i5 4th-gen vs i5 6th-gen

[Archsider]

Hello,

I am going to get a new pc(CPU and Motherboard) and stuck on the choice of
Intel i5 4690K(or 4590)
and
Intel i5 6600/6600K(or even 6500)
As they are on the same price range in my local shopping website.
Can anyone provide the pros and cons or any suggestions as to which one to get ???

What I know(please correct me if I go wrong) :
the latest 6th gen has problem regarding some aftermarket cooler, I am not looking to Overclock, hope the cooler that comes along will work.

What will I do :
This is not a gaming pc, it is for my digital art work, which needs a powerful CPU primarily.

My confusion is Why are the prices same ? Should I just go for the 6th gen or see their specs (which you can help me with?) ?

 

[Gingerbread]

If it's not for gaming I would most likely go for a non-K version. The i5-6500 is pretty much as fast as the i5-4590, however it comes with DDR4, and the 1151 socket, which is better and newer. Prices should not be the same, 4590 should be around $20 less or so but if they are equal I would go for 6500.

 

[holyprof]

When comparing platform costs, don't forget to include RAM costs as well. Professional use requires high amounts of RAM and it's expensive. My i5-4690K PC is equipped with 16GB RAM that cost me the same amount of money as the CPU itself.

I guess you will not feel much of a difference between all CPUs considered.
Do research what type of workload comes from the software you use:

• 
  ■ does it like lots of threads (3D render, video editing) -> get a non-K i7 CPU.
  ■ does it like fast CPU but use 4 or less threads (photoshop, lightroom, inkscape and similar) -> get a high frequency i5, be it 4690 or 6600
  ■ does it like lots of RAM - choose the platform with cheaper RAM per GB and 16, 24 or even 32 GB
  ■ does it like FAST RAM - DDR4 is your obvious choice -> skylake platform

 

[Archsider]

If it's not for gaming I would most likely go for a non-K version. The i5-6500 is pretty much as fast as the i5-4590, however it comes with DDR4, and the 1151 socket, which is better and newer. Prices should not be the same, 4590 should be around $20 less or so but if they are equal I would go for 6500.

I see, the website I buy from has almost the same price so going for the 6th gen then

 

[Archsider]

When comparing platform costs, don't forget to include RAM costs as well. Professional use requires high amounts of RAM and it's expensive. My i5-4690K PC is equipped with 16GB RAM that cost me the same amount of money as the CPU itself.

I guess you will not feel much of a difference between all CPUs considered.
Do research what type of workload comes from the software you use:

• 
  ■ does it like lots of threads (3D render, video editing) -> get a non-K i7 CPU.
  ■ does it like fast CPU but use 4 or less threads (photoshop, lightroom, inkscape and similar) -> get a high frequency i5, be it 4690 or 6600
  ■ does it like lots of RAM - choose the platform with cheaper RAM per GB and 16, 24 or even 32 GB
  ■ does it like FAST RAM - DDR4 is your obvious choice -> skylake platform

For the requirements I wont be doing much 3D but more 2D, it cares less for threads but only depends mostly on the power of the CPU.For the RAM 16 would be enough and I dont mind DDR3 or DDR4.
My only hesitation was if the 6th gen was newer why is it priced so low ?

 

[Gingerbread]

It's not low by any means, but to answer your question, this is the first batch of skylake, more powerful i5s and i7s are expected to arrive. Until then intel are most likely trying to find out if there are any serious problems and improve the quality of the product. So far they seem to be delivering.

 

[synphul]

So long as the price is the same may as well go with skylake. Many time the latest intel cpu's have been the same or similarly priced to the model they replaced like when the 4690k replaced the 4670k in the lineup. Not all places share the same pricing, not too long ago the 4690k was reduced in price a bit. Even now that it's selling at full retail it's about $30usd cheaper than the skylake 6600k.

As others mentioned, ram has been a consideration and why some people are hesitant to go with skylake if they already invested in 8-16gb or more of ddr3 they will sometimes reuse it with a haswell build.

Depending what design software you use, cpu upgrades are less of a concern since designers don't tend to upgrade their software all the time. It's not like gaming where every few weeks or months a new game with different requirements is released and becomes the 'must have'. Photoshop for instance hasn't really changed all that much and cost of upgrades in the past has generally been much higher than the $40-60 spent on a game. If using the newer cloud based cc it's a bit different with the monthly recurring fee.

That's just one example, gimp being another it's similar. When a new version comes out there may be subtle differences or changes to existing tools or a new tool or two may be included but the overall system requirements are pretty much the same so designers aren't put in a position where they have to perpetually upgrade.

The issue with skylake cpu's and using aftermarket coolers was a one source incident that got repeated all over the internet and one other that had issues likely installed the cooler improperly using power tools.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

If it's not for gaming I would most likely go for a non-K version. The i5-6500 is pretty much as fast as the i5-4590, however it comes with DDR4, and the 1151 socket, which is better and newer. Prices should not be the same, 4590 should be around $20 less or so but if they are equal I would go for 6500.

Except that by restricting yourself to the non-K I5-6500 and then getting an H170 or H110 motherboard, you're restricted to DDR4-2133 RAM which has a worse latency/frequency ratio than the higher-end models such as DDR4-3000.

 

[Gingerbread]

Yeah you do that, but if you want to upgrade, you buy a z170 for sure, after all prices on some h170s are same as z170s and even the better z170s are not that much more expensive than the h170s.

 

[Archsider]

It's not low by any means, but to answer your question, this is the first batch of skylake, more powerful i5s and i7s are expected to arrive. Until then intel are most likely trying to find out if there are any serious problems and improve the quality of the product. So far they seem to be delivering.

I see , so the newer Intel's arrival may lower prices ?

 

[Gingerbread]

Yeah until old series is gone, most likely.

 

[Archsider]

So long as the price is the same may as well go with skylake. Many time the latest intel cpu's have been the same or similarly priced to the model they replaced like when the 4690k replaced the 4670k in the lineup. Not all places share the same pricing, not too long ago the 4690k was reduced in price a bit. Even now that it's selling at full retail it's about $30usd cheaper than the skylake 6600k.

As others mentioned, ram has been a consideration and why some people are hesitant to go with skylake if they already invested in 8-16gb or more of ddr3 they will sometimes reuse it with a haswell build.

Depending what design software you use, cpu upgrades are less of a concern since designers don't tend to upgrade their software all the time. It's not like gaming where every few weeks or months a new game with different requirements is released and becomes the 'must have'. Photoshop for instance hasn't really changed all that much and cost of upgrades in the past has generally been much higher than the $40-60 spent on a game. If using the newer cloud based cc it's a bit different with the monthly recurring fee.

That's just one example, gimp being another it's similar. When a new version comes out there may be subtle differences or changes to existing tools or a new tool or two may be included but the overall system requirements are pretty much the same so designers aren't put in a position where they have to perpetually upgrade.

The issue with skylake cpu's and using aftermarket coolers was a one source incident that got repeated all over the internet and one other that had issues likely installed the cooler improperly using power tools.

holy crap "power tools" ? xD that's insane.
What I am looking for is a solid CPU which can last quite a few years(exclusively as a workstation), I wont overclock and fit in a medium sized cabinet.As far as generation goes 6th gen is obviously better than 4th in this case, right?