i3-4360 upgrade to e3-1241v3 or i7-6700?

[pyrrolysine]

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my i3-4360, and am trying to decide whether to get the e3-1241v3 (approx. $265 USD on Amazon) or get an i7-6700 (non-K) with ASUS H170i Plus D3 which is approx. $500 USD as a package from my local retailer.

I will be gaming on it at 1080p. Current gpu is an R7 260X but will likely upgrade to RX 480 when it comes out.
I also want to try building some games/models in Unity (and UnityVR), currently playing around with Blender.

So the question - is it worth the extra money to upgrade to Skylake, or will the Haswell Xeon do fine?

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... if ya want future Upgrade GPU 3.0 direct to the CPU ...That's the way B ) it's a GPU driven "system" B /

 

[synphul]

I would go with the xeon personally. The 6700 is only 100mhz faster and granted the ipc performance is a bit improved I don't think it's enough to make it worthwhile. Along with swapping the motherboard and cpu it will require a reinstall of windows. I also wouldn't pair ddr3 with a skylake cpu. Motherboard vendors seem to think it's fine despite intel specifically calling for ddr3L (low power ddr3, not regular ddr3) or ddr4.

If the motherboard included the memory controller I would tend to believe them but they don't. The memory controller is part of the intel cpu so the board manufacturer (in this case Asus) can't make any guarantees for hardware they don't build, control or warranty. Using ddr3 'may' be fine with skylake but that's a risk the user would have to make themselves.

There's no hard evidence it will ruin a cpu but no hard evidence it won't either. Bottom line, if the cpu's memory controller goes bad because asus said ddr3 was ok to use, is asus going to buy you a new cpu? If not then they must not be too sure of it either. At least that's how I look at it. If asus were willing to guarantee compatibility to the point of offering to warranty a $300 cpu then great. If not then I think they're just speculation it 'should' be ok. As cheap as ddr4 is these days I don't think it's worth risking but that's my opinion.

 

[GranCracker]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

I disagree with and you could save a lot of money .

An i5 4690K solution will cost more.

A Xeon 1231-v3 runs at 3.4Ghz and will game well and is more cost effective than the 1241-v3.
A Xeon 1241-v3 runs at 3.5Ghz. Both Xeons are 'plug and play' or you can use the existing CPU for BIOS update.

To upgrade to an i5 4690K would require a new motherboard, a likely OS reinstall, and an aftermarket CPU cooler to overclock, and if you are not going to overclock, I would rather have a slightly slower CPU and Hyperthreading.

VR loads the GPU, so any of your CPU choices will do fine.

I use a Xeon in this system.

 

[pyrrolysine]

I would go with the xeon personally. The 6700 is only 100mhz faster and granted the ipc performance is a bit improved I don't think it's enough to make it worthwhile. Along with swapping the motherboard and cpu it will require a reinstall of windows. I also wouldn't pair ddr3 with a skylake cpu. Motherboard vendors seem to think it's fine despite intel specifically calling for ddr3L (low power ddr3, not regular ddr3) or ddr4.

If the motherboard included the memory controller I would tend to believe them but they don't. The memory controller is part of the intel cpu so the board manufacturer (in this case Asus) can't make any guarantees for hardware they don't build, control or warranty. Using ddr3 'may' be fine with skylake but that's a risk the user would have to make themselves.

There's no hard evidence it will ruin a cpu but no hard evidence it won't either. Bottom line, if the cpu's memory controller goes bad because asus said ddr3 was ok to use, is asus going to buy you a new cpu? If not then they must not be too sure of it either. At least that's how I look at it. If asus were willing to guarantee compatibility to the point of offering to warranty a $300 cpu then great. If not then I think they're just speculation it 'should' be ok. As cheap as ddr4 is these days I don't think it's worth risking but that's my opinion.

Thanks for the perspective, synphul. I am using 2 sticks of DDR3L RAM at the moment so that's not going to be a concern for me. I do appreciate your focus on the slight frequency advantage of the i7, and even with the architectural improvement it might not make that much of a difference, so I'm inclined to agree with you here.

 

[pyrrolysine]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

Thanks Grancracker, the 4690K is certainly a good gaming cpu, but I'm not into overclocking so that won't be a path I'll be considering.

 

[pyrrolysine]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

I disagree with and you could save a lot of money .

An i5 4690K solution will cost more.

A Xeon 1231-v3 runs at 3.4Ghz and will game well and is more cost effective than the 1241-v3.
A Xeon 1241-v3 runs at 3.5Ghz. Both Xeons are 'plug and play' or you can use the existing CPU for BIOS update.

To upgrade to an i5 4690K would require a new motherboard, a likely OS reinstall, and an aftermarket CPU cooler to overclock, and if you are not going to overclock, I would rather have a slightly slower CPU and Hyperthreading.

VR loads the GPU, so any of your CPU choices will do fine.

Thanks DonkeyOatie, good to know that VR loads the GPU and that the CPU choices will all do fine. Yes, VR is in my sights at the moment (isn't it for most people though?). And definitely the ease of transition to the Xeon is a plus. I see you have a Xeon yourself. Prices between the 1231 and 1241 have narrowed recently so that's why I'm considering the latter.

 

[GranCracker]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

Thanks Grancracker, the 4690K is certainly a good gaming cpu, but I'm not into overclocking so that won't be a path I'll be considering.

Well you don't have to overclock , I got a 4790k and I dont plan on overclocking it anytime soon, I just got a k cause you gotta have that unlocked cpu. Even if you think your not going to overclock, you never know when it's gonna spark, so it's good to have the possibility. Your not paying that much more really. You might have to pay more for the motherboard, but a z97 is gonna be a better motherboard in general. So I think you should get a k. You dont have to overclock, it's just a good feature to have, and it would be worth more if you ever want to resell it. But keep in mind there are also regular 4690's . One more thing, the k's have much better stock speeds. The regular 6700 comes with 3.4GHz, and the k one comes with 4.0 GHz. That is a big difference. Regular 4690 3.5 GHz, unlocked one 3.9GHz. It's worth the few extra bucks in my opinion

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The Xeon 1241 is 10% more expensive than the 1231 (at $264 vs $240) and less than 3% faster, that's what I meant by cost-effective.

 

[GranCracker]

I think the Xeon wouldn't be worth it for gaming, you could get an i5 4690k which is cheaper and you would get better gaming performance. The 6700 has better gaming performance than both of those obviously. Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money so you could do your GPU upgrade that you wanted .
Here are some benchmarks of the 6700k and the Xeon: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

I disagree with and you could save a lot of money .

An i5 4690K solution will cost more.

A Xeon 1231-v3 runs at 3.4Ghz and will game well and is more cost effective than the 1241-v3.
A Xeon 1241-v3 runs at 3.5Ghz. Both Xeons are 'plug and play' or you can use the existing CPU for BIOS update.

To upgrade to an i5 4690K would require a new motherboard, a likely OS reinstall, and an aftermarket CPU cooler to overclock, and if you are not going to overclock, I would rather have a slightly slower CPU and Hyperthreading.

VR loads the GPU, so any of your CPU choices will do fine.

Thanks DonkeyOatie, good to know that VR loads the GPU and that the CPU choices will all do fine. Yes, VR is in my sights at the moment (isn't it for most people though?). And definitely the ease of transition to the Xeon is a plus. I see you have a Xeon yourself. Prices between the 1231 and 1241 have narrowed recently so that's why I'm considering the latter.

That's not true, the 4690k and the 1241 v3 use the same chipset, lga1150, so if you compare a 1241 v3 and a 4690, they pretty much use the same motherboards. An OS reinstall would NOT be required. He said he is NOT going to overclock, and the 4690k doesn't only have better gaming performance but the unlocked one has 3.9 GHz compared to the locked ones 3.5. So it wouldn't be a more expensive solution it would cost the exact same. Even if it was just a tad more expensive, you are paying for better performance for GAMING. And hes not upgrading from a xeon hes upgrading from an i3 so if anos reinstall would be required it would be required both ways.

 

[synphul]

I think there's some confusion here. The 4690k, 1231v3 and 1241v3 would all perform similarly. All are compatible with 1150 whether it's a z97, h97 etc. Depending on the board, the bios version it's currently using and the bios version needed to run any of those cpus a bios update may or may not be required.

As mentioned, the extra cost for the 1241v3 wouldn't be worth it. Obviously a 4690k wouldn't overclock with an h97 board, it would benefit from a z series board but overclocking isn't a requirement so neither is the z series board.

The confusion I see is in this part - "the 4690k doesn't only have better gaming performance but the unlocked one has 3.9 GHz compared to the locked ones 3.5." At the same clock speeds the i5 and xeon will perform the same in terms of games (leaving ht out of it). A few games will benefit from the ht, most will not. The i5 4690k isn't better for gaming performance. It's not worse, it's just not better.

The unlocked one having 3.9ghz compared to the locked version is entirely wrong. Stock core speed for the 4690 and 4690k is 3.5ghz. Turbo (max, 1 core fully loaded) is 3.9ghz and makes no difference if it's a k series or not. That's turbo boost and is already built in. Overclocking is pushing all 4 cores to 3.9ghz or higher, the ability when paired with a z series board to go to anywhere from 4 to 4.6, 4.7ghz. Above and beyond turbo boost.

Similarly the 1231v3 has a base clock of 3.4ghz and a turbo boost up to 3.8ghz. It's not 'stuck' at 3.4ghz, the 4690 non k isn't 'stuck' at 3.5ghz and neither is the 1241v3. A windows reinstall wouldn't be required for switching out the i3 for an i5 or xeon since they're using the same motherboard. Only when switching out motherboards is it recommended to do a windows reinstall (when the chipset changes basically, loading the appropriate drivers for all the onboard devices which are likely different). 100mhz speed difference won't be enough to show up in gaming performance.

Technically the xeon would be a bit better in a small handful of games due to ht. If going with the xeon I'd probably opt for the less expensive 1231v3. The vast majority of games ht makes no difference and in a very few handful ht has lowered performance a bit. The 4590 is within 100mhz of the 1231v3 and within 200mhz of the 4690. It runs $200, the 1231v3 runs around $255. Personally I don't think ht is worth a $55 price premium, especially for gaming. It works out to around 25% more cost for around 5-10% more performance if that.

The op wants to upgrade their gpu which is a good choice, that's the biggest bottleneck right now. A lot of different ways to go but it depends on priority. If gaming is the priority, I'd probably go with the i5. Save close to $60 and put it toward the gpu. If considering a $200 gpu combined with the $60 saved on the xeon that's closer to $300 - bringing something like the gtx 1070 much closer within reach. Not that the 480 is looking to be a bad gpu but the 1070 is undoubtedly a much stronger gpu. If blender is more of a priority or equal priority to gaming then the xeon makes more sense and the 480 will still provide good gaming performance.

 

[GranCracker]

I think there's some confusion here. The 4690k, 1231v3 and 1241v3 would all perform similarly. All are compatible with 1150 whether it's a z97, h97 etc. Depending on the board, the bios version it's currently using and the bios version needed to run any of those cpus a bios update may or may not be required.

As mentioned, the extra cost for the 1241v3 wouldn't be worth it. Obviously a 4690k wouldn't overclock with an h97 board, it would benefit from a z series board but overclocking isn't a requirement so neither is the z series board.

The confusion I see is in this part - "the 4690k doesn't only have better gaming performance but the unlocked one has 3.9 GHz compared to the locked ones 3.5." At the same clock speeds the i5 and xeon will perform the same in terms of games (leaving ht out of it). A few games will benefit from the ht, most will not. The i5 4690k isn't better for gaming performance. It's not worse, it's just not better.

The unlocked one having 3.9ghz compared to the locked version is entirely wrong. Stock core speed for the 4690 and 4690k is 3.5ghz. Turbo (max, 1 core fully loaded) is 3.9ghz and makes no difference if it's a k series or not. That's turbo boost and is already built in. Overclocking is pushing all 4 cores to 3.9ghz or higher, the ability when paired with a z series board to go to anywhere from 4 to 4.6, 4.7ghz. Above and beyond turbo boost.

Similarly the 1231v3 has a base clock of 3.4ghz and a turbo boost up to 3.8ghz. It's not 'stuck' at 3.4ghz, the 4690 non k isn't 'stuck' at 3.5ghz and neither is the 1241v3. A windows reinstall wouldn't be required for switching out the i3 for an i5 or xeon since they're using the same motherboard. Only when switching out motherboards is it recommended to do a windows reinstall (when the chipset changes basically, loading the appropriate drivers for all the onboard devices which are likely different). 100mhz speed difference won't be enough to show up in gaming performance.

Technically the xeon would be a bit better in a small handful of games due to ht. If going with the xeon I'd probably opt for the less expensive 1231v3. The vast majority of games ht makes no difference and in a very few handful ht has lowered performance a bit. The 4590 is within 100mhz of the 1231v3 and within 200mhz of the 4690. It runs $200, the 1231v3 runs around $255. Personally I don't think ht is worth a $55 price premium, especially for gaming. It works out to around 25% more cost for around 5-10% more performance if that.

The op wants to upgrade their gpu which is a good choice, that's the biggest bottleneck right now. A lot of different ways to go but it depends on priority. If gaming is the priority, I'd probably go with the i5. Save close to $60 and put it toward the gpu. If considering a $200 gpu combined with the $60 saved on the xeon that's closer to $300 - bringing something like the gtx 1070 much closer within reach. Not that the 480 is looking to be a bad gpu but the 1070 is undoubtedly a much stronger gpu. If blender is more of a priority or equal priority to gaming then the xeon makes more sense and the 480 will still provide good gaming performance.

Yea I made a mistake on the unlocked and locked having different speeds. I wasn't looking at a reliable source for my research. I will take this as a lesson learned and remember this for the future. Thank you.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I realize it get confusing with dueling streams on one thread. My objection was to this Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money whole statement where it appeared that 4690K and Z97 were conflated to the save a lot of money.

I do a fair amount of non-gaming processing, and I'm glad for the extra threads. The Xeon 1231v3 replaced an i5 4590 and in gaming, I notice no difference, and in processing I notice the extra throughput.

 

[GranCracker]

I realize it get confusing with dueling streams on one thread. My objection was to this Bu if I may, I would seriously suggest getting the 4690k and a z97 motherboard because it is a great cpu, it's way better for gaming than the Xeon, and you could save a lot of money whole statement where it appeared that 4690K and Z97 were conflated to the save a lot of money.

I do a fair amount of non-gaming processing, and I'm glad for the extra threads. The Xeon 1231v3 replaced an i5 4590 and in gaming, I notice no difference, and in processing I notice the extra throughput.

Well, the extra threads might or might not be useful seeing his purpose of what he want's to use the CPU for. You can't save A LOT of money but to some people who don't have a lot of money, even a small amount can be large. You can save $30 by going for the 4690k, oh it's only $30 you can save that $30 for yourself or towards other upgrades you may want or need. $30 could make a difference of a GPU or RAM, powersupply, you could get one of those VR ready gpu's etc. And the 4690k isn't SUPER better for gaming but it does have faster single core and quad core performance (single core being the most important for gaming) All in all they won't be that different. You can also go for the non k which will be even better since he doesn't plan on overclocking you can even save a bit more towards other stuff . If you plan on building games, the 3 cpu's won't really be that much different. But if you plan on gaming, some will be better than other especially cpu intensive games like Arma, Star Citizen, a bit Gta 5.

P.s, please be kind and if you want to correct me or someone else do it in a friendly manner. If you look at this community everyone is kind to each other. You can even pm me and tell me privately that you didn't like my answer and I could fix it or change it.

Some more benchmarks: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m15164vs3502

 

[pyrrolysine]

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice! For me, I think I will prioritize the GPU upgrade first. Then the Xeon looks most likely, as I would like the extra threads.