i5 (4690k) vs i7 (4790K)

[starrman]

Okay, this has probably been covered numerous times, but all users seem to have slightly different requirements! I am looking to get a new CPU (and motherboard) next month. I use my PC for both gaming and photo editing as I am a photographer by trade.

Programs I use for my photography are mainly lightroom and photoshop, usually working with around 30-50 images at a time. To be honest I never multi-task with the two programs, it's either one or the other.

Gaming, I want to be able to play pretty much all upcoming games, I have a GTX 970 and 16gb PC2400k memory. (I also only play at 1080p and don't plan to jump up just yet)

The difference in price between these two CPUs seems to be around £60, I am honestly not sure if i7 motherboards are also more expensive.

I am not fussed about squeezing out the very last frame per second on games, I just want them to run smoothly. This is mainly asking if the i7 will increasing my photo editing by a large amount?

I CAN afford the i7, but if we are talking tiny numbers in both game fps and speed of opening up batches of images then I would rather invest in the i5. I am also interested in OCing either CPU. I am also totally up to other suggestions regarding particular CPUs although I would definitely rather stick with intel.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

I'm a photographer myself and work with around 20 simultaneous RAW files; first in Capture NX-D then in Photoshop Elements 10. I have an i5 2500K overclocked to 4.2Ghz and it doesn't break a sweat.

The extra threads of the i7 will only come into their own when you batch process a large number of images at once. Even then, an i5 will still do a good job, it will just take a little longer that's all.

In terms of price/performance, the i5 is the better buy. That said, if you're prepared to skip on the overclocking you can grab a Xeon E3 1230 V3. It gives you the performance of an i7 at roughly the same price as an i5. Sure, it doesn't have integrated graphics, but you don't need that anyway.

If you do want to overclock then you'll also need an aftermarket CPU cooler and a Z-chipset motherboard, such as an MSI Z97 Gaming 5.

Finally, remember that Intel's new processors will be using a different socket, so you may want to hold fire for now and see what they have to offer.

 

[kol12]

There's some reviews around that show the i5 overclocks better than the i7 i think, don't have links sorry. Maybe its because the i5 uses less power? You'll probably get some better replies, just thought i'd pitch in.

 

[synphul]

Here are some benchmarks related to games and photoshop, there are other cpu's compared as well so you might have to look at the proper chart values but there's not a lot of difference in most games and little difference in photoshop.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-4790k-i5-4690k_6.html

Here you can see some games perform better on an i7 4790k but most of that is due to the higher out of the box clock speeds. Once overclocked the i5 meets or comes real close to the 4790k, while the overclocked 4790k has much lower gains over stock.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-core-i5-4690k-core-i7-4790k-review

Additional benchmarks between the two with various games and real world as well as synthetic benchmarks. The larger differences are mostly present in the synthetic benchmarks.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1261?vs=1260

Both the 4690k and 4790k use the same lga 1150 socket motherboards, there aren't any special boards for one or the other. For overclocking you'll want a z series motherboard and there are plenty of options in all price ranges depending what specific features you want. Such as how many usb ports, audio options, sata headers, fan headers, dual bios, extra overclocking features like onboard reset button and voltage check points for use with a voltmeter (serious overclocking) and so on. The more fully featured the board is the more it typically costs. Prices range from around 80 sterling on up.

Just be sure to get a decent cooler like a 212 evo, cryorig h7/h5, phanteks has good coolers like the tc14pe and tc12dx, noctua nh-d14 etc. depending how much you want to spend. A 212 evo or cryorig h7 may be pushing it a bit to get max overclocks out of either i5 or i7 but capable of handling moderate overclocks.

 

[starrman]

Awesome replies guys, much appreciated! I will close this now and do a bit of research based on what you've told me I might also hold out for the next generation but I'll see, I get impatient when my mind is on something!