Benefit of upgrading from Xeon 1230v3 to i7-4790K?

[turbopixel]

Do you think upgrading from Haswell Intel Xeon 1230v3@3.3Ghz to Devils Canyon Intel i7-4790K@4.0 OC to 4.4 or higher would make a "real" difference? I would upgrade next year, maybe mid 2016.

My usage: I am not only gaming in Steam, but from time to time, I also edit images or videos and play in cpu intensive emulators. My main os is Ubuntu 14.04 and I sometimes switch to Windows 7 for additional Windows only games.

In the beginning of last year, I build a new pc. Back then, I didn't want to overclock and got a H87 mainboard and that locked Xeon. After my mainboard got damaged, I switched to a high quality Z97 board, which also allows me to oc now. And now, I am thinking of that upgrade, to get most out of the socket 1150 and mainboard. All parts in my pc are new (or almost) and expensive. My plan is to use this rig for at least 5 years until Windows 7 official supports expires and even longer. And then I have to see. I would upgrade the gpu from time to time, but want to stick with that board and socket.

 

[turbopixel]

My current gpu is a GTX 970. i don't know when I will upgrade the gpu, maybe two or three years from now. Probably when I switch to 4k monitor and gaming. Then I would get 980 Ti or something modern, depending on whats available.

 

[guanyu210379]

The main difference:
1. i7 4790k has higher base clock
2. i7 4790k can be overclocked, while E3-1230V3 is not.
3. i7 4790k has iGPU, while E3-1230V3 does not.

The benefit going i7 4790k from E3-1230V3 is minimal and does not justify the extra cost, if you ask me, unless if you can sell your E3-1230V3 and get an extremely good price.

I would rather sell the GTX970 and go all out to get GTX980Ti or get a second GTX970 to go SLI, this is the better upgrade path in my opinion.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Most gaming systems are GPU limited although there are still some games that hammer CPUs heavily. For those games you will notice an improvement.

I did some work with overclocking on an i5 this summer and here's the results: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2719471/4690k-memory-overclocking-project-results.html

Since you now have a good Z97 board, the FIRST thing I would do is sell off your old memory and get a 2400Mhz kit. Using XMP to run the memory at 2400Mhz will have a significant improvement in rendering and editing, and a small, but noticeable improvement in gaming. About half of the improvement I achieved came from the memory, and the other half came from overclocking.

If you can get most of the value back on your Xeon, then the upgrade makes some sense, but you are still looking at around $200 for difference in cost and a good CPU cooler, and the advantage in many situations will be only 10% or less. If you are getting nothing for the Xeon, then I don't think it is worth it. Maybe later the prices will change and that plan, or necessity will make it worth it.

 

[turbopixel]

I didn't know ram would make such a difference. I already have a 2*8gb pair of 1600 Mhz memory. Maybe I upgrade it. That pair is brand new.

And i didnt know that the cpu would support faster than 1600 mhz ram.

Btw my Cpu cooler is the big Scythe Mugen 4. its so big, that bigger ram would not fit.

 

[synphul]

It may be worth it for cpu intensive emulators. It's a 33% clock speed difference. DonkeyOatie appears to have done some testing but unless I missed it I didn't see any actual gaming benchmarks, just synthetics. No single synthetic can give a clear cut picture as to how cpu performance plays out when it varies so much from one title to another. Clock speed can have a huge impact.

For example skyrim, a cpu intensive game. The cpu used was an i7 2600k and the difference in speed from 3ghz to 4ghz, a 1ghz increase that would be noticed between the xeon and 4790k (3 to 4ghz rather than 3.2ghz to 4.4ghz) gave almost 20fps increase. Nothing else changed but the cpu speed. That's a 26.5% improvement.
http://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html

The speed difference between the 4790k at 4.4ghz and the xeon at 3.2ghz is 37.5%. Here's a video using an i5 4670k, 2.66 vs 3.66ghz which is a 35% difference so it's pretty comparable. Running fsx, fps with the higher clock speed was consistently 10-15fps higher producing high 40's to low 50's while the slower cpu was in the mid 30's and barely reached 40fps the entire time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUmZbI7N6k

This person did some testing with arma 3, another cpu intensive game and making a similar cpu clock speed jump as the xeon to 4790k got a 28% performance increase.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/624074858821848373/?insideModal=1

Not sure which games you're looking to play, these are a couple more cpu intensive ones. Playing in an emulator will likely place a small hit on the cpu if you're talking about playing in wine or something like that. Whether those improvements are worth whatever the cost is to you, the fee of the new cpu with or without getting a good price and/or selling your current xeon etc. is up to you. You mentioned upgrading middle of next year which is pretty far away. Well over 8-10mo away, no telling what will happen by then. I don't expect cpu prices to change much, intel hardly ever discounts their product unless you find a good used deal on ebay or something.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It may be worth it for cpu intensive emulators. It's a 33% clock speed difference. DonkeyOatie appears to have done some testing but unless I missed it I didn't see any actual gaming benchmarks, just synthetics. No single synthetic can give a clear cut picture as to how cpu performance plays out when it varies so much from one title to another. Clock speed can have a huge impact.

For example skyrim, a cpu intensive game. The cpu used was an i7 2600k and the difference in speed from 3ghz to 4ghz, a 1ghz increase that would be noticed between the xeon and 4790k (3 to 4ghz rather than 3.2ghz to 4.4ghz) gave almost 20fps increase. Nothing else changed but the cpu speed. That's a 26.5% improvement.
http://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html

The speed difference between the 4790k at 4.4ghz and the xeon at 3.2ghz is 37.5%. Here's a video using an i5 4670k, 2.66 vs 3.66ghz which is a 35% difference so it's pretty comparable. Running fsx, fps with the higher clock speed was consistently 10-15fps higher producing high 40's to low 50's while the slower cpu was in the mid 30's and barely reached 40fps the entire time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUmZbI7N6k

This person did some testing with arma 3, another cpu intensive game and making a similar cpu clock speed jump as the xeon to 4790k got a 28% performance increase.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/624074858821848373/?insideModal=1

Not sure which games you're looking to play, these are a couple more cpu intensive ones. Playing in an emulator will likely place a small hit on the cpu if you're talking about playing in wine or something like that. Whether those improvements are worth whatever the cost is to you, the fee of the new cpu with or without getting a good price and/or selling your current xeon etc. is up to you. You mentioned upgrading middle of next year which is pretty far away. Well over 8-10mo away, no telling what will happen by then. I don't expect cpu prices to change much, intel hardly ever discounts their product unless you find a good used deal on ebay or something.

No. My benchmarks were all synthetic for consistency.

20% or more really only matters if it is the right 20% place

10 fps to 13 fps is worthless
100 fps to 130 fps is generally just as worthless
60 fps to 75 fps is of limited value.
30 fps to 45 fps helps
40 fps to 60 fps is a great improvement.

I think it will be very game depended, and in a few games, the i7 4790K will be the only way to get playable frame-rates, but is it worth it for that and do you play those games?

 

[junkeymonkey]

when it comes down to it you gain igp unlocked cup slightly higher base clock ??

heres the compare from intel if it shows or helps any ?

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75054,80810,80806

 

[turbopixel]

When I talk about emulator, I mean something like Gamecube/Wii, SNES, Playstation 1&2 emulators.

And in pc gaming, I would play some modern games and some less demanding too. Its not that I think about improving pc gaming, but more on other tasks. Not that I would need it. If the difference and gain is not much, then I should just forget about it.

Thank you guys, for all the input. I still need a little time to read and watch the links.

 

[junkeymonkey]

if you read the reviews like at newegg on xeons like yours you see lots of guys using it in there gaming rigs and happy with them ? i feel i goofed when i looked at it and this i5 4670 . hind sight is 20/20 as they say