what applications does having a cpu with a higher clock frequency improve ?

orndorf

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i currently have a i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz and now intel released the refresh i7 4790k with a turbo frequency of 4.4ghz that is faster then my i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz. what applications does having a higher clock frequency improve ? and will a i7 4790k @ 4.4ghz give me a advantage over a i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz in gaming ?
 
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4.4GHz is only 5% faster than 4.2GHz. The difference in performance when it comes to games is nearly non-existent. The only game I know which will benefit from that increase is Sim City. Based on a review using core i5 4670k CPU, performance seems to scale with the CPU speed perfectly. If you decrease the CPU clockspeed by 10% you will see a decrease in performance by 10%. Increasing the speed by 10% means a 10% increase in performance. However, Sim City is an exception not the rule. At best games performance would only increase by half the CPU performance increase; 2.5% at best.

Above a certain clockspeed, games generally do not gain any benefits from a more powerful CPU. For example, Bioshock Infinite can run perfectly fine on a Core...

orndorf

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I currently have x2 evga gtx 780 sc acx's in sli and 16gb of ddr3 2400 ram will I se a improvement in gaming if I upgrade my i7 4770k that is overclocked to 4.2ghz to a i7 4790k ?

 

zenx

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Hi there!
What improvements are you looking for? Currently there are no games that would even load your current processor to half of its potential, besides you can still overclock that one way past 4.2 Ghz. For gaming even an i5 is quite enough and it will never bottleneck, the rest really sits in the hand of your GPU.. or GPUs in your case ;)
So as gamerk316 pointed out it would be a total waste of money :)

Cheers!
 

finalruner

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There's a clear improvement in say a 1ghz 4770k vs a 4ghz 4770k however right now at past thsi speed there really isn't a noticeable difference if you get the refreshed cpu over the 4770k. Your cpu right now is top of it's class, no point in getting the refresh.
 
4.4GHz is only 5% faster than 4.2GHz. The difference in performance when it comes to games is nearly non-existent. The only game I know which will benefit from that increase is Sim City. Based on a review using core i5 4670k CPU, performance seems to scale with the CPU speed perfectly. If you decrease the CPU clockspeed by 10% you will see a decrease in performance by 10%. Increasing the speed by 10% means a 10% increase in performance. However, Sim City is an exception not the rule. At best games performance would only increase by half the CPU performance increase; 2.5% at best.

Above a certain clockspeed, games generally do not gain any benefits from a more powerful CPU. For example, Bioshock Infinite can run perfectly fine on a Core i5-4670k running at a mere 2.5GHz, to get 1 extra FPS you would need bump up to 3.5GHz. Go get another 1 FPS you need to bump up the CPU to 4.5GHz.
 
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