Upgrading from a 4670k to 4790k for gaming. Worth it?

[entenbein]

Hi guys,

I got a i5-4670k that has lately become the bottleneck for gamging (full HD). Does it make sense to update to a i7-4790k (only because I would not have to get a new mainboard and could keep my current DDR3 memory)?

Other specs:
Geforce GTX 1060 with 6GB
24 GB DDR3 (1,5V)
some z87 mainboard

Other threads in this forum suggest that it is not worth it for gaming, but those OPs had weaker GPUs afaik.

Plus the 4790k isn't cheap at the moment, I could get a 7700k or 8700k for about the same money (plus new mainboard and memory of course...).

Other solutions might be
- overclocking the current CPU (didn't do that so far)
- getting the AMD FX Series FX-9590 and a AM3+ mainboard and reusing the current memory.
- and course getting a new CPU, memory and mainboard.

I can't update to LGA 1151 and keep the memory because it seems that there is no mainboard currently buyable which supports 1,5V DDR3 (because of the lower CPU voltage I guess).

Area of application = mostly gaming.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[jay32267]

You will get about 40% more processing power with the 4790K.

As far as "should you do it".....I generally find this type of question tricky to answer....as everyone has their own financial situation etc.....

I'm seeing them used for about $250 on EBay.

It does save you lots of hassle as far as changing the MB.

....but basically it's an opinion and if I say it's worth it....a bunch of people will post that it's not.

 

[boju]

4c CPUs are finding it tough. Games utilising more threads are coming about quickly. i7's Hyperthreads will help you out. I agree with jay

 

[USAFRet]

Other solutions might be
- overclocking the current CPU (didn't do that so far)
- getting the AMD FX Series FX-9590 and a AM3+ mainboard and reusing the current memory.
- and course getting a new CPU, memory and mainboard.

1. Sure. Try it.
2. Not even a little bit. Never ever.
3. $$$$

 

[entenbein]

Thanks guys!

I just checked via CPU-Z that the Core Speed is at about 3,6 to 3,8 GHz with a multiplier of 36 (8 - 38) or 38 (8 - 38) . Is that the turbo clock?

@jay32267, not so sure about used ones from Ebay. You never know how much OCing the previous owner tried and how careful/-less... Budget isn't really the problem as long as it makes sense and not throwing money out of the window..

2. Not even a little bit. Never ever.

😀 😀 😀 thought so too.

 

[jay32267]

I buy lots of electronics from EBay for my job and some for home. I'm actually surprised how little I have a problem. I did get a bad i7-980 a while back...but they straightened that out. I find I can get really good deals....especially on rare electronics like old inverters and PLCs etc.

 

[punkncat]

In no way at all would I recommend it if you are looking for a new i7. The 4th gen i7 is STILL selling for the same price you can get a brand new and much more capable one.

Buying used parts of this nature can be a crap shoot. If you are willing to take a chance and find one stupid cheap, I would possibly try it with the forehand knowledge that it may not work.

 

[entenbein]

@all, thank you for your time and opinions. I went with OCing for now (got it up to and stable at 4,4 GHz). That should do it for a while now. With those (and hopefully similar) OC potential will keep an eye on good deals for a 4790K.

 

[rcfaro]

hi, sorry use your topic for me.

i have same cpu 4670k and 1070 TI worth upgrade to 4790k for 200€? Iam looking for new components and its very exepnsive for a new i7+mobo+ram need arround 640€. thinking upgrade but 640€ its alot money for me.

I already try OC my 4670k but max i can is 4.0ghz have Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo.
With 4.0Ghz 1.125V when iam playing reach 72º. I think my 4670k its the worst chip they made. lol

my mother board MSI Gamig 5 Z97

 

[entenbein]

hi, sorry use your topic for me.

i have same cpu 4670k and 1070 TI worth upgrade to 4790k for 200€? Iam looking for new components and its very exepnsive for a new i7+mobo+ram need arround 640€. thinking upgrade but 640€ its alot money for me.

I already try OC my 4670k but max i can is 4.0ghz have Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo.
With 4.0Ghz 1.125V when iam playing reach 72º. I think my 4670k its the worst chip they made. lol

my mother board MSI Gamig 5 Z97

How did you try to OC? My Gigabyte MB had a really noob-friendly OC software which had some pre-configured OC profiles. The 'extreme' profile got me stable! 4,4GHz with just one click, without me having to set voltages etc myself. So it might be worth it to try some different OC approaches. If you want to I get check out all the OC different settings for you that are used in the 'extreme' OC setting of the Gigabyte tool. But then again, your experience/result may vary. Probably depending on MB and cooler.

 

[rcfaro]

I already try with OCgeni its app in MSI Bios put my CPU at 4.0ghz with 1.20V its to much voltage for 4.0ghz sometime i get 80º.
Now i do it manualy 40*100 at 1.125 Vcore Ram 2133mhz 1.6V i have 4.0ghz with 35/40 idle and 68/74º playing.

My Cooler is 212Evo i already some videos on youtube ppl doing 4.4Ghz with this cooler, but my for some reason its always in high temps i think its the CPU its not a good chip. (dont understand to much about this).

I have a good Mobo (i think) with good chipset Z97.

Iam think upgrade 4670k for 4790k = 200€ and more 8Gb Ram = 50€

With 250€ i can upgrade CPU and RAM but i dont known if it worth.

 

[boju]

4 more threads to push down cpu usage at higher frame rates.

More ram to buffer higher vram usage and less pagefile usage.

Is what it comes down to.

All depends on the game and what you witness in usage numbers.

 

[rcfaro]

4 more threads to push down cpu usage at higher frame rates.

More ram to buffer higher vram usage and less pagefile usage.

Is what it comes down to.

All depends on the game and what you witness in usage numbers.

i play battlefield, assassins, tomb raider, CoD and others games this computer its just for gaming.

in opinion worth upgrade, right?

 

[boju]

Imo yes and it'll last longer

 

[boju]

Long enough that a 4790 and 16GB will be viable for atleast another two years before a major overhaul. We're talking Pcie 4 or 5 platforms by then. Things will happen quickly in the next couple of years that a side grade will have conserved until then.

 

[cpmackenzi]

I have a 4690, no overclocking, and my mobo doesn't support overclocking. Seeing used 4790s, no K, for around $150. That make much of a difference? All it does is add threads, not much individual speed difference between them.

EDIT: Have a Radeon 390 right now, and a 1440p 60Hz monitor. Just started playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it runs well enough. On High, cut scenes seem to run 30-40 fps, and game about the same, though I'm early in game and not in overly intense/demanding areas.

 

[boju]

Depends on game, gpu and frame rates. AAA Games since 2016 rendering around 100fps or more does demand more cpu to feed the gpu. More threads are helping in a lot of games.

 

[larrycumming]

I wouldn't pay more than $150 for a 4790K right now.

considering I have to invest atleast another $100 in cpu cooler to make these chips do what i could get out of an i5-8400 on stock

 

[rcfaro]

I buy 4790k 200€ used iam using my 4 years old 212 Evo. after some searchs and tests iam using 4.4ghz with 1.145Vcore my temps idle 38º playing games 68º and stress test full load 76/78º in my room have arround 25/26º

With Stock Clock and settings i have 80º playing games vcore for stock clock its 1.25V

 

[asgerh]

I have a 4690, no overclocking, and my mobo doesn't support overclocking. Seeing used 4790s, no K, for around $150. That make much of a difference? All it does is add threads, not much individual speed difference between them.

EDIT: Have a Radeon 390 right now, and a 1440p 60Hz monitor. Just started playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it runs well enough. On High, cut scenes seem to run 30-40 fps, and game about the same, though I'm early in game and not in overly intense/demanding areas.

I think you gpu is the bottle neck in this scenario.
If that’s the case, I don’t think you will get much improvement from a faster cpu..
You can open task manager while in a game, and check the cpu and gpu load. That should give you an idea of what is the bottleneck. I.e. if the cpu is at 60% load while the GPUs is closer to 100%, it”s the gpu that bottlenecks.. (this is just a quick and dirty way to identify bottlenecks. There are more precise tools and procedures you can use, but this is a place to start)
I can’t speak for your specific CPUs or games, but I’ve just upgraded from an overclocked 4670k (OC’ed to 4.3) to a 4790k (4.4) and in my use case there’s a noticeable performance gain. Not dramatic but noticeable - and important for me: I seek highest possible FPS in PUBG on a 144hz monitor. I didn’t see much gain in lower or higher FPS with the i7, but the frames are delivered more smoothly now, and stuttering in certain scenarios are far more rare now. This experience is supported by the fact that the i5’s 4 cores were all pegged to the ceiling (100% load), leaving little room for extra tasks, such as loading new map content or nearby players, which is where I had some stuttering. (Well, dropping from 120fps to 60 feels like stuttering ;-) Now the i7’s “8 cores” share the load more evenly, so none of the threads is maxing out at 100%.
Out of curiosity, I disabled hyper threading to see if I would get back to the performance of the i5. But the cores were actually ‘only’ at about 95% load, indicating the the larger cache and the marginally higher frequency also play a part. I didn’t play that many games with HT off, but I think I didn’t have as much frame drop as with the i5, but still a bit, so having some sort of head room is apparently important.

So, in your case, unless you are cpu bottlenecked, I think you’d benefit more from a gpu upgrade.

(If of any interest, I game at 1080p on a gtx 1060/6gb. To reach the highest FPS without sacrificing too much image quality, I back down all graphics settings to a minimum, including resolution and screen scale, to see how much the cpu can pump out in a best case scenario, and then I begin to bring the settings back up, until I can see a frame drop. Yes, some settings are cpu-related, but I account for that in the process of bringing the quality back up - and I can live with a small drop if I like the effect in question)