i7 8700k or 8700 non-k?

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J

Jh4nTy

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Mar 30, 2016
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Hello guys. This is my current build:
• CPU: Intel Core i5 4690k @ 4.2GHz
• GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 WindForce OC 6GB
• RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz
• Motherboard: ASUS H81-Gamer
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• HDD: 1TB
• SSD: TOSHIBA Q300 240GB

I’m thinking about upgrading to the new generation of cpus and I’m going for the i7 because of its hyper threading feature. The only question is that if it’s worth the extra bucks for the unlocked version or not.

If you could also give me some advice on the rest of the hardware, I’d appreciate it. I need, obviously, a MoBo, RAM and I will also be getting a new PSU and a water-cooling system, preferably those with 2 120mm fans. My budget is around 800-900€.

Thank you!
 
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If your dead set on water cooling then you might as well get the 8700K with a Z370 motherboard. Now if you weren't water cooling and could wait until the beginning of next year to upgrade then I would suggest the 8700 with a B360/H370 motherboard as it could save you a bit of money that could maybe be spent somewhere else on the build.

Just wondering, are you having issues with any games? I would think at 4.2ghz the 4690K would still be a good CPU.
 
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I don’t have major issues gaming. The thing is I like to stream sometimes and to do that with 2 monitors as well, it’s kind of demanding to my current build and to stream some games in particular. Although yesterday I installed Battlefield 1 and I had some fps drops even in medium. With a 144hz monitor, I easily spot the difference.
 
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If the frame drops are while streaming, it could definitely be the CPU bottlenecking as Battlefield 1 is one of the few games that can utilize 4 cores pretty effectively. If it's just while gaming and not much else running (besides game clients, VoIP, etc) then you would benefit more by upgrading your GPU.

Check your memory usage while running the game as well. 16GB should be plenty, but with all the game clients and other things running in the background these days, (utilities for gaming peripherals especially) they can really add up fast.

Good luck with your upgrade! To answer the original question, it is worth it to get the K version if you plan to overclock a bit, but like a previous poster said, it is definitely going to cost more because you will need a motherboard that can handle that as well.
 
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Battlefield was dropping fps without streaming. I won’t be updating my GPU because I bought my 1060 quite recently. Besides, I feel like upgrading my GPU with my current build wouldn’t be very effective.
 
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By the way I’m very excited to play the new NFS and I checked the recommended specs which are exactly the same as my current build so I think it’s getting to the point where I need to upgrade. I mean, I’m four generations behind, stuck in the old socket and stuck on DDR3...
 
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i7-4770K: $283 USD, plus the cost of a CPU cooler
i7-4790K: $337 USD, plus the cost of a CPU cooler
i7-4790: $354 USD, CPU cooler included
i7-8700K, MSI Z370-A PRO motherboard, 2x8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V Series DDR4-3000 RAM (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pTHp7h): $649 USD, plus the cost of a CPU cooler

If all you need is additional threads from HyperThreading, a Haswell Core i7 should work just fine without having to rebuild your system from scratch. Sure, you'll have to pay for a CPU cooler, but you'd have to with the i7-8700K as well. And it'll cost about half as much.

 
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Enough for overclocking? Well, they only have Z370 boards out, so it should be OK. There were some other boards available on PCPartPicker.com, I just included the ATX board with the lowest price. For most of the more expensive boards, however, it seems like they're mainly for getting SLI, which seems to be getting less & less support from game producers.
 
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For those of you that mentioned the i7-4790k... is it really worth to pay pretty much the same as I would pay for a 8700? I mean, I don’t want to be upgrading again in a year or something.
 
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If you upgrade to the i7-4790/4790K, you will still be fine for the next couple of years. We're still seeing games out that only need a Sandy Bridge (2nd-gen) or Ivy Bridge (3rd-gen) core i5, so having a Haswell (4th-gen) core i7 will leave you sitting pretty for some time.

Just as a cost comparison for you:
-- i7-8700 build with ASUS Z370 motherboard & 16GB of DDR4-2666 RAM (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Wrk6Gf): $625 USD.
-- Using the i7-8700K adds another $60 on top of that for the CPU, plus you'll spend another $30-50 minimum for an aftermarket air cooler (8700K doesn't come with a CPU cooler), so you're looking at $715-735 USD.
-- i7-4790 (which you can just drop into your existing system) is half that price, at $325 USD (https://pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu/#f=34,40,41,42&s=13&k=24&sort=price&page=1). In this case, I wouldn't recommend the 4790K because you can't overclock with your motherboard...but if you wanted it for the higher clock speeds, it's only another $12 USD for the CPU & $30-50USD for a cooler, so you'd be loooking at $367-387 USD (again, half the cost of a brand-new i7-8700K system).

Bottom line, a Coffee Lake system will cost you twice as much as simply upgrading with a CPU that's compatible with your current system, & it won't give you twice the performance over a Haswell i7.
 
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