I5 6600K vs I7 4790K Opinions

[HollyWood750]

Anyone got an opinion on Intel I5 6600k vs Intel I7 4790K?  Looking at those two processors for the new box I have painstakingly saved up some cash for.  Will be using a single (for now) GTX 970 video card and 16GB of RAM.  Will try to SLI later.  Plan on using it for Aces High mainly, but some video creation (Sony Platinum Suite 12.0 currently).

-HW-

[Bino]

Over at the Intel Ark site you can compare the specs side by side:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/80806,88191

[Chalenge]

When the x99 systems came out I decided to wait at least 6 months before adopting one. I had good reason too, because the memory was not prevalent, the motherboards were all new, and everything about the new platform was expensive. Twelve months later little has changed, except there is a lot of memory available for cheap, and there are a lot more dependable reviews available on which to make judgment. The BIOS updates that have come through have still not got everything sorted out for every possible hardware feature.

So, if you have to buy a system now I would go with the 4790k. Otherwise, . . . I would wait for Spring season updates on this one.

[HollyWood750]

Thanks guys!

 

-HW-

[Gman]

I've been posting about Skylake here for a while, and my 6700k chip should be in next week, and I'll compare it here in AH and other games to my x79, x99, and gaming laptops.  Linus tech tips put both the i5 and i7 Skylake up against the x79 4930k and the x99 5960x systems, and through in a little 4790k as well.  It isn't much of a gain tbh.

In the interest of having the longest surviving motherboard/chipset type, if I was in the position of needing to upgrade or buy a new system, I would probably go with the 6600/6700 over the 4790k, even though it isn't much more impressive in terms of FPS in the real world, it's still newer, gives you access to DDR4(again nothing to write home about), and for pretty much the same price, will give you the most current platform and perhaps a bit more future proofing.  I certainly wouldn't buy a 2 year old 4790k platform system for the same price as a 6700k for example, unless there were huge savings involved, but that's just my opinion, and on the other side of that coin, I wouldn't be expecting huge performance gains by going with the latest platform, and wouldn't pay a huge amount more for the privaledge.  As it turns out though, SKylake based platform stuff when I look at MB/CPU combos offered out there, aren't really much more than the 4790k CPU/MB combos for comparable features, so based on that alone, I would buy the 6600/6700k.

It's still a "GPU" world out there in terms of gaining real world FPS/performance, there are a few sights that have ran the old 2500k ,3570k, and so on CPUs vs the x99/5960x, all with Titan GPUs, and the difference is so little in real world gaming performance to not warrant the huge expense for the top of the heap CPU/MBs.  Of course there are some applications especially for video makers and streamers that tilt the balance, but for joe gamer, the best GPU combined with the most cost effective MB/CPU from say the 3570k on up isn't a bad way to go IMO.

[Spikes]

Thought about going Skylake today. My 1155 motherboard crapped the bed (I think) a couple days ago so I have been weighing my options. From my i5-3570k the i5-6600k didn't seem very feasible as an upgrade for the ~650 I'd be dropping into a new trio (cpu-mobo-ram).

I ended up buying another 1155 motherboard used today hoping that is the issue and hoping it'll last me a while longer. I too looked at the 4790k but didn't see a huge advantage for what I do.

[Chalenge]

If you do go Skylake I would suggest that you don't skimp on your motherboard. The reviews I have read suggest that the CPU voltage regulation is now done on the MB, so now it is even more important to do your homework concerning PSUs and MBs. This is the most typical section of a MB to die, but I understand why Intel had to do it (heat issues). I don't have to like it, though.

EDIT: And watch out for price gougers. These CPUs should be priced under $350, yet you can find them listed for $500-5000. I know a guy that does this for a living and he does it for video cards, CPUs, and MBs. Buyer beware.

[Spikes]

If you do go Skylake I would suggest that you don't skimp on your motherboard. The reviews I have read suggest that the CPU voltage regulation is now done on the MB, so now it is even more important to do your homework concerning PSUs and MBs. This is the most typical section of a MB to die, but I understand why Intel had to do it (heat issues). I don't have to like it, though.

EDIT: And watch out for price gougers. These CPUs should be priced under $350, yet you can find them listed for $500-5000. I know a guy that does this for a living and he does it for video cards, CPUs, and MBs. Buyer beware.

I did notice this. I would have bought the i7-6700k yesterday, however NewEgg would only allow me to buy it in a combo and it did not have the mobo or RAM that I wanted (Maximus VIII Ranger and a different type of GSkill). I'd prefer to get the Maximus VIII Hero. Had they had a different combo or allowed me to buy the i7 outright, they would've made another $700 yesterday.

For me personally, I don't think an upgrade from the i5-3570k to the 6600k was worth it, but it would have been to go to an i7.

[Gman]

That's what I've read as well CHalenge regarding voltage/oc and so on.

I decided to go all MSI instead ASUS this time around with this build, or at least mostly, and bought their best MB, the M7, and also bought their 980ti GTXs - they have a very nice black/red construction which matches the video cards to the MB, and I've got the case with red fans/lighting ready to go as well (Corsair 780t).  No handles this time like the C70 case which I really like for moving it around, but NBD.

I paid 460$ for my 6700 and 300$ Canadian, so around  385$USD for the CPU and 230$USD for the MB.  The 980tis were 885$ each, 1340$USD for them.  These prices are pretty good for stuff available in Canada, plus the exchange rate is wide now too.  I also payed for the CPU weeks ago, it'll be here Wednesday so they claim. 

[Bizman]

they have a very nice black/red construction which matches the video cards to the MB, and I've got the case with red fans/lighting ready to go as well

Ooh! How many frames per second would that add?












JK, no offence intended. But I know there's guys who prefer the looks over performance. 

[Gman]

Case building is a culture all on its own that I don't participate in.  Tens of thousands of builders have pictures all over the net of some pretty crazy stuff they do.  Other than lit fans, which are pretty common, and cable management, that's as far as I go.  It just happens that MSI's top of the line GPU and MB have a common design/color, which matches my case.  I always buy the newest platform/CPU when they come out, and if it looks good through a window in a case, fine, if it doesn't, I don't get too concerned.  Our fastest box, 5960x/Titan looks as plain jane as you can get.  I'll take performance over dazzling case mods any time, but don't mind it looking decent either.

Acer's new monitors just came in at my local shop, I'm going to try running triple screen again with their IPS 144hz monitors.  I wasn't all that overly impressed with the TN ROG Swifts 144hz - they're ok, but the new IPS ones are actually cheaper and do all the same stuff and look 3x better, including Gsync.  This is the purpose of my new Skylake system, and the SLI ti GPUs. 

[Pudgie]

I've done a lot of reading up on Intel Z170 & Intel Skylake CPU's recently & what I've seen so far looks real good to me as well.

If\when I decide to make the decision to upgrade from my trusty X79 box that I currently have between now & 2016 I will be going w/ this combo.

Heavy on the "whenever" though as nothing jumps out w/ Skylake enough to entice me to do it now unless my Asus ROG RIVG X79 mobo goes bad......

 

[Gman]

Pudgie, similar thoughts/situation for me.  We have several good gaming systems in our home, but my personal and "AH" gaming system is still an old soldier x79 3820 I've upgraded the GPUs on 2 times now.  The Asus Sabertooth/3820 platform with Dominator Corsair RAM has just kept working well for 3 years+ now.  With 980 SLI it really runs most games as well as our 5960x/Titan box.  It's a dilemma in a way, the whole "not broke so don't fix" thing.  That said, regardless of only 10 to 20% in gaming performance, at some point getting "new" stuff is appealing to me, hence the new Skylake system.  I am going to run 3 of the new Acer 144hz/IPS/Gsync monitors, which I think is a situation where every little bit helps.

Somebody will get a nice used system out of it in any case, as for a 3 year old system aside from the GPUs, it really works well still and can run pretty much anything.

It's sort of an odd issue, I remember in past years, 3 years old tech was SO much slower than contemporary stuff, but the last 5 years have shown that it's truly a GPU world, at least up to now, as so long as you upgraded your video cards, it didn't really matter what CPU/MB you ran, as from cheapest to most $, the difference was really negligible overall in terms of fps performance.

Same really crazy/nice Skylake systems at PAX this week -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXiaYJtAjvY

[Pudgie]

I'm like you in a lot of ways Gman except I might put a little more emphasis on the component color matching..........just a little 

My comparisons below are between the Asus RIVG X79, Asus Maximus VII Gene Z97 & Asus Maximus VIII Gene Z170...........can't help it as I love me some Asus ROG stuff........& the microATX board size......... 

 

My biggest issue w/ Z170 (or Z97 for that matter) is what I'm thinking I'm gonna lose on the back end compared to X79 & the way I have currently configured it on my box (all 40 PCI-E 3.x lanes are wired direct to the CPU so my 1 vid card will stay at PCI-E 3.0 x16 lanes regardless of what I put in the other 2 x16 slots).

I have been pouring over the Intel process maps for Z170, Z97, X99 & X79 chipsets to figure this out.

For gaming the Z170 or Z97 chipsets on the front end are clearly the better choices as you get higher clocked CPU's relative to X99 or X79 w/o OC'ing (yes I know you can OC but I don't size up a system using OC'ing as a norm as I see OC'ing as an extra benefit, not as a necessity)...............

But since the Z170 or Z97 chipsets only show a total of 16 PCI-E 3.x lanes wired direct to CPU on the process maps that means that the rest of the PCI-E lanes are going thru the chipset itself, even the M.2 slots (this is very true for Z97, haven't quite figured this out for Z170 but looks to be the same) & then up the serial DMI link to the CPU.
Since I'm only gonna use 1 vid card that fixes 1 issue, but if you install any other PCI-E device in any other x16 slot (doesn't have to be a vid card) you will cause the 1st x16 slot to switch to x8 lanes, regardless.

That sucks as I already have the Plextor M6e BK 512Gb PCI-E SSD HH\HL add in board............... But I had read somewhere that a PCI-E 3.0 x8 lane slot is as fast\faster than a PCI-E 2.0 x16 lane slot & if this is so then I might not sweat it by sticking my Plextor in the 2nd x16 slot to start off with................

Since the M.2 slots show to be wired to go thru the Z170 or Z97 chipsets to go thru the serial DMI link (along w/ everything else that comms thru the chipset: LAN, ob sound, SATAIII SSD's\optical drives, E-SATA, USB or any PCI-E slot less than x16) to the CPU, that is the saving grace for me as since I WILL be using a PCI-E SSD in the M.2 slot (NVMe SSD eventually) the better chipset for this will be the Z170 as the M.2 slot on Z170 chipset can be set for true PCI-E 3.0 x4 lane speed if you use a M.2 PCI-E SSD spec'd for this (Z97 M.2 slot only runs at PCI-E 2.0 x2 lane speed max so any PCI-E 3.0 x4 lane spec'd M.2 PCI-E SSD will be downclocked to PCI-E 2.0 x2 lane speed on a Z97 chipset......this sucks) then put my SB Zx sound card in the PCI-E x4 slot at end of mobo.
The only thing w/ this that "bothers" me is the M.2 slotted PCI-E SSD getting good cooling located under the 1st PCI-E x16 slot which will be covered by a 2-slot vid card (my Sapphire R9 Fury X vid card) as opposed to being in a HH\HL add in board.....................   

This configuration on a Z170\Skylake platform would get me the biggest bang across both ends from a gaming perspective for the money I would spend, IMHO. I might remove my Plextor M6e's M.2 stick off it's riser board & install it in the mobo's M.2 slot 1st to see if it would still work.....my hunch says it will.....as long as the riser board\mobo M.2 slot circuitry is industry standard spec'd.....then follow up in the future w/ a NVMe M.2 PCI-E SSD.........

The much cheaper option now that would perform better than my X79 setup as is gaming-wise would most definitely be the Z97
\Devil's Canyon route (only need a mobo\CPU) but this wouldn't make sense to do as I could easily OC the 4820K on my box & be there now for free.....but since Skylake is already out & will be fleshed by the time I'm ready to pull the trigger on an upgrade & it is the better upgrade path back-end wise as well if money has to be spent so Skylake it will be................unless AMD pulls out a miracle w/ Zen..............probably won't but you never know as from all I've read Zen is gonna be for all purposes an Intel-cloned x86 CPU & so it might just be an alternative in 2016.......... As for X99 I just can't see myself going there period due to how Intel treated us X79 folks who bought this package to game with....................I still believe they shoulda gave us a Haswell-E 2011 CPU before they went the X99 route.................

Now if Intel wanted to make me a permanent user all they have to do is offer me an I7-4790K CPU in 2011 socket w/ all 40 PCI-E lanes to reward us X79 owners for <$500.00 & I will love Intel forever...................... .....

 

This is my dilemma that I'm thinking thru......................... ....

 

[Gman]

I was going to put a m.2 Plextor in this box as well, but got a couple Intel SSD 750 400gb for a good deal - one is in our x99/5960x system already. 

I know a lot of guys who wouldn't mind a 4790k type CPU in the socket 2011.  I too felt like Intel sort of punked us gamers with the x79.  I've had a 4930k, 3820 and 3930k, not bad chips really, the 3820 still o/cs to mid 4's on a DH14 air cooler.  Wait and see on the Skylake o/c potential, I've read mostly good things so far, but I usually only do a mid level o/c anyway.

I'm a big Asus fan as well, I have 2 Sabertooth MBs, I just got them instead of an ROG board due to good deals coming my way, my local shop I've dealt with for nearly 20 years now gets most of the high end gaming biz in town, and takes trades in often, and guys who test stuff on youtube locally and other gamers that go through stuff fast often turn/trade in things that are barely used, and I usually get first crack at a lot of that stuff.  I got my ROG Swift monitor that way when they were going for 1500$ on Amazon/Ebay when they first came out.  Like I said, I went with mostly MSI stuff just to try something different, and Acer (gasp) monitors once the Predator 144hz/IPS/Gsync models get here, so this will be a really different system for me.  Figuring out new non Asus style bios may = boo, but nbd.