Intel CPU Showdown for Music Production Power

[vanhaarl]

Need a powerful CPU for music production, and occasional gaming.

I've narrowed the list down to the i7-4790k, the i7-5820k and the new i7-6700k, and their relative platforms.

Which one would be best??

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Well depends if you already own a system?
The i7-6700k is a new chipset/socket than the i7-4790k and i7-5820k.

If you're just building now I would straight out go with the i7 6700k.
1. it's slightly faster at CPU intensive tasks than the i7-4790k (around 10-20% depending on workload)
2. it has newer features and newer motherboards.
3. Runs slightly cooler than the i7 4790k. It also overclocks slightly better if you're into that.

So personally I would go with the new i7-6700k skylake CPU, it is the newest CPU from Intel and will handle gaming easily, and other.
The i7 5820k does have 6 cores but each core is supposedly less powerful single cores, than to the other i7's. So in theory the 4790/6700 should perform better in less threaded games. The 6 cores however will be worth it in highly CPU intensive tasks with many threads.
The 4790 and 6700 are 4 cores with hyperthreading, with 8 threads on both.

It also depends on what music software you're using 😉 I would still go the newer i7- 6700k for gaming and production. It cuts in the middle.

-good luck

 

[vanhaarl]

Well depends if you already own a system?
The i7-6700k is a new chipset/socket than the i7-4790k and i7-5820k.

If you're just building now I would straight out go with the i7 6700k.
1. it's slightly faster at CPU intensive tasks than the i7-4790k (around 10-20% depending on workload)
2. it has newer features and newer motherboards.
3. Runs slightly cooler than the i7 4790k. It also overclocks slightly better if you're into that.

So personally I would go with the new i7-6700k skylake CPU, it is the newest CPU from Intel and will handle gaming easily, and other.
The i7 5820k does have 6 cores but each core is supposedly less powerful single cores, than to the other i7's. So in theory the 4790/6700 should perform better in less threaded games. The 6 cores however will be worth it in highly CPU intensive tasks with many threads.
The 4790 and 6700 are 4 cores with hyperthreading, with 8 threads on both.

It also depends on what music software you're using 😉 I would still go the newer i7- 6700k for gaming and production. It cuts in the middle.

-good luck

Forgot to mention: brand new PC build from scratch, so I'm not tied down to any particular chipsets.

I use FL Studio, and many Native Instrument VSTs per project. I also use quite a few CPU intensive effects.

Initialliy the i7-5820k seemed like the best bet, but going with the X99 platform just as the new Skylake processors were being released seemed like a bad idea, especially as the X99 platform is much more expensive than the Z97.

Decisions, decisions.... :s

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Id still say go with Skylake, new socket which means possibly more CPU's later if you need it. Whereas 1150 has hit its end.
Also new features such as more usb ports,
more PCI-e slots (which means you can use PCI-e based SSD's which will speed up CPU and read/write intensive tasks by heaps). Also DDR4, which has become cheaper compared to before.
There's no reason not to go to a new platform.

Also z170 chipsets bring features on the more expensive X99 platform onto more affordable motherboards. Heck right now I got my eyes on an Asus Ranger motherboard and an i7-6700k as well 😉

The i7 5860k will perform the best at highly threaded programs, however the other i7's not too far behind. However the X99 platforms are more expensive than comparable z170 motherboards. Not the mention the i7 6820k is slightly more expensive as well 😉
i7 6700k is better for the amount of money you're spending.

-good luck