Question Upgrade from i7 4790k

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Flemmard

Apr 13, 2019
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Hello,
I bought my i7 4790k in 2014 (5 years, thats a lot computer-wise!).
Everything was fine until recently, i started to play around a lot with Unreal Engine, Maya and such. And it seems i'm getting at the limit of my brave CPU can handle.

I tried overclocking but above 4.5 is unstable as hell (or too hot).
So, i'm thinking of upgrading.
My usages are: as said, messing around quite a lot actually with UE, Maya and such (and programming, so lots of core is nice when compiling, but a good single core perf is nice too ..),
but also gaming (new Triple A and such), at 1440p.

My current config:
32 GB DDR3
2080 Ti OC
Asus Sabertooth MK2
i7 4790k
ASUS ROG PG278Q (1440p 144Hz G-Sync)

I know it'll lead to buying new ram and such (that sucks but meh .. once every 5 year is okay)

Any ideas about a good CPU that could replace the 4790k for the years to come?

Thanks for your answers ! :)
(and sorry for my English, non-native english speaker here!)

Flem
 
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NightHawkRMX

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If your work is multi core dependent i would go for the 2700x. For games at 1440p the 2700x wont be bottleneck and the 9900k wont be needed. The 2700x should handle those tasks almost as well as the 9900k.
The clock speeds between ryzen and haswell really can not be compared since how many instructions they execute per clock is different. According to userbenchmark, the single core speed between the the 4790k and 2700x is very close when both are overclocked (2700x doesnt overclock much before its at limits), but the 2700x definately will perform massively better in all multithreaded workloads. Games are slowly using more cores. Used to be an i5 with 4 threads was fine for gaming and the 8 threaded i7 was unnecessary. Now 8 threads arent a lot and 16 threads is concidered necissary. At the rate of speed tech is moving, it may not be long till 16 threads are utilized by games.
 
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Flemmard

Apr 13, 2019
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Yeah that'd be a good alternative ..
Ahh it's so hard to decide ..
Maybe 9900k is more a 'long term' thing than the 2700x with the higher single-thread perf/boost clock ?
Damn that's a tough choice ..
 
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Finstar

Finstar

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I agree with waiting, if you want more performance now, i'd say get a better cooler for your i7 and OC it further.
Wait for Zen 2 and upgrade into that, as it'll very likely be identical to the 9900k in single core performance while also having 16 cores.
 
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NightHawkRMX

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https://i.redd.it/q65gpw17wf921.png
AMD in January showed a next-generation 3rd gen 8 core slightly beating the 9900k while consuming much less power (likely purpose-built to slightly win, reminds me of Polaris launch). The chip will be more powerful when released as they work out kinks and clocks increase. There may even be a 12 or 16 core version available at or soon after launch. You can hold off. But you could buy the Ryzen setup listed and upgrade CPU later. 3rd generation CPUs will work in existing motherboards with just a bios update.
 
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Achaios

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Numbers in a game that's heavily dependent on IPC performance, such as Rome II: TW or GTAV will always favour the Intel processors.

In addition, 4790k is @stock whereas the 2700X automatically turbos to max OC, which is 4.2GHz.

If you compared a very mildly OC'd 4790K to 4.6 GHz with a 2700X, no matter the mean average which is around 4750 MHz for the 4790k, the numbers would tell a very different story and it would be very, very sad for the Ryzen fanbois.

Soap opera in fact.
 
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Finstar

Finstar

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Achaios said:
It is much, much worse and it's not even close.

No matter what the Ryzen fanbois tell you, you should read the numbers yourself.

4790k@4.4 Ghz: 2530 marks
2700X@4.2 Ghz: 2193 marks

Huge difference. My 4770k does 2620 at 4.5 GHz.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Click to expand...

Lol, as if using an over decade old software would prove anything. The chart literally shows old bulldozer cpus beating modern Zen cpus and you think it's a viable source of information.
Try to make your shilling less obvious next time.
 
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PdxPetmonster

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You could also wait a couple months, as the new Ryzen's will be launching. The Ryzen 7 3700X will be sporting 12 core/24 threads, with a base of 4.2 and a boost of 5 Ghz, all for the, reportedly low price, of $329 US. Grab a decent X470/X570 motherboard, and you'll be off to the races.
 
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NightHawkRMX

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Again, you can buy a 2700x now and upgrade to 3rd gen later, no need to wait. A 2700x will perform simmilarly (withing 5% +/-) in games of today, which you said gaming performance was already fine. It will massively help what your setup struggles at, multithreaded workloads.
 
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Bearmann

Bearmann

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You can wait and see what Ryzen 3000 brings to the table, but if you need something now, I would go with an Intel build.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...or-Autodesk-Maya-165/Hardware-Recommendations

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...or-Unreal-Engine-200/Hardware-Recommendations

You're not going to get a lot of extra out of overclocking the i9-9900K, so you could do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (€549.00 @ Amazon France)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€76.10 @ Amazon France)
Motherboard: ASRock - B365 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€138.95 @ Amazon France)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (€187.89 @ Amazon France)
Total: €951.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-14 05:30 CEST+0200

Since you're not overclocking with this build you could even try the Kraken M22 and see if the CPU throttles before investing in a better cooler.
 
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Flemmard

Apr 13, 2019
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Bearmann said:
You can wait and see what Ryzen 3000 brings to the table, but if you need something now, I would go with an Intel build.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...or-Autodesk-Maya-165/Hardware-Recommendations

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...or-Unreal-Engine-200/Hardware-Recommendations

You're not going to get a lot of extra out of overclocking the i9-9900K, so you could do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (€549.00 @ Amazon France)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (€76.10 @ Amazon France)
Motherboard: ASRock - B365 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€138.95 @ Amazon France)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (€187.89 @ Amazon France)
Total: €951.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-14 05:30 CEST+0200

Since you're not overclocking with this build you could even try the Kraken M22 and see if the CPU throttles before investing in a better cooler.
Click to expand...
Hi,

Finally i went for Intel.
Took the i9 9900K, ASUS TUF Z390-PLUS Gaming, Corsair H150i PRO R and Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory

Thanks all ^^
 
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Flemmard

Apr 13, 2019
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Okay so, I finally installed all that.
First, i was 'meh that doesnt looks fast'. It was stuck at 3.7Ghz.
So after tweaking the bios, it's better. Turbos up to 5Ghz as expected, but temp goes quite high on Cinebench 20 (reaching nearly the 100C mark ?! even with a 360mm AIO), not sure about if that's normal or not.
I wont have time to test much more today, but i'll keep updating here for a while :)
 
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USAFRet

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Flemmard said:
Okay so, I finally installed all that.
First, i was 'meh that doesnt looks fast'. It was stuck at 3.7Ghz.
So after tweaking the bios, it's better. Turbos up to 5Ghz as expected, but temp goes quite high on Cinebench 20 (reaching nearly the 100C mark ?! even with a 360mm AIO), not sure about if that's normal or not.
I wont have time to test much more today, but i'll keep updating here for a while :)
Click to expand...
Going to near 100C indicates an issue. Check and recheck your CPU cooler mounting.
 
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