[SOLVED] Worth swapping an i5-6600k@4.2gh for an i7-6700 non k?

[TheGlow]

Just wondering if its worth switching over. My friends giving me his desktop and wasnt sure if it was worth swapping my cpu out. I have a gtx 1070 currently.
Also was debating to turn the spare desktop into a plex server and try pfsense and pihole perhaps. So not sure if i7 is worth putting into mine or then just leaving in the current machine if it might use the i7 more for those types of tasks.

 

[jay32267]

Here are the benchmarks. About 25% multi-thread difference. Single thread they are almost the same.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-6600K+@+3.50GHz&id=2570

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-6700+@+3.40GHz&id=2598

 

[punkncat]

I would say that depends on some other aspects.....

In some cases just swapping the processor will deactivate your programs/apps. In particular this has led to me losing my Office activation. Office, in itself likes to deactivate you even after a simple reformat and as you may or may not know the license is only good for so many "re" activations. Aside from that I also had issue with an Adobe program I used as well as an AV license.
I have not (particularly) had the issue in regard to my Windows license, and even at that a quick call or connect to TS usually irons that one out anyway.

If it were me, and no other issue of cost stood in the way I would certainly use the locked i7 over the OC i5. .02

 

[boju]

It's usually the motherboard Microsoft identifies for activation. If cpu sets off an hardware change notification which it really shouldn't with win10 then just say yes to the activation request. Should not be harder than that.

And i 3rd the i7.

 

[punkncat]

^ agreed...I had never run into the issue on a model change, same generation but have run into it twice now on compatible motherboard/generational change of CPU.

 

[boju]

Do you mean a different motherboard though? even if it accepts the same generation or generation of cpu there after, soon as the motherboard is changed even same model, soon as cmos chip ID changes can set activation off.

 

[punkncat]

Do you mean a different motherboard though? even if it accepts the same generation or generation of cpu there after, soon as the motherboard is changed even same model the cmos chip ID changes and can set activation off.

Nope...same mobo, change to a different generation of CPU, once with Intel, the other with Ryzen. This latest one (with the Ryzen) really about screwed me as it was my work box. I was thinking I was going to do a "quick" CPU change and be back to work and then ended up spending the rest of my work day getting things back in order. TBH the two that really hurt were Office and Adobe. The Adobe one was easy to fix in an email...Office however, was another story, and I couldn't open any interoffice files.

 

[boju]

Oh wow that sounds really annoying. Good to know, thanks punkncat.

 

[TheGlow]

I dont have many licensed software so I should be back up quick enough of if thats the case. Gives me something to do over the weekend.
I had a spare hyper212 I was originally going to use on another machine, which I inadvertently blew out the cpu. Apparently a 6+ year old stock intel cpu was a bad idea. I hooked it up real quick just to confirm machine booted, which did. Ended up having to move last minute. Forgot about it and was using it for a couple weeks and stopped booting. Seems the default paste on it was crazy dried up and i guess didnt make a good contact. Oh well. free i7-2600k. would have been decent as a backup-backup.

Here are the benchmarks. About 25% multi-thread difference. Single thread they are almost the same.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-6600K+@+3.50GHz&id=2570

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-6700+@+3.40GHz&id=2598

OK, I was a bit uncertain on the single core. So I guess if it goes into full turbo 4.0 then I'm only a touch off. I have to confirm if I'm misremembering and it was my 2500k I had at 4.2, and this one was 4.3 or 4.4.

 

[TheGlow]

I checked, its actually OC'd to 4.4ghz, so Id be losing 400mhz I assume on the single thread tasks? I'm not sure how that translates if more of an issue with older games vs newer games. Older games seem to have been more gpu based and newer ones cpu, so still a bit uncertain.

 

[Karadjgne]

Most games there's not all that much difference in fps once you get over @ 3.2GHz. It's mostly all in the upper ranges, almost always over the top of your monitor refresh, so has little to no impact on gaming as such. Where the difference really kicks in is multi-thread games, like WoW, Witcher3, gta5 etc where fps might be hovering around refresh, simply due to backlog from the 4thread capable cpu. Bumping upto 8 possible threads can alleviate that backlog and set the cpu free, resulting in 20-50% more fps, and increasing playability and gaming enjoyment.

There's no real instant gratification with the swap, no magical doubling of fps etc but overall a larger thread cpu has less issues in modern games than a faster low thread cpu.

I can do a whole lot more on my i7-3770K than I can on my i5-3570k, even for old games like my heavily modded Skyrim, or Swtor multi-player where a 24man world boss drops that i5 to 10fps, the i7 still gets over 60.