Wait for Skylake K?

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PCGuy25

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Apr 4, 2015
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Okay, so I am in the market for a brand new build (Old build was i7-920 which I gave to my father so all I have is a mac now lol).

Anyways, a few days ago I had planned to go with the 5820k. After much debate and discussing in other threads on this forum, I then changed my mind and instead decided for the 4790k over the 5820k for a 4K gaming PC build with a GTX 980 and sli mobo (with intentions to add another GTX 980 in the future).

Then I changed my mind again after hearing that Skylake is comming out by the end of this year, and so I might as well wait a few months. Especially since the LGA-1151 socket is coming out at the same time (allowing me to upgrade CPUs in the future), and will support for DDR4 (I have heard that Skylake may support both DDR3 and DDR4 configurations).

....But sadly, after more investigation I have read that Skylake-K (overclockable CPU) will not be released until a few months after Skylake-S, which would probably push it to sometime 2016. And thats if Skylake-K is even released at all (Because intel hasn't given any indication). SO..... that puts me at 1 year to wait, and quite frankly, I'm not sure if its worth it.

I've also heard that with the smaller architecture it may be harder to push the chips for overclocking anyways.

So.... should I wait? Would overlocking really make a big difference? Should I wait for Skylake-S, wait for Skylake-K, or just build now? Its a very hard decision, as i might feel like I made the wrong choice if I wait, but at the same time may feel like an impatient fool if I build now. Opinions and thoughts would be appreciated.
 
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synphul
You're right, due to much of it being fuzzy speculation it is really hard to choose. If intel keep upgrading their motherboards like they have been, there's probably not much concern for picking the best one for upgrade purposes when buying the top end chips to go with them. For instance, z97. It's more of a long term solution for someone who goes with an anniversary pentium g3258 or core i3 leaving them an upgrade to either i5 or i7. If someone starts out with a higher end i5/i7 on z97 then by the time they're looking to upgrade to something with substantial improvement it will mean a different socket (different motherboard).

There was the 1155, now the 1150, skylake is bringing with it the 1151 and soon after that maybe an 1152 (or...
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You're right, due to much of it being fuzzy speculation it is really hard to choose. If intel keep upgrading their motherboards like they have been, there's probably not much concern for picking the best one for upgrade purposes when buying the top end chips to go with them. For instance, z97. It's more of a long term solution for someone who goes with an anniversary pentium g3258 or core i3 leaving them an upgrade to either i5 or i7. If someone starts out with a higher end i5/i7 on z97 then by the time they're looking to upgrade to something with substantial improvement it will mean a different socket (different motherboard).

There was the 1155, now the 1150, skylake is bringing with it the 1151 and soon after that maybe an 1152 (or whatever they name it). If you did choose a top end i7 skylake with 1151, by the time you're due for an upgrade it will likely need yet another motherboard with different socket. Just don't plan on having all kinds of room to upgrade on the 1151 if you wait for it then buy the best cpu there is for it. Even if an incremental upgrade becomes available for 1151 it likely won't be worth the effort just like it makes little sense to upgrade the 4790 to the 4790k.

I think it depends more on your current situation. Is the mac you have now doing everything you want it to? If so and there's no immediate need to upgrade then waiting on skylake to see how it actually pans out would be an option. If you're itching to get back to pc then the 4790k is still the flagship mainstream desktop cpu from intel. Either way I think you'd be hard pressed to be disappointed, current chips will likely be very viable for the next 4yrs or longer just like the 2nd gen 4yr old i5's are still relevant.

Overclocking is more of a personal choice. It's not mandatory to making i5's or i7's productive. It may add a little life to a cpu once it's aging, it helped my old core 2 duo last a while longer. Some people like the added benefits in other things besides just games. I think overclocking can make a significant difference depending on the overclock. My cpu is currently overclocked 1.1ghz over base stock which is almost a 32% increase in speed over base and 25% faster than turbo boost if all 4 cores are active. Overclocked megahertz aren't any slower than the ones that come standard, 200mhz is 200mhz whether it's achieved through an unlocked multiplier or part of a locked cpu's speed.

Bottom line, if it were me and my current setup wasn't lagging and awful to work with I'd wait and see. Even if it's not leaps and bounds better than what's available, skylake should still be an improvement over what's currently offered. On the other hand if my current setup was causing me frustration, not getting the job done, miserable to work with then I wouldn't suffer through it for another 6mo to a year. Right now skylake is the next best thing (speculated to be anyway) and everyone's biting their nails over it. It's not the last cpu ever. Give it a few months once it's released and people will be overlooking it biting their nails for the next big thing. Just the nature of the beast with tech and the way it evolves so fast. Don't stress, two things are guaranteed. One, the 4790k or skylake will both serve you well. Two, both will be outdated and yesterday's news before long.
 
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Would there be a price difference if I bought parts for a 4790K build now vs buying parts for a Skylake-K build when it comes out? Remember this build is from scratch.
 
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Hard to tell, there haven't been any speculations to what the release price of skylake will be. I would imagine being the latest tech when it comes out skylake and 1151 motherboards will be similar to prices you see now for z97. That's just a guess, the motherboards may be slightly more expensive if they go with ddr4 and ddr4 ram is a bit more expensive than ddr3 at the moment but it too may drop slightly in price by then.

The only prices anyone knows for sure are for the z97/4790k products actually available. Chances of 4790k dropping significantly in price when skylake releases are slim to none if past history of intel chips is any indication. Until products are either advertised with an msrp from manufacturers or until there's a physical product ready for sale in hand and a retailer like newegg listing xyz product for xyz price no one knows. That's the problem with trying to outguess the industry on future products that don't exist yet. Future speculation is guesswork at best until there's an actual product for purchase and in someone's hands.

There are too many variables involved and like the stock market it can spike without warning. A few years back when the hard drive manufacturing plants were hit with a major storm and facilities were damaged hdd prices bolted to extreme highs and stayed for a long time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Thailand_floods

Same thing is always possible with ram. A number of years ago there was so much product in circulation that ddr3 dropped to all time lows. Now that supply and demand have equalized a bit the prices have come back up some and stabilized. Even though these are 'abnormal' they're very real and proven scenarios where the unexpected can change prices overnight.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/172634-ram-prices-will-continue-to-climb-last-years-rock-bottom-prices-will-probably-never-return
 
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By the way, which monitor will you use for such a 4k gaming rig?

Even if skylakes would be available now, the two 980sli cards would "bottleneck" the CPU
don´t wait, waiting for hardware is waiting forever, because there always will be a better thing to buy in the future.

An overclocked 4790k would be a well balanced choice for gtx980 sli
 
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I'm curious to see how it pans out as well. The die shrink could mean further problems for overclocking but the saving grace might be keeping temps under control removing the fivr from the chips. No real expectations one way or another, it could be the next greatest thing ever or it could be another prescott. Some drastic changes pan out and others flop.
 
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Well considering that Asrock for once already showed z170 mobo and from all the news most companies already have them ready for production once skylake is announced I would say they will be released sooner than the Skylake itself

http://wccftech.com/intel-confirms-skylake-launch-2h-2015-idf15-100series-chipsets-shipping-2015/

I would say wait if it's not all that you expect by then all you have wasted is a few months but if you get 4790K as good as it is right now rumors if to be believed Skylake should be way better and if not better you can always get the 4790k and mobo prices normally drops even if processors don't
 
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I recommend buying now. x86 is in the stages of diminishing returns. imo i wouldnt buy into the whole "tock" talk. the 4770k was supposed to be a "tock" after the 2600k. but, as we know, the 2600k is still more powerful than anything you need currently. So, chances are the skylakes wont give you any noticeable perf increase vs broadwell/devil's canyon. It might actually end up being worse in the long run due there potentially being less OC room.

Worst case scenario is you get the i7 4790k now and you are happy for the next 5+ years. Best case scenario is you get the i7 4790k now, you can upgrade to broadwell on the same socket
 
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With all respect to Konawolv here I don't agree with his worst case scenario because if I am the one buying and I find out that even though the 4790k is great and just a little after I get it something comes out with a lot of new tech and makes my rig that I paid a lot for looks so outdated in a matter of few months I would feel stupid and especially if the rumors about how great Skylake is going to be is true
So worst case scenario if you wait and Skylake just comes out on bar with the current hardware that you will get it and get additional tech and you won't be buying something that Intel plan to replace with Skylake just before Skylake is released
 
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A 4790k is likely less expensive than an equivalent skylake part, not to mention ddr4 is still pretty pricy.
Seeing as your old PC lasted you such a long time, even if you did wait for Skylake-K, your next upgrade after this would again be using a different socket.
Assuming your new build lasts as long
 
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Well that's just wrong since Intel make it so there equivalent part of a new gen is always at the same price as the older version it was done in every gen they released
 
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Yes and no.
The 4790k has been out a while, so you can find it on sale, while skylake parts won't be for a bit after release.
 
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Prices in the uk seem to fluctuate much more. Here's the u.s. price history, pretty straight line.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k

Here's an article from the computex show when intel released the 4790k, listing the price as $349 usd.
http://www.pcper.com/news/Processors/Computex-2014-Intel-Officially-Releases-Devils-Canyon-Core-i7-4790K

Recommended price from intel ark was $350 box or $339 tray. Current retail in the u.s. from various vendors is between $335 and $342 which is about on par with much of intel's pricing history on past cpu's and price trends. It looks as though it can vary from region to region, those in the u.k. vs those in the u.s. (and other regions I'm sure) may need to make considerations based on their local pricing habits.
 
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Late reply:

Wait and see, that is what I am doing with my 2500K. Figure, you can install Windows on your Mac, in fact plop in a GTX980 in your mac and just use Windows and ditch that crappy OSX. Its win/win. If you get Skylake, then its a great increase in performance, but if its not worth the upgrade you can pick up a Devil's Canyon for super cheap once the Skylake comes out.
 
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From the benchmarks I have seen the i7 6700K doesn't look noticeably better than the i7 4790K except for the improved integrated graphics. IPC has improved a bit, but clock speeds are down and I doubt it will overclock as well as the i7 4790K.

i7 4790K doesn't create any bottlenecks for gaming with SLI GTX 980. Feel free to go for it.

Even an i7 2700K still holds up well for gaming.

EDIT: Xaephod, you can probably wait another year for Skylake Refresh to come out before needing an upgrade.
i5 2500K is still a good CPU and a great overclocker.
 
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