6500TE uses Intel Socket 1151, while the i5-4460 uses Intel Socket 1150. They are not electrically or physically interchangeable.
Q: Do both CPUs support the same memory types?
A: No. The i5-6500TE supports DDR3 and DDR4, while the i5-4460 supports only DDR3. Both use dual-channel configuration.
Q: How do these CPUs compare to their nearest rivals?
A: The i5-6500TE’s average benchmark score is 1399, within 0.4% of its nearest rivals (Xeon E3-1220 v5 at 1401, Xeon E-2104G at 1402, Pentium Gold G7400TE at 1404). The i5-4460 averages 1415, matching the Ryzen Embedded R2314 and Ryzen 7 2700U exactly.
Specification Differences
| Specification | Intel Core i5-6500TE | Intel Core i5-4460 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 2.30 GHz | 3.20 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 3.30 GHz | 3.40 GHz |
| TDP | 35 W | 84 W |
| Socket | Intel Socket 1151 | Intel Socket 1150 |
| Architecture | Skylake | Haswell |
| Process Node | 14 nm | 22 nm |
| Die Size | 122 mm² | 177 mm² |
| Transistors | Not listed | 1,400 million |
| Memory Support | DDR3, DDR4 | DDR3 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 34.1 GB/s | 25.6 GB/s |
| Integrated Graphics | HD Graphics 530 | Intel HD 4600 |
| Release Date | 2015-10-10 | 2014-05-10 |
| Launch MSRP | $192 | $187 |
| Part Number | SR2LR | SR1QK |