i5 6600k vs. i7 6700 (non k) vs. i7 4790k

[Swiss_G4mer]

Hey Guys

Which of the three CPU should I buy?

All three CPUs cost the same (with Mainboard, CPU Cooler and RAM). I going to buy a new gaming rig end of this month and don't know which I should take.

I game most of the time, but I also edit videos/pictures often. At the moment I don't want to overclock, but I'm going to upgrade the PC next year.

I want to play games like DayZ, Arma 2/3, GTA5, Battlefield 4/Hardline.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Supahos]

Well if you don't plan to oc the 6700 is the pretty obvious choice for you especially if u plan to upgrade down the road

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

Well if you don't plan to oc the 6700 is the pretty obvious choice for you especially if u plan to upgrade down the road

But is there a way to clock the i7 6700 permanent on the boost clock (4.0GHz)?

 

[Supahos]

Yes turn speed step or whatever they are calling it now off. You may can oc the 6700 if you end up with a z series board via the bclk

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

Yes turn speed step or whatever they are calling it now off. You may can oc the 6700 if you end up with a z series board via the bclk

Thanks for your help. Is the ASUS Z170-A good enough to overclock the i7 6700?

 

[Supahos]

Should be that's not a guarantee because I've asked all over the world and not gotten a response about it. If the bclk is unlocked there is no reason you can't do it, you'll just have to lower the memory strap to keep from ocing your memory as well

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

Should be that's not a guarantee because I've asked all over the world and not gotten a response about it. If the bclk is unlocked there is no reason you can't do it, you'll just have to lower the memory strap to keep from ocing your memory as well

Thanks a lot

 

[geofelt]

1. The Skylake "K" suffix chips are designed to be overclocked. You need not do so initially, but with a Z170 motherboard, you will find it very easy.

2. The locked chips will have lower multipliers. Individual core speed is the essence of a gaming processor.
I5-6600K = 3.5
I7-6700 = 3.4
I7-6700K = 4.0
I7-4790K = 4.0 Skylake ipc is 5-10% better per clock.

But... if you will plan on overclocking, either a i5-6600K or I7-6700K will reach 4.6-4.7 depending on chip quality.
Games do not use more than 2-3 cores so the extra hyperthreads of the i7 will be largely unused.
My conclusion... for gaming, a I5-6600K is the best performer if you are willing to overclock.
It is a very good performer at stock.

Any Z170 motherboard will overclock about the same. Pick one based on your favorite brand, motherboard size, audio
M.2 attachments or whatever.
They are all largely irrelevant for gaming on a single graphics card.

Now, if your editing and other multithreaded operations are most important, then the i7-6700K and the extra $100 budget is what you want.

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

1. The Skylake "K" suffix chips are designed to be overclocked. You need not do so initially, but with a Z170 motherboard, you will find it very easy.

2. The locked chips will have lower multipliers. Individual core speed is the essence of a gaming processor.
I5-6600K = 3.5
I7-6700 = 3.4
I7-6700K = 4.0
I7-4790K = 4.0 Skylake ipc is 5-10% better per clock.

But... if you will plan on overclocking, either a i5-6600K or I7-6700K will reach 4.6-4.7 depending on chip quality.
Games do not use more than 2-3 cores so the extra hyperthreads of the i7 will be largely unused.
My conclusion... for gaming, a I5-6600K is the best performer if you are willing to overclock.
It is a very good performer at stock.

Any Z170 motherboard will overclock about the same. Pick one based on your favorite brand, motherboard size, audio
M.2 attachments or whatever.
They are all largely irrelevant for gaming on a single graphics card.

Now, if your editing and other multithreaded operations are most important, then the i7-6700K and the extra $100 budget is what you want.

I can't take the i7-6700k at the moment, because they're everywhere sold out... I live in Switzerland and also in the neighbouring countries are they sold out.

 

[geofelt]

1. The Skylake "K" suffix chips are designed to be overclocked. You need not do so initially, but with a Z170 motherboard, you will find it very easy.

2. The locked chips will have lower multipliers. Individual core speed is the essence of a gaming processor.
I5-6600K = 3.5
I7-6700 = 3.4
I7-6700K = 4.0
I7-4790K = 4.0 Skylake ipc is 5-10% better per clock.

But... if you will plan on overclocking, either a i5-6600K or I7-6700K will reach 4.6-4.7 depending on chip quality.
Games do not use more than 2-3 cores so the extra hyperthreads of the i7 will be largely unused.
My conclusion... for gaming, a I5-6600K is the best performer if you are willing to overclock.
It is a very good performer at stock.

Any Z170 motherboard will overclock about the same. Pick one based on your favorite brand, motherboard size, audio
M.2 attachments or whatever.
They are all largely irrelevant for gaming on a single graphics card.

Now, if your editing and other multithreaded operations are most important, then the i7-6700K and the extra $100 budget is what you want.

I can't take the i7-6700k at the moment, because they're everywhere sold out... I live in Switzerland and also in the neighbouring countries are they sold out.

I understand.
I was wanting to buy a I7-6700K and our US stores were out for the longest time.
I caved and bought a binned i5-6600K to replace my i7-4790K.
In my games, I see an improvement, and am very pleased with my result.
I have some very cpu limited games like Civ-5.
I really did not need to change, but another motivation was the prospect of faster X4 based ssd devices coming.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

 

[Supahos]

Still don't think you need a knseries chip to oc anymore

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

1. The Skylake "K" suffix chips are designed to be overclocked. You need not do so initially, but with a Z170 motherboard, you will find it very easy.

2. The locked chips will have lower multipliers. Individual core speed is the essence of a gaming processor.
I5-6600K = 3.5
I7-6700 = 3.4
I7-6700K = 4.0
I7-4790K = 4.0 Skylake ipc is 5-10% better per clock.

But... if you will plan on overclocking, either a i5-6600K or I7-6700K will reach 4.6-4.7 depending on chip quality.
Games do not use more than 2-3 cores so the extra hyperthreads of the i7 will be largely unused.
My conclusion... for gaming, a I5-6600K is the best performer if you are willing to overclock.
It is a very good performer at stock.

Any Z170 motherboard will overclock about the same. Pick one based on your favorite brand, motherboard size, audio
M.2 attachments or whatever.
They are all largely irrelevant for gaming on a single graphics card.

Now, if your editing and other multithreaded operations are most important, then the i7-6700K and the extra $100 budget is what you want.

I can't take the i7-6700k at the moment, because they're everywhere sold out... I live in Switzerland and also in the neighbouring countries are they sold out.

I understand.
I was wanting to buy a I7-6700K and our US stores were out for the longest time.
I caved and bought a binned i5-6600K to replace my i7-4790K.
In my games, I see an improvement, and am very pleased with my result.
I have some very cpu limited games like Civ-5.
I really did not need to change, but another motivation was the prospect of faster X4 based ssd devices coming.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

What's about video/picture editing/rendering? Is the i5 6600k fast enough?

 

[geofelt]

The i5-6600K will be equally as good as a 6700K for gaming when overclocked.
My thought is that one can tolerate longer batch rendering runs than tolerate gaming stutters due to lack of cpu speed.

 

[Swiss_G4mer]

The i5-6600K will be equally as good as a 6700K for gaming when overclocked.
My thought is that one can tolerate longer batch rendering runs than tolerate gaming stutters due to lack of cpu speed.

Thanks for your help

 

[audiophizile13]

The i5-6600K will be equally as good as a 6700K for gaming when overclocked.
My thought is that one can tolerate longer batch rendering runs than tolerate gaming stutters due to lack of cpu speed.

But then you can overclock a 6700k and that is better for gaming...

 

[king3pj]

If they are all the same price I think the i7-6700 is a no brainer. I love overclocking my CPUs but even at stock speed the i7-6700 is fast enough for any game on the market and it has the advantage of hyperthreading for any applications and games down the line that can use it.

The i7-4790k would be my second choice. It keeps the advantage of hyperthreading but it adds in the the ability to easily overclock. The disadvantage is that it loses the features that come with Skylake (M.2 SSDs, USB C, etc.)

The i5-6600K obviously adds back the Skylake features and keeps the overclocking ability but it loses hyperthreading. Admittedly, hyperthreading isn't a huge deal for gaming right now but you have already said you don't want to overclock. At stock speeds the i5-6600k is fast enough for any game on the market but so is the i7-6700 and it comes with hyperthreading.

The i7-6700 costs about $100 more than the i5-6600k in the US if that tells you anything about the perceived value difference.

 

[geofelt]

FWIW,
skylake oc statistics.
What percent can get an overclock at a sane 1.40v
I5-6600K
4.9 3%
4.8 23%
4.7 44%
4.6 85%

I7-6700K
4.8 12%
4.7 47%
4.6 91%