CPU Comparison
Intel Core i5-6500T vs Intel Core i5-4590T
A side-by-side comparison of specs, performance and value. The Intel Core i5-6500T is a low-power 35W Skylake quad-core processor designed for small form factor and enterprise desktops, offering balanced performance with strict thermal constraints.
The Bottom Line
Overview & Launch
Specifications Compared
Performance Compared
Productivity
Adequate for office tasks but slow for rendering or heavy multitasking.
Adequate for basic office tasks where bursty workloads benefit from the 3.0 GHz turbo, but sustained multi-threaded work is limited.
Gaming
Low base and boost clocks severely limit gaming performance compared to 65W parts.
The 2.0 GHz base clock severely limits gaming performance. Only viable for very old or casual games, even with a dedicated GPU.
Virtualization
4 threads and low clocks make it poorly suited for VMs.
Four threads at low clocks make virtualization impractical for any meaningful workload.
Efficiency
Excellent performance-per-watt for a 14nm quad-core of its era.
The 35W TDP was impressive for a quad-core in 2014, though modern processors achieve far better performance at similar or lower power.
Specialized Performance
AI / ML
- Insufficient thread count and low clocks make AI inference impractical
- No AI acceleration hardware
- Low clock speeds further reduce any AVX2 compute capability
- 35W power budget leaves no headroom for inference workloads
- Not viable for any AI application
Content Creation
Gaming
- Low clock speeds cause sub-60fps frame rates in CPU-heavy titles
- Not recommended for gaming without a GPU
- Suffers from severe 1% low frame drops
- 2.0 GHz base clock too low for consistent game performance
- 3.0 GHz turbo helps in short bursts but cannot sustain
- Only suitable for pre-2015 games at low settings
- HD 4600 insufficient for any modern gaming without a dGPU
- Even with a dGPU, CPU bottleneck is severe in modern titles
Industry Impact
Best CPU by Use Case
Target Audience
Strengths & Weaknesses
Pros
- Extremely low 35W TDP
- Runs very cool and quiet
- True quad-core design
- Good for basic SFF and NAS builds
Cons
- Low base and boost clocks
- Locked multiplier
- Only 4 threads
- Hard to find boxed retail versions
Pros
- Extremely low 35W TDP enables compact cooling solutions
- Retains full 6 MB L3 cache despite power reduction
- Quad-core design handles multi-tasking better than dual-core alternatives
- 1 GHz turbo delta provides good burst performance
- Compatible with all LGA 1150 motherboards
Cons
- 2.0 GHz base clock is very slow for sustained workloads
- Launched at $192, more expensive than the faster i5-4590
- Only 4 threads without Hyper-Threading
- Locked multiplier with no overclocking potential
- DDR3 memory platform is obsolete
- Outperformed by modern Celeron and Pentium processors at lower TDPs
- Limited availability as it was primarily an OEM product
Competitors & Alternatives
Intel Core i5-6500T
- AMD Pro A12-8800BRival
Low Power OEM
- Compare head-to-headIntel Core i5-6500Rival
Standard Desktop
- Intel Core i3-6100TRival
Low Power Budget
- AMD A10-7870KRival
Desktop APU
- Compare head-to-headIntel Core i5-4590TRival
Previous Gen Low Power
6 cores and 9 threads in the same 35W envelope for cheap on the used market.
Compare head-to-head- AMD Ryzen 5 5500Alt
Massively faster and more efficient for a similar price point.
Modern low-power champion with incredible single-core speeds.
Compare head-to-head- Intel N100Alt
Modern ultra-low-power solution for NAS and basic SFF builds.
- AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650GEAlt
OEM-only but excellent 6-core/12-thread 35W alternative.
Intel Core i5-4590T
- AMD A8-7600 (45W)Rival
Low-Power APU
- AMD A10-7800 (45W)Rival
Low-Power APU
- Compare head-to-headIntel Core i5-4570TRival
Low-Power Desktop
- Intel Core i3-4360TRival
Low-Power Desktop
- Intel Core i7-4765TRival
Low-Power Desktop
Much faster at the same price if thermal constraints are not a concern.
Compare head-to-head- AMD Ryzen 5 5500GTAlt
Modern low-power hex-core with integrated graphics that vastly outperforms the i5-4590T.
Modern 35W quad-core with eight threads, DDR5 support, and dramatically better single-thread performance.
Compare head-to-headCoffee Lake 35W hex-core with significantly more performance at similar power.
Compare head-to-head- AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650GEAlt
Modern 35W embedded processor with six cores and twelve threads.
Our Verdict on Each
A capable low-power option in 2015, the i5-6500T sacrifices clock speeds for efficiency, making it strictly a budget/SFF salvage part today.
Best for: If you are buying a refurbished SFF office PC (like an HP EliteDesk or Dell OptiPlex) for basic home server duties, web browsing, or as a thin client, the i5-6500T is perfectly adequate. It runs incredibly cool and quiet, making it great for a living room PC that only handles 1080p streaming. However, you should never buy this processor standalone to build a new PC. Its low clocks and locked multiplier severely limit its potential, and modern low-power alternatives offer significantly better performance-per-watt. If you already own it, max out the RAM and add an NVMe SSD to extract the best possible everyday responsiveness, but do not invest in a dedicated GPU expecting a great gaming experience.
Read the full reviewAn impressive engineering exercise in power efficiency that sacrificed significant performance for its 35W TDP. Ideal for thermally constrained builds of its era, but modern low-power CPUs deliver far better performance at similar power envelopes.
Best for: Replacing a failed CPU in an existing thin mini-ITX or all-in-one system that requires a 35W LGA 1150 processor
Read the full reviewFrequently Asked Questions
Which is faster for gaming, Intel Core i5-6500T or Intel Core i5-4590T?
For gaming, the Intel Core i5-6500T leads with a gaming performance score of 40/100 among Intel Core i5-6500T and Intel Core i5-4590T.
Do Intel Core i5-6500T and Intel Core i5-4590T use the same socket?
No. They use different sockets (Intel Core i5-6500T: LGA 1151, Intel Core i5-4590T: LGA 1150), so each needs a compatible motherboard.
Which is faster in multi-core benchmarks?
The Intel Core i5-6500T posts the highest multi-core benchmark score. Multi-core results: Intel Core i5-6500T (4,700), Intel Core i5-4590T (3,350). Benchmark figures are approximate and workload-dependent.