Will the cheaper Kaby/Coffee Lake downgrade me?

[fantoun3]

My current build is for HTPC/Gaming:
I5 4690K unlocked
Asrock Z97M-ITX/ac
16 GB DDR3-1776
GeForce GTX 1050Ti

Now through whatever corporate DRM HDCP madness no 4K streaming video on this machine.
So I can play most aging (so much cheaper to be a year or so behind in gaming anyway) AAA games @ over 1080 but am locked into 1080 streaming video.
Replacing the guts with the equivalent Coffee Lake = $550.
Will replacing the guts with I3 or cheaper Coffee Lake or even going for cheapest Kaby Lake guts leave me with worse gaming performance?
A GTX 1060 or 1070 seems to be a better gaming upgrade choice if I was going to spend money.
The minimum Kaby Lake for 4K Netflix thing just chaps my behind.

 

[terry4536]

My current build is for HTPC/Gaming:
I5 4690K unlocked
Asrock Z97M-ITX/ac
16 GB DDR3-1776
GeForce GTX 1050Ti

Now through whatever corporate DRM HDCP madness no 4K streaming video on this machine.
So I can play most aging (so much cheaper to be a year or so behind in gaming anyway) AAA games @ over 1080 but am locked into 1080 streaming video.
Replacing the guts with the equivalent Coffee Lake = $550.
Will replacing the guts with I3 or cheaper Coffee Lake or even going for cheapest Kaby Lake guts leave me with worse gaming performance?
A GTX 1060 or 1070 seems to be a better gaming upgrade choice if I was going to spend money.
The minimum Kaby Lake for 4K Netflix thing just chaps my behind.

Most of the lower end Kaby Lake are quad core and locked. So you would probably actually be going backwards in performance.

 

[terry4536]

For example, the i5-7400 is around $180. It is a quad core CPU. The base frequency is 3.0 GHz and the turbo boost is 3.5 GHz.

Your i5-4690K has a base frequency of 3.5 GHz and turbo boost frequency of 3.9 GHz. Plus your processor is overclockable.

 

[k1114]

Kaby lake is the minimum igpu. With an older cpu, you just need a compatible gpu which you have. Any issue you are having is not cpu or drm related.

 

[terry4536]

The Intel Core i5-8600K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.3 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) and Intel Core i5-7600K Kaby Lake Quad-Core 3.8 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 are probably the best bang for the buck. Both would require a new motherboard and DDR4 memory at a minimum.

Either processor is around $240.

 

[TJ Hooker]

As said above, there is nothing about your hardware configuration that should be stopping you from streaming 4K netflix.

From what I remember (a little hazy here), software requirements for 4K netflix are:
Windows 10 (up to some version IIRC, best bet is to make sure you're up to latest)
Be using edge browser or netflix desktop app

Also, obviously make sure your display is connected to your graphics card and not your mobo display outputs.

 

[fantoun3]

I would say that it is unanimous that I should not replace this CPU with 7/8 gen unless I'm going to invest in the same speed or higher unlocked chip.
I am interested in why/how Netflix and Microsoft would care about my CPU instead of my GPU. I do have an HDMI out from GPU to a 4K TV with the Nvidia settings for native 4K @ 60Hz, broadband connection average 50—70 mbps. Streaming video is not shabby but comparing to new Blu-rays it appears to be upscaled 1080.
From Netflix:
"Windows 10 app up to 4K*

*Streaming in 4K requires an HDCP 2.2 compliant connection to a 60Hz 4K-capable display, Intel's 7th generation Core CPU or newer, and the latest Windows updates. Check with the manufacturer of your system to verify specifications."

Why no reference to GPU?

 

[fantoun3]

Thanks everyone if you posted that I was wrong and you don't need a Kaby Lake for 4K streaming. I can close the topic now I just did some testing and discovered something there's nothing wrong with my Hardware Netflix streams at 4K without a Kaby Lake - they now have an option $3 more per month and viola. I guess I was just slightly behind the times just like my rig. The other services like VUDU just state that they don't have 4K/UHD playback or streaming to a PC (not that they can't). This is not a Hardware issue.
It's pretty negligent of them to leave that statement on their website. It should just state give us $3, sucker.

 

[terry4536]

Thanks everyone if you posted that I was wrong and you don't need a Kaby Lake for 4K streaming. I can close the topic now I just did some testing and discovered something there's nothing wrong with my Hardware Netflix streams at 4K without a Kaby Lake - they now have an option $3 more per month and viola. I guess I was just slightly behind the times just like my rig. The other services like VUDU just state that they don't have 4K/UHD playback or streaming to a PC (not that they can't). This is not a Hardware issue.
It's pretty negligent of them to leave that statement on their website. It should just state give us $3, sucker.

The other minor little thing that Netflix fails to mention is that the extra cost gets you essentially nothing.

The amount of 4K programing is very little. And what is available is mostly Netflix television series. When I first got my 4K UHD television, I was looking for 4K programming as well. While watching those 4k programs, I had a great bit of trouble seeing the difference from watching the same program in 1080P. About the only thing that I could tell was a little more detail in things like glare on a surface (stuff like that). It certainly wasn't worth the extra expense at Netflix.

I had the 4K Netflix upgrade for exactly one month! After that, I went back to regular 1080P programming.

To be honest, I should get rid of Netflx. I've had it a long time and have seen the movies that I liked already. New movies are very few and not often. And I'm sick of watching cancelled TV series (there was a reason that most were canceled...). But that is just my opinion. And it is very easy to forget that I have it. And now Cox has it for free (but very slow loading).

 

[TJ Hooker]

I am interested in why/how Netflix and Microsoft would care about my CPU instead of my GPU
From Netflix:
"Windows 10 app up to 4K*

*Streaming in 4K requires an HDCP 2.2 compliant connection to a 60Hz 4K-capable display, Intel's 7th generation Core CPU or newer, and the latest Windows updates. Check with the manufacturer of your system to verify specifications."

Why no reference to GPU?

When they say 7th gen Intel, they're really referring to the integrated graphics that come in 7th gen or higher Intels.
They reference GPUs in a very non-obvious way with "HDCP 2.2 compliant connection". This means the display source (i.e. your GPU) must support HDCP 2.2.