i5 4690k vs i7 4790k vs i5 6600k vs i7 6700k

[Noxian]

Hello
I'm building a new PC soon and I'd like to know which of these CPUs would be better to get. I'm confused whether a DDR4 build with LGA 1151 is worth it yet. I'd like it to last at least 5-6 years if possible. I'll be using it mainly for gaming and digital art.

Current CPU: i5 655k @ 3.2 GHz

 

[Benab3]

They are all good chips, and if your budget permits, the i7 6600k is the best. But RAM wise, it is more expensive, even if you get the more 'budget' DDR4 RAM, and the issue with the cheaper DDR4 is, even though it is clocked higher Mhz wise, the CL can rise quite a bit, offsetting it slightly.

If money is no issue, I would get a 6700k with some higher end DDR4 ram, if you want to spend less, an I7 4790k is a fantastic chip, and then get some good DDR3.

For the I5's, they are in a completely different tier to the I7 chips, and whilst still fantastic chips, I would try to get an I7, there are some great deals floating around this weekend!

 

[coozie7]

There's still little gaming advantage with an i7, the i5s usually do as well in benchmarks so if the digital art uses are professional check the software documentation and see if your software can use the i7s 8 threads, if not, the go for a i5 and save some cash, if it can use 8 threads, go for the i7 and improve your earning power.
All the current Intel chips like fast memory, if the digital art uses are professional, I'd go for a slightly faster DDR4 Skylake build (iX 6XXX) over a Devils Canyon or Haswell (IX 4XXX) build, the gains are small but significant, and could be particularly so if your software can use 8 threads.
Whichever you choose, I'll suggest you go for 16 Gb of memory, 8 Gb is enough for most users but for a system with a planned 5 year service life I think you should invest in those extra 8Gb.

 

[kenrickandbros]

Hello
I'm building a new PC soon and I'd like to know which of these CPUs would be better to get. I'm confused whether a DDR4 build with LGA 1151 is worth it yet. I'd like it to last at least 5-6 years if possible. I'll be using it mainly for gaming and digital art.

Current CPU: i5 655k @ 3.2 GHz

Right now the i7-4790k is much better value than the i7-6700k and is only slightly older. However if your budget allows, I would recommend that you go for the i7-6700k.

Likewise, the i5-4690k is much better value than the i5-6600k and is only slightly older.

It would be better if you listed out parts you want to use such as the video card.

 

[cricoso]

there are some great deals floating around this weekend!

 

[suckmyoverclock]

With the prices of the i7 6700k at the moment, I really cannot recommend it. Same with the 6600k, you do not have to pay much more to get the 4790k. It will be 98% as powerful as the 6700k, and DDR4 will not be an argument for it, as there is little to no performance upgrade over ddr3, and by the time you will upgrade (if you stick to 5-6 years) it will be ddr5 anyway. At the moment, I would not recommend anyone to buy the unlocked Skylake i5s and i7s, because they are just not as good value as the Devils Canyon counterparts. If you have a lot of money left over, I would recommend the 5820k over the 6700k, in England (I do not know where you live) the 6700k is more expensive than the 6 core. most places I think are the same, and if not, the 6700k is more expensive. So I think that if you can afford the 6700k get the 5820k(, but if not, get the 4790k or if you are just gaming, get the 4690k.

 

[AustinsPCguru]

With the prices of the i7 6700k at the moment, I really cannot recommend it. Same with the 6600k, you do not have to pay much more to get the 4790k. It will be 98% as powerful as the 6700k, and DDR4 will not be an argument for it, as there is little to no performance upgrade over ddr3, and by the time you will upgrade (if you stick to 5-6 years) it will be ddr5 anyway. At the moment, I would not recommend anyone to buy the unlocked Skylake i5s and i7s, because they are just not as good value as the Devils Canyon counterparts. If you have a lot of money left over, I would recommend the 5820k over the 6700k, in England (I do not know where you live) the 6700k is more expensive than the 6 core. most places I think are the same, and if not, the 6700k is more expensive. So I think that if you can afford the 6700k get the 5820k(, but if not, get the 4790k or if you are just gaming, get the 4690k.

Would this be applicable still? And do you think that the 4790k will perform just as well as 4690k for gaming?

 

[Gamer1985]

I personally think buying outdated hardware with no future upgradability path is worthless for your investment. Socket 1150 is dead and will not be introducing any new hardware and DDR3 is becoming obsolete. Pricing of DDR4 is irrelevant as it is priced very well right now. If you dont mind having to fully upgrade your whole pc when it comes time again then go for it, but You will get many more years with Skylake then you will with Haswell. Of course either processor performance wise will last you several years as they all are very good chips so no bad choice can be made performance wise. You just need to decide if you want to invest money into a dead ended socket or spend a few extra bucks for a new architecture that has future upgradability and add ons.

 

[kenrickandbros]

Would this be applicable still? And do you think that the 4790k will perform just as well as 4690k for gaming?

Yes, it is still better value to get the i7-4790k over the i7-6700k. Also, why would an i7-4790k be worse than the i5-4690k for gaming? The only difference between the i7 and i5 is that the i7 has hyperthreading and a higher base clock, neither would make the i7 worse than the i5.

 

[AustinsPCguru]

Would this be applicable still? And do you think that the 4790k will perform just as well as 4690k for gaming?

Yes, it is still better value to get the i7-4790k over the i7-6700k. Also, why would an i7-4790k be worse than the i5-4690k for gaming? The only difference between the i7 and i5 is that the i7 has hyperthreading and a higher base clock, neither would make the i7 worse than the i5.

I bought a i7 off this one comment today thank you!

 

[kenrickandbros]

I personally think buying outdated hardware with no future upgradability path is worthless for your investment. Socket 1150 is dead and will not be introducing any new hardware and DDR3 is becoming obsolete. Pricing of DDR4 is irrelevant as it is priced very well right now. If you dont mind having to fully upgrade your whole pc when it comes time again then go for it, but You will get many more years with Skylake then you will with Haswell. Of course either processor performance wise will last you several years as they all are very good chips so no bad choice can be made performance wise. You just need to decide if you want to invest money into a dead ended socket or spend a few extra bucks for a new architecture that has future upgradability and add ons.

By the time somebody would need to upgrade from a i7-4790k, the Skylake motherboard socket and maybe even DDR4 itself will also be outdated. Considering that Moore's Law is no longer really holding up, it will be YEARS before current levels of processing power aren't enough.