Choosing the cpu for gaming with stock speed

[Gamerz97]

I have keep my Intel Core Duo E7500 for too long since 2009, it cannot handle the best games right now so I would like to upgrade it.

so I am planning on either i5-4690k or i7-4790k

I will play on stock speed with stock cooler (not overclocking). I will overclock if the cpu cannot handle upcoming modern games.

Let's say in Battlefield 4, Far Cry 4, Crysis 3, GTA V, COD4MW, Arma III, CSGO, Dota 2

how much difference fps between 4690k 3.5ghz and 4.5ghz.
and how much difference fps between 4790k 4.0ghz and 4.5ghz.
and also how much difference fps between 4690k 3.5ghz and 4790k 4.0ghz.

I really hope someone can answer this. I am not a scammer or someone that asking just for fooling around. I really wanted to upgrade my cpu.

how long can i5-4690k and i7-4790k can last from now ? can it be more than 5 years or it does not making sense with i5 but i7?

Please don't suggest me locked version as many people regret buying these and then they say 'I should just get the K version as it is better or faster'. But if that locked version can last longer than 5 years I will go for it then.

My maximum budget around $400. I will spend $100 more on PSU.

Is there any mobo good for gaming but have no SLI option?

 

[blazorthon]

The i7, even at stock, has both a minor frequency advantage and Hyper-Threading, which is helpful in some games on the i7 such as Battlefield games in multiplayer and some of the newest games. That can net up to about 40% higher FPS than the i5 at stock and up to about 30% higher FPS than the i5 if you overclock. However, this is assuming that the GPU is completely not a bottleneck and chances are in most games, the i5 will already be enough at stock and if not then it will be enough when overclocked. For example, the i5 at stock might be able to get over 80FPS in a game while the i7 can get around 110FPS, but it wont matter much if 80FPS is enough for you. However, a very intensive game might hammer the i5 a little hard ad then the i7 will show its worth. At stock, a Xeon E3-1331 V3 (3.4GHz with Hyper-Threading) will help alleviate this without overclocking like the i5 would need, but it can't be overclocked like the i7 if it starts to struggle.

However, there is reason to jump up to the i7 if you want more longevity. Seeing as Hyper-Threading can be up to about a 30% performance boost when well-utilized and newer games are getting better and better at scaling with it, it is fair to reason that it'll have a significant advantage within a couple years.

However, unless that $400 budget is just for the CPU and not counting the motherboard and RAM, the i7 is probably too expensive. If you were completely against overclocking, then I'd suggest the Xeon E3-1331 V3 since it's only a little more expensive than the i5 but also gets Hyper-Threading with a locked multiplier. Even with the i5, a $400 budget will be very tight if you need a motherboard, RAM, and a CPU cooler fr overclocking.

Chances are that an i5 will still be enough for most games at stock for several years to come and overclocking should help get about 25% or so more than stock out of it to keep it going if you choose to do so later. The Xeon would start out with that 25% or so thanks to Hyper-Threading while the i7 would also start out with it and more while still having the advantage of being overclockable for about 15% more performance than it has at stock.

Take that with a grain of salt, however, because we dont' really know for sure what the needs of future games will be. With DirectX 12 helping to reduce the needs of the CPU, the CPU might be less important, but then again the game devs might throw us a curve ball with increasing other CPU-related features.

 

[blazorthon]

Here is an example i5-4670K with motherboard, cheap cooler, and 2x4GB of RAM with a little room in the budget:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $372.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-29 22:09 EST-0500

You really can't get much cheaper on the motherboard and still trust it for overclocking. If you want to skip out on the CPU cooler because you'll just get one later if you decide to overclock later, that's fine too, but it still doesn't bring the price down enough for the i7. If you want to forgo any chances of overclocking, then skipping out of the cooler and getting a cheaper motherboard (also forgoing any chances of SLI, but meh) might be enough to fit in the i7. Really, it's stock frequency is so high that overclocking it isn't a big deal anyway (you'd be very lucky to get anything more than another 15% out of it), so this isn't a bad way to go.

 

[blazorthon]

Actually, I just found a half-decent Z97 board that was just cheap enough to bring the price down to about $407 i you dont mind stretching the budget a bit.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.25 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $407.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-29 22:18 EST-0500

What do you think of this and is there anything else you need?

 

[Gamerz97]

I will take i7 then as I thought i7 can survive more than i5 on upcoming technology and graphics on games. I just dont want to waste money buy upgrading it again and again. I hope my choice on getting i7 is the best. so now I want to know the difference fps between i7 4.0ghz stock and i7 4.5ghz overclock. I will not overclock it if it just a little bit that even does not feel anything Haha

 

[blazorthon]

Take 4.5 divided by 4.0 to get 12.5% as the maximum performance gain and assume a little less (like 10%) due to imperfect scaling. Like I said overclocking it doesn't get you much more in performance because it is near its limit to begin with.

The only way you could really do better than the i7-4790K is by getting an i7-5820K and overclocking it heavily. That would be a lot more expensive since you'd be spending another $65 on the CPU, about $100 more on the board, at least $40 on the cooler, and another $15 or so on RAM.