Should I get a new 6th Gen Intel cpu or a old 4th Gen cpu?

[Acidic Blade]

I'm making a whole new build and I'm wondering for gaming which is better? I7 4790k or i5 6600k?

 

[jimmysmitty]

Of the two the 4790K will be slightly better for gaming since it has 4 additional threads but the LGA 1155 socket is a dead socket meaning that is that last CPU you would be able to buy for that platform so no upgrades while the new LGA 1151 socket, Skylakes socket, will have at least two more CPUs made for it (a refresh called Kaby Lake and a die shrink called Canon lake).

 

[geofelt]

With Skylake now available, there is absolutely no question in my mind that a new build should be Skylake.
a. Prices for cpu, z170 motherboard and ddr4 ram are almost precisely the same.
b. 6600K has an estimated 5-10% performance improvement per clock over haswell.
c. 14nm runs cooler, you get a decent overclock without the need for exotic cooling.
d. The Z170 chipset permits the use of much faster ssd devices on the horizon. Samsung 950 pro for example:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html
e. skylake can be upgraded in the future to kaby lake.

The i7-6700K is a fine processor, but due to demand, there is price inflation.
Actually, for gaming the 6600K with an overclock will be equally good.
Most games can only use 2-3 cores, so the extra I7 hyperthreads will be unused.

Here is what you can expect for skylake overclocking.

What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat 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%