Haswell i5 vs Skylake i5

[Dimitris Geo]

Im looking forward to build a platform based on 1150 or 1151 and i can't decided if i5 6400+ddr4 worth the monkey over i5 4460+ddr3?
Some say better to go with the newest platform while others say its overpriced and only 5% faster so its not worth the extra $.
What should I do?

 

[littleleo]

Both arguments are valid, for me I don't upgrade my motherboard and CPU very often so I would go for the newest when I do. If you turn your core parts over more frequently (MB, CPU, RAM) then get the older 4th Gen. If you are willing to wait a little while the price on the 6th Gen will come down as yield increases and low cost versions come out.

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

Depends on how much you are willing to spend. Skylake is probably only a 5-10% increase over Haswell for gaming, but if you have the money, go for it. But a better video card is a better use for your money unless you hit the $650 price mark where there is no point to a better GPU.

 

[littleleo]

Some time a SSD really increases the system performance to while you wait for 6 gen prices to come down.

 

[rhysiam]

Just to add to that, you probably want to steer clear of the 6400 too, the baseclock is just 2.7Ghz which is pitifully low. The 6500 is only $15 more have give you 500mhz on the base clock and 300Mhz higher turbo. So I'd base your price comparison on a 6500 vs the 4460 and make your decision that way.

Otherwise I basically agree with what others have said. The performance difference isn't big, so it's really about whether the features on the newer platform are worthwhile. I'd suggest that if you're someone who just builds a rig and leaves it alone, you don't upgrade much other than the video card over time, then the Haswell build will probably serve you just fine. The big things you get from Skylake is M.2 & NVMe boot support, + (on many mobos but not all) USB 3.1 10Gbps.

I'd go Skylake personally, but I tend to upgrade and want the flexibility, is that's not you and your budget is fixed, put it into a better GPU as the previous commenter suggested.

 

[cub_fanatic]

Im looking forward to build a platform based on 1150 or 1151 and i can't decided if i5 6400+ddr4 worth the monkey over i5 4460+ddr3?
Some say better to go with the newest platform while others say its overpriced and only 5% faster so its not worth the extra $.
What should I do?

What kind of monkey is it? I kid, I kid. But, yeah, if you want to save a few bucks and already have DDR3, I'd go with the 4460. It also has a higher clock speed so any performance gains that Skylake has vs Haswell are probably erased when comparing these two particular CPUs. In fact, since the clock speed difference is so big (2.7 GHz vs 3.4 GHz), it is possible that the 4460 is actually the better performing chip on all 4 cores although when turbo boosted, the 4460 only has a 100 MHz advantage.

 

[Dimitris Geo]

I already have an ssd and i'm planning to buy a gpu later so for now i need cpu+mobo+ram.
I dont upgrade my hardware often and i stay with it for years but im on budget and a skylake build is around 50$ more.
I tend to 4460 but i'm concerned if its performance is ok for 2016 standards?
I guess it is because its only 5% slower than 6400 so... go for 4460 to save some bucks?

 

[cub_fanatic]

I already have an ssd and i'm planning to buy a gpu later so for now i need cpu+mobo+ram.
I dont upgrade my hardware often and i stay with it for years but im on budget and a skylake build is around 50$ more.
I tend to 4460 but i'm concerned if its performance is ok for 2016 standards?
I guess it is because its only 5% slower than 6400 so... go for 4460 to save some bucks?

That 5% difference is only if both CPUs are running at the same clock speed. The 4460 has a significantly higher clock speed (2.7 GHz for the 6400 and 3.2 GHz for the 4460) which all but erases that 5% difference when compared to the 6400. Looking at several synthetic benchmarks (on all 4 cores), the 4460 is either dead even with the 6400 or only trails it by 1%. Single core, the 4460 is about 5-10% slower but that is mostly due to the fact that they both turbo boost to almost the same clock speed on a single core (3.3 GHz for the 6400 and 3.4 GHz for the 4460). Really, the only reason to go with the 6400 besides DDR4 is the integrated HD 530 GPU which is a pretty big improvement, architecture wise, over the HD 4600 despite it only having 4 more EUs. For all normal tasks, though, like browsing, watching HD streaming video, word processing, etc., the HD 4600 is more than enough. Both are really just basic display adapters that might allow you to play the occasional game or edit the occasional short video. If you need to do that more often with more demanding settings, you will be better off getting an Nvidia or AMD GPU. A slightly less significant improvement (IMO at least) that the 6400 is much more efficient thanks to the 14nm die and it will use less power and produce less heat. But, since you won't be overclocking, it isn't that big of an issue. Bottom line, between these two CPUs, I'd still recommend the 4460 unless you are stepping up to an i5-6600.

 

[Rabmac]

I'm no expert and like you I don't upgrade my PC that often (once every 4-5 years), although I do buy the occassional upgrade if I get a game that I really want to play that is not running on my rig.

When I do build a new PC I tend to get the cheapest that will play modern games on high/ultra settings at 1080 (this is max for my monitor). I also make sure my CPU has decent overclocking potential so I can increase performance later if required, same is true of RAM (although less important that CPU). This way I usually only have to upgrade my graphics card once before I build a new one.

Sorry I can't advise you on particular parts at the moment as I have not done any research for a while but the people before me seem to have that covered anyway.

 

[littleleo]

Funny how the choice is between the 4th Gen and the 6th Gen and everyone over looks the 5th Gen.

If your not going to upgrade for 5+ years wait and get the 6th Gen is my advice. All the new products hardware and software (including games) will be likely geared for the new 6th Gen. You will have the newest platform any will need minimal upgrades if any in the future. I'm surprised there weren't any really kill 6th gen bundles for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.