Intel Core i7-10750H vs Intel Core i7-6700K Comparison

The Intel Core i7-6700K and the Intel Core i7-10750H make for an unusual but instructive comparison: a desktop Skylake flagship from 2015 against a mobile Comet Lake-H part from 2020. Despite the laptop chip drawing far less power, the recorded data shows it winning 18 of 19 head-to-head benchmarks, often by margins above 20 percent. The one exception is Geekbench single-core, where the 6700K edges ahead by 1.8 percent. Everything else, from Cinebench to PassMark's full suite, favors the newer chip.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster overall?

A: The i7-10750H. Its average benchmark score in the database is 13024 versus 12237 for the i7-6700K, and it wins 18 of 19 recorded head-to-head tests. Typical winning margins sit in the 20 to 30 percent range, with the largest being passmark_floating_point_math at 30.7 percent.

Q: Does the 6700K win anything?

A: Yes, exactly one test: Geekbench single-core, 1442 versus 1417, a 1.8 percent advantage. Everywhere else, including PassMark single-thread where the 10750H leads by 4.8 percent, the mobile chip is ahead.

Q: How do the core counts compare?

A: The 6700K has 4 cores and 8 threads. The 10750H has 6 cores and 12 threads, which explains most of the multi-core gap. The 10750H also carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache against 8 MB on the 6700K.

Q: Can both chips be overclocked?

A: No. The 6700K has an unlocked multiplier. The 10750H is locked, which is standard for its mobile segment.

Q: Are they still available?

A: The 6700K is listed as end-of-life. The 10750H is listed as active.

Q: How much power does each draw?

A: The 6700K has a 91 W TDP as a desktop part. The 10750H is rated at 45 W as a mobile part, roughly half, while still delivering the benchmark wins above.

Architecture Differences

Both chips come from Intel on the same 14 nm process node, which is the first surprise: the 10750H is Comet Lake-H, essentially a refined continuation of the Skylake lineage rather than a node jump. The gains therefore come from architecture and configuration, not from a denser process.

The core and thread counts are the headline difference: 4 cores and 8 threads on the 6700K versus 6 cores and 12 threads on the 10750H. Cache scales to match, with the 10750H carrying 12 MB of shared L3 against the 6700K's 8 MB. Per-core L1 and L2 are identical, 64 KB and 256 KB respectively, underlining how closely related the two designs are.

Clock behavior differs sharply. The 6700K runs a 4.00 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost across its entire range. The 10750H starts at a 2.60 GHz base, reflecting its 45 W mobile envelope, but boosts to 5.00 GHz, well beyond what the older desktop part reaches. That single-thread boost advantage is visible in PassMark single-thread, where the 10750H leads by 4.8 percent.

Platform support also differs. The 6700K sits in Socket 1151 and supports DDR3 or DDR4 depending on the motherboard, with 34.1 GB/s of dual-channel bandwidth. The 10750H is soldered to a BGA 1440 package, supports DDR4 only, and delivers 46.9 GB/s across the same dual-channel bus. Both offer PCIe Gen 3 with 16 CPU lanes. Integrated graphics differ in naming: HD Graphics 530 on the 6700K versus UHD Graphics on the 10750H.

Where Each One Wins

The 10750H's territory is anything that scales with threads. In Cinebench R23 multi-core it posts 9718 against 7594, and in PassMark multithread it scores 11616 against 8927. Heavily threaded integer and floating point work show the widest gaps, at 29.2 and 30.7 percent respectively. Encoding, compression, and sorting workloads all land in the same 20 to 26 percent band. Anyone running rendering, code compilation, file compression, or physics-heavy simulation gets a materially faster machine with the 10750H, at roughly half the TDP.

The 6700K's wins are narrow and situational. Its only outright victory is Geekbench single-core at 1442 versus 1417, a 1.8 percent margin that falls within the kind of variance run-to-run testing can produce. Its practical advantages are structural rather than performance-based: it is a desktop socketed part with an unlocked multiplier, giving tuning headroom the locked 10750H cannot offer. Note the qualifier: the database records stock benchmark results only, so any gains from that unlocked multiplier are outside the recorded data.

Specification Differences

• Segment and socket: Desktop, Socket 1151 (6700K) versus Mobile, BGA 1440 (10750H)
• Architecture: Skylake versus Comet Lake-H, both on Intel 14 nm
• Cores/threads: 4/8 versus 6/12
• Base/boost clocks: 4.00/4.20 GHz versus 2.60/5.00 GHz
• TDP: 91 W versus 45 W
• L3 cache: 8 MB shared versus 12 MB shared
• Memory: DDR3/DDR4 (board dependent) versus DDR4 only; bandwidth 34.1 GB/s versus 46.9 GB/s, both dual-channel
• Integrated graphics: HD Graphics 530 versus UHD Graphics
• Multiplier: unlocked versus locked
• Status: end-of-life versus active; release dates 2015 versus 2020
• Die size: 122 mm² recorded for the 6700K, not recorded for the 10750H

Shared specs include 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per core, PCIe Gen 3 with 16 CPU lanes, no ECC support, and the same 68 versus 67 percentile split versus all CPUs in the database (10750H at 68, 6700K at 67, effectively a tie).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Start with Cinebench, since it appears in three generations with remarkably consistent results. R15 multi-core: 765 versus 979, a 21.9 percent win for the 10750H. R15 single-core: 108 versus 138, also 21.7 percent. R20 multi: 3189 versus 4081, 21.9 percent. R20 single: 450 versus 576, 21.9 percent. R23 multi: 7594 versus 9718. R23 single: 1072 versus 1372. Every Cinebench test lands at roughly the same 22 percent gap, in both single and multi-core modes. That consistency points to a genuine per-clock and per-core architectural improvement on Comet Lake, not just the extra threads.

Geekbench tells a more nuanced story. Multi-core goes to the 10750H, 5574 versus 5011, but by only 10.1 percent, far less than the Cinebench gap. Single-core goes the other way: 1442 for the 6700K versus 1417 for the 10750H, the older chip's sole win at 1.8 percent.

PassMark's suite is the 10750H's strongest showing. Beyond the floating point (25070 versus 17375) and integer (39730 versus 28144) results already noted, data compression finishes at 167213 versus 125659, encryption at 3930 versus 3067, extended instructions at 10470 versus 8248, prime finding at 39 versus 30, string sorting at 21416 versus 15788, and the overall multithread score at 11616 versus 8927. Physics is the closest contested PassMark test at 700 versus 637, a 9 percent gap. Single-thread goes 2625 to 2500, 4.8 percent in favor of the 10750H.

Context from the database reinforces the picture. The 10750H's average score of 13024 puts it in the same neighborhood as the Intel Core i5-9400F (13041, within 0.1 percent), the Intel Core Ultra 3 105UL (13061), and the Intel Core i5-8500 (13142). The 6700K's 12237 places it near the Intel Core i3-10105 (12316), Intel Core i3-12100 (12054), Intel Xeon Gold 6314U (12026), and Intel Xeon Bronze 3408U (12019). In other words, the 6700K now competes with modern entry-level desktop parts, while the 10750H rubs shoulders with mid-range desktop chips of its era.

The Verdict

On pure performance, the data is one-sided: the i7-10750H wins 18 of 19 tests, by double digits in most of them, while drawing 45 W instead of 91. For any workload that uses more than a few threads, rendering, compression, encoding, general productivity, it is the clearly faster processor in the recorded results.

The i7-6700K still makes sense in a narrower set of circumstances. It is the only one of the two that wins a single-core test (Geekbench, by 1.8 percent), it has an unlocked multiplier for tuning, and it lives in a replaceable socket rather than a soldered BGA package. Launch MSRP for the 6700K was $339; no comparable launch MSRP figure is recorded for the 10750H.

The practical split is straightforward. If the choice is between two complete systems and performance per task matters most, the 10750H's numbers make it the pick. If the priority is a socketed desktop platform with tuning headroom, the 6700K retains those structural advantages even though it trails in 18 of the database's 19 recorded comparisons.