Trying to choose CPU for upgrade

[gunndykol]

I'm looking to upgrade my current CPU (i7-6700k) and can't decide on which one to get.

I am a gamer who is starting to get into live streaming and youtube video creation. So while my 6700k is fine for playing games, it really doesn't do extremely well playing, 1080p/60 twitch streaming, and local recording (for editing and later uploading raid guides, etc...).

I'm trying to decide between the 8700k, 7820x, and 7900x from Intel. AMD is not an option for me as I get 50% discount on Intel processors, so Intel wins the performance as well as price/performance race for me.

I know the 7900x is a beast for streaming while gaming as well as production work (video editing and the like), but I don't know if I really need THAT much power for where I'm at right now (3-6 videos a month at most). The 8700k seems to resolve Intels issue with trying to game and stream at the same time that their 4c/8t CPUs had and is great for straight gaming while not streaming, but not sure how well it compares for productivity work and z370 is a dead end platform. The 7820x seems to be a good compromise and puts me in the x299 enthusiast realm as well.

Looking for others opinions on the smart move in this situation.

My workload will probably be:

35% gaming only
40% gaming/streaming/local recording all at same time
25% video editing and rendering

So my options are:

7900x for ~$500
7820x for ~$300
8700k for ~$200

The cost of MB doesn't affect my decision here and everything else carries over from my existing system.

 

[Phaaze88]

Since gaming is your priority, right off the bat, the 7900 is overkill. The 7820 is as well, albeit not as much as the other. Those 2 cpus can be gamed on, but perform worse than 8700 in some situations... they are better suited for productivity workloads which they do better than 8700 in.
Go with the 8700k.
Also, what kinda power supply are you rocking? While it's not as bad as it used to be, 7900 and 7820 can use a fair bit more power than your current cpu.

 

[mperna21]

Just get the 8700k.

 

[Bob125484]

i7 8700K is 6c/12t

 

[gunndykol]

Since gaming is your priority, right off the bat, the 7900 is overkill. The 7820 is as well, albeit not as much as the other. Those 2 cpus can be gamed on, but perform worse than 8700 in some situations... they are better suited for productivity workloads which they do better than 8700 in.
Go with the 8700k.
Also, what kinda power supply are you rocking? While it's not as bad as it used to be, 7900 and 7820 can use a fair bit more power than your current cpu.

I have a EVGA 1050GS power supply, so I'm not worried about the power draw on the x299 platform.

 

[Phaaze88]

Since gaming is your priority, right off the bat, the 7900 is overkill. The 7820 is as well, albeit not as much as the other. Those 2 cpus can be gamed on, but perform worse than 8700 in some situations... they are better suited for productivity workloads which they do better than 8700 in.
Go with the 8700k.
Also, what kinda power supply are you rocking? While it's not as bad as it used to be, 7900 and 7820 can use a fair bit more power than your current cpu.

I have a EVGA 1050GS power supply, so I'm not worried about the power draw on the x299 platform.

Yeah, that's PLENTY! XD
Just go with the 8700. The other two just aren't worth the higher overall cost for your current needs.

 

[gunndykol]

My overall goal is the following:



Twitch Streaming

x264 1080p/60, 6000 kbps, fast or faster preset



Local Recording

NVENC 1440p/60, lossless



All while gaming at 1440p and hopefully maintaining 90-100FPS



Using a GTX 1080TI GPU.  May look into buying a 2nd one for SLI if it provides benefit (1080 SLI while just gaming at 1440p currently doesn't scalle very well and even shows negative scaling is many titles).  If adding the streaming and local recording to the mix makes SLI useful again at less than 4k gaming, then I'll get a 2nd card.

I'm not sure the 8700k is capable of the higher quality stream without dropping frames.

 

[ArchitSahu]

My overall goal is the following:



Twitch Streaming

x264 1080p/60, 6000 kbps, fast or faster preset



Local Recording

NVENC 1440p/60, lossless



All while gaming at 1440p and hopefully maintaining 90-100FPS



Using a GTX 1080TI GPU.  May look into buying a 2nd one for SLI if it provides benefit (1080 SLI while just gaming at 1440p currently doesn't scalle very well and even shows negative scaling is many titles).  If adding the streaming and local recording to the mix makes SLI useful again at less than 4k gaming, then I'll get a 2nd card.

I'm not sure the 8700k is capable of the higher quality stream without dropping frames.

The 8700k is a good option. But I would go with a 7820X or 7900X simply due to it being more powerful. It would be more than capable of handling Streaming and Gaming at the same time, so I would consider either of those two. The 7900x is an 18 core, so perhaps the 7820X is the best go-between, if you have the budget.

Edit: Clearly somebody is a special snowflake who cannot take other opinions, so decided to downvote the answer. Sorry this does not agree with yours. But unless it is something that is seriously horrendous, I would keep that downvote button off.

 

[Phaaze88]

My overall goal is the following:



Twitch Streaming

x264 1080p/60, 6000 kbps, fast or faster preset



Local Recording

NVENC 1440p/60, lossless



All while gaming at 1440p and hopefully maintaining 90-100FPS



Using a GTX 1080TI GPU.  May look into buying a 2nd one for SLI if it provides benefit (1080 SLI while just gaming at 1440p currently doesn't scalle very well and even shows negative scaling is many titles).  If adding the streaming and local recording to the mix makes SLI useful again at less than 4k gaming, then I'll get a 2nd card.

I'm not sure the 8700k is capable of the higher quality stream without dropping frames.

The 8700 will be enough for your needs. You'd be wasting money with the other 2. Sure, they'd render a little faster than the 8700, but the latter would net you a little higher fps in game. Then there's also the higher overall cost of the x299 platform - the 7900 will need a good AIO or custom loop, air will struggle with it... even more $$$.
You also mentioned throwing out just a few videos a month(not a lot, really). If aiming for 7820/7900, that's kind of a waste.

If you've got money to burn, go all out for a 7900... but the 8700 will be more than sufficient.

 

[mdd1963]

concur with 8700K.....hands down!

 

[gunndykol]

I think I am going to go with the 7820x. I not sure what's up with the Intel EPP site, but I don't seem to see the 8700k on there for me to pick up. So I'd have to pay retail for it. 7820x at $297 vs 8700k retail seems like a no brainer. The extra savings covers the MB cost.

I already have a full custom loop water cooling solution for my 6700k system (360mm rad + 420mm rad), so it shouldn't require any additional cooling cost either.

Plus getting the x299 platform gives me the option for Cascade Lake and/or higher core count CPUs if I start doing more content creation while the z370 is most likely a dead end.