What's better, more cores, or more GHz per core? (i7 5820K vs. i7 4790K)

[5hadowking115]

I'm creating a build, and I'm having trouble picking between a 4790K and a 5820K (both i7's). Price doesn't matter too much since it's only about a 70 to 100 dollar difference, but I'm not sure which would be better for gaming

Yes, I know that both are a little overkill for gaming and it really depends on what my needs are, but come on. Who doesn't like boasting about their specs to others, right ?

So it basically comes down to "Which one is better overall?" I mean, gaming isn't the only thing I'm gonna be doing, there's also a little bit of vid and photo editing, as well as 3d modeling and a lot of multitasking, let me tell you. So, any assistance is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Are you planning to run three GPUs? Two GPUs + M.2 SSD? If this statement applies to you, then you should get the 5820k due to the support for up to 28 PCI-E lanes. The 5820k is based on the same architecture as the 4790k and when overclocked to at least 4 GHz, can be faster than the 4790k, especially in rendering programs. Additionally, it is said that DirectX 12 will fully utilize all CPU cores.

 

[johnnyb105]

Well the 4790k would be fine even a I5 4690 k would be for gaming but you got money why not 5820k If it was me and I had the funds..

 

[CTurbo]

Gaming - 4790k
editing - 5820k
3d modeling - 5820k
rendering - 5820k

 

[i7Baby]

As CT said. See http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the-intel-haswell-e-cpu-review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/6

 

[5hadowking115]

Are you planning to run three GPUs? Two GPUs + M.2 SSD? If this statement applies to you, then you should get the 5820k due to the support for up to 28 PCI-E lanes. The 5820k is based on the same architecture as the 4790k and when overclocked to at least 4 GHz, can be faster than the 4790k, especially in rendering programs. Additionally, it is said that DirectX 12 will fully utilize all CPU cores.

Seems fair. I'm planning on running two GPUs, and at least 32GB of RAM to start with, but in the coming years, I might upgrade to 64GB and 4 GPUs in SLI. As for the M.2 SSD, I would if I knew the basics about M.2 ports

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

For 4-way SLI, you'll need an i7-5930k, which has 40 PCI-E lanes, enough for four GPUs + two M.2 SSDs. The 5820k is enough for 3-way SLI + M.2 SSD.

 

[synphul]

The additional lanes of 2011v3 (depending on cpu since 5820k only has 28 lanes, not 40 like the others) would be beneficial for multiple sli (3-4way or 2 way at full x16) but isn't impacted by use of m.2 with 1150. z97 motherboards have additional pci lanes for the m.2 in addition to the 16 lanes provided for gpu's via the cpu chip. It would still be possible to run 2 way sli or 3 way crossfire with a 4790k and have pci lanes for m.2 or sata express. Plx enabled motherboards offer additional lanes for more gpu's as well.

Update: this link may explain it a bit better. In terms of z97 and h97, how the two differ in splitting the pcie lanes from the cpu and the fact that both provide an additional 8 lanes above and beyond what the cpu offers (16 lanes). That's why 2 gpu's can be run in sli or crossfire and still have lanes free to use m.2 or sata express without conflicting.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z97-vs-H97---What-is-the-Difference-562/