Gtx980 + I7-4790K vs gtx980 + i5-4690k

[Sagat]

Hello dear people of Tom's Hardware.

I am in a bit of a dilemma at the moment. I am in the process of building a new rig, it will be mainly used for gaming, and things like unity 5, 3ds max and so on. Not sure how intensely i will be using the 3d stuff but thats the general plan. So i'm trying to decide between these two setups:

I already got my hands on a GTX 980 and an SSD, have a previous HDD and so on, the other components that im undecided are as follows:

The i7 build:

CPU: I7-4790K
Mobo: MSI Z97 GAMING 5
PSU: EVGA SuperNova 850 G2
RAM: Corsair 16 gigabytes DDR3 1600MHz CL9 KIT Black Vengeance

With this one, the long term plan would be to leave headroom for one more gtx 980 down the line, and if needed more ram, the psu should be more than enough to push 2xGTX980 in sli.

The i5 build:

CPU: i5-4960K
Mobo: GIGABYTE Z97M-DS3H
PSU: EVGA 650 Supernova G1
RAM: Corsair 16 gigabytes DDR3 1600MHz CL9 KIT Black Vengeance

Cheaper but no headroom for upgrades. This would be the save money now to spend later after skylake is out for a while and the prices settle down.

The price difference for meat the moment is around 320 euro. Of which i could spend them but it would be a stretch.
Would the first rig last me well into skylake era and still do everything i need it to do? Or is my money better spent on rig 2, and save a bit?

Best
-S

 

[snowctrl]

If you're going to be doing any sort of 3DSmax work using the standard render engines (which are CPU based), go for the i7

 

[maddogfargo]

Check to see if the apps are even optimized to take advantage of HT. If not, an i7 would be a waste.

 

[senseijtitus]

If you are going to use this rig for 3D rendering and editing as well, go with the i7 . But I would suggest to go with a higher version of i7 like i7-5820K. Non-K version will also do. The thing is, rendering will need more cores. Higher the core count the better. i7-5820K has 6 cores. At render time only the physical core perform a mathematical operation. The frames normally will render the same if not faster without using hyper-threading tech of intel for 3D Max.

So if you go for a 4 Core i7, hyper threading will not help with rendering. So higher core count will compensate for that.

 

[Dagstar]

I'd go for the i7 setup. If you plan on working with rendering software it'll help and the days of i7s not being utilized in gaming keep shrinking so that right there is some future proofing for ya. That MSI motherboard is awesome too, I had it with that same cpu and gpu.

 

[geofelt]

To answer your question: Option 2.
I would pick the 4690K option.
If an extra $100 for a I7-4790K is not a bother, do that.
Already, today, you have a GTX980ti available as a single card upgrade, and there will likely be dual gpu versions or a next gen card available when you need a graphics upgrade.

But... Skylake will be here soon, and I really think the I5-6600K Skylake cpu and a Z170 motherboard will be a winner.
Yes, there may be retailers who try to get early adopter prices, but that settles down in a few weeks.

 

[Sagat]

Thank you for your input.
The Unity 5 engine does support hyperthreading, and although there were some issues with it, they are being patched up quick enough.
The i7-5820K is above the 4790k for another 60ish euro more than the more expensive build i have lined up, not sure if i can swing that right now.