Intel CPU decision for my new PC

[naal33]

Im buying a new computer that i want to last for 6+ years (my last PC lasted for 8 years). All I've ever used my computers for is gaming, listening to music and youtube. But mostly gaming. (WoW, Star Wars TOR, Tomb Raider, GTA 5 ...)

I don't know much about computer parts and i need some help with my CPU.

My choices for cpu are i7-4790K, i7-6700K, and i7-5930K. (Price is not an issue)

-I've read about how 6 core chips are better for rendering/video editing and are rarely utilized in games. And that more ghz is better for gaming. But i want this pc to last a long time, so maybe 6 cores would be good???
-Will there be much of a difference from 3.5 ghz to 4.0 ghz ?? (i won't be overclocking)
-Will DDR4 be better since i won't be buying a new pc for 6 or more years?

I am leaning towards getting a 4 core / 4.0ghz cpu, but if 3.5ghz isn't much of a noticeable dropoff from 4.0 then i might get the 6 core / 3.5ghz (i7-5930K).

So what do you guys think is the best choice CPU for me?

The specs on the rest of my computer are:
•2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6G Hard Drive
•4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 [DL DVI-I, HDMI, DP, DP, DP]
•16GB DDR3-1600 DIMM (2x8GB) RAM
•Windows 7 Pro 64-bit


Thank you all for the help!

 

[Guest]

If price isn't an issue, I am going to recommend a i7 5960x with 8 cores. 8 cores will defiantly future-proof you as games(such as BF4) start to use a max of 8 cores. But if the price is an issue, go with the 5930k. Its a great choice.

 

[Supernova1138]

If you want to get a really long life out of this system and have the money to spare, you might as well go Haswell-E to get the higher core count, which should be beneficial eventually as we don't really have anywhere to go to improve CPU performance at this point except to cram more cores on and actually use them. It might actually be about the same in cost compared to a Skylake build with the 6700k due to price gouging going on with that specific CPU.

Get the i7 5820k if you want 6 cores. The 5930k really isn't worthwhile unless you need the additional PCI-E lanes to run more than 2 GPUs in SLI or Crossfire or have a crapload of PCI-E expansion cards you want to use. The minor clockspeed advantage the 5930k has can easily be made up through overclocking, which is actually pretty easy to do, it likely would be as simple as bumping up the multiplier by two notches to match the 5930k's clockspeed.

If you do go Haswell-E or Skylake you will need DDR4 RAM, DDR3 doesn't work at all with Haswell-E, and Skylake only support low voltage DDR3 on select motherboards, with DDR4 motherboards being much more common. DDR4 is the new memory standard, and if I was going to be stuck with the same RAM for 6+ years, I'd rather have that than 1600MHz DDR3. If it was really fast DDR3, eg. something in the 2400MHz range then maybe I'd stick with it.

 

[naal33]

I am going to recommend a i7 5960x with 8 cores. 8 cores will defiantly future-proof you as games(such as BF4) start to use a max of 8 cores

If you want to get a really long life out of this system and have the money to spare, you might as well go Haswell-E to get the higher core count, which should be beneficial eventually as we don't really have anywhere to go to improve CPU performance at this point except to cram more cores on and actually use them.

Get the i7 5820k if you want 6 cores. The 5930k really isn't worthwhile unless you need the additional PCI-E lanes to run more than 2 GPUs in SLI or Crossfire or have a crapload of PCI-E expansion cards you want to use. The minor clockspeed advantage the 5930k has can easily be made up through overclocking, which is actually pretty easy to do, it likely would be as simple as bumping up the multiplier by two notches to match the 5930k's clockspeed.

So what im hearing is that it would be better to go with 6+ core instead of a 4 core chip since 0.5 ghz isnt much of a difference?

 

[dudeman509]

Broadwell-E is right around the corner

http://wccftech.com/intel-broadwell-e-specifications-leaked-core-i7-6950x-flagship-processor-10-cores-20-threads-core-i7-6900k-core-i7-6850k-core-i7-6800k-detailed/

 

[Supernova1138]

I am going to recommend a i7 5960x with 8 cores. 8 cores will defiantly future-proof you as games(such as BF4) start to use a max of 8 cores

If you want to get a really long life out of this system and have the money to spare, you might as well go Haswell-E to get the higher core count, which should be beneficial eventually as we don't really have anywhere to go to improve CPU performance at this point except to cram more cores on and actually use them.

Get the i7 5820k if you want 6 cores. The 5930k really isn't worthwhile unless you need the additional PCI-E lanes to run more than 2 GPUs in SLI or Crossfire or have a crapload of PCI-E expansion cards you want to use. The minor clockspeed advantage the 5930k has can easily be made up through overclocking, which is actually pretty easy to do, it likely would be as simple as bumping up the multiplier by two notches to match the 5930k's clockspeed.

So what im hearing is that it would be better to go with 6+ core instead of a 4 core chip since 0.5 ghz isnt much of a difference?

The extra 500MHz won't make a huge difference most of the time, and can easily be eliminated by overclocking. As for Broadwell-E, that is apparently several months off, with a June or July release date, so it might not be worth waiting for unless you want 10 cores without having to pay the premium for a Xeon processor.

 

[naal33]

I think I'm going to get the i7-5930K unless anyone else has a serious reason why I shouldn't.

 

[Supernova1138]

I think I'm going to get the i7-5930K unless anyone else has a serious reason why I shouldn't.

It really isn't worth spending the extra $200 over the 5820k, but it's your money, so you can spend it as you see fit. I'd personally put the $200 towards a better graphics card than the GTX 970 or towards an SSD rather than towards a CPU that isn't significantly faster.

 

[naal33]

I think I'm going to get the i7-5930K unless anyone else has a serious reason why I shouldn't.

It really isn't worth spending the extra $200 over the 5820k, but it's your money, so you can spend it as you see fit. I'd personally put the $200 towards a better graphics card than the GTX 970 or towards an SSD rather than towards a CPU that isn't significantly faster.

In the deal I am being offered I have no option of a SSD. I am also being offered the 5820k and 5930k for the same price. The only upgrade in gpu is the gtx 980.
Does it matter that my cpu is ddr4 and my gpu gddr5?

 

[Supernova1138]

No, GPU and system RAM are entirely independent of each other, so having DDR4 RAM doesn't prevent you from having a card with GDDR5. If it isn't going to cost you extra, you might as well get the 5930k.

 

[naal33]

Thank you Supernova for the helping me with this!