i5 4670 for gaming?

Just curious, why not spend the extra $20 and get the K version? You can push that CPU pretty far with a Z97 MOBO and it's well worth it over the locked version.

Either way, the i5 completely stomps your 4170, so the upgrade is definitely worth it.

if you don't plan on OC you CPU the one you have is great and will do great on games like arma 3 and with the upgrade it should be noticeable, if you have any questions just leave a comment below

I really can't see the 4670k on Z97 when the 4690k is same price ..... be aware however that the jump from the 4670k to the 4690k was a mere 0.1 Ghz. Intel realized what they were losing there in terms of income from the gaming community and now the 4790k is 0.5 Ghz faster than the 4690k.

And as far as the 4690 versus 4690k....for $15 I wouldn't even think about it.

Note if ya shopping newegg, ya can save $30 with a MoBo / CPU combo w/ many MSI boards


Intel Core i5-4690K bundled with MSI Z97-GD65 $420 - $30 combo discount = $390
http://www.newegg.com/Product


MSI Z97-G45 bundled with Intel Core i5-4690K $385 - $25 combo discount - $10 MIR = $350
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1753615/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1750592

It will let you run ultra. Arma 3 is CPU heavy and the i5 4670 is a great CPU ( really any intel cpu)
http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/124736-is-arma-3-cpu-or-gpu-intensive/

G45 is $3 cheaper with a $10 MIR and $30 combo discount .... see my above post

go with the i5

the 4690k is better than the cheaper i7s

If you're not planning on overclocking ever, a Xeon e3 1231v3 or 1230v3 is something to consider for the price of around an i5 and around the same performance as the i7.

Are you ocing now? As Calnin said, if you're not going to OC you should get the Xeon. You'll have to get an lga1155 motherboard though. Imo if you will be better off with the 4690k and ocing

xeon e3 1230v3 and 1231v3 are lga 1150 I believe.

ok was looking at v2

You could always ask, and there are plenty of threads that teach you how to OC as well as programs that let you do so.

http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-introduction-to-overclocking-your-intel-pr-5580998
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421233,00.asp
2 articels on ocing for beginners

Every i7 is better for gaming then the equivalent i5 .... the 4770k was at worst 3% faster (usually more when OC'd) which many felt isn't worth the extra $100. But when ya stop thinking about it as a increase in CPU cost and thinking about on the basis of system cost (5% on a $2k box), it stops seeming outrageous.

However again with the 5th generation CPUs, the 4790k's are 14.3% faster at stock speeds. The equivalent cost is now:

5.00 % on a $2,000 box or a 286 % (14.3 / 5.0) return on investment.
6.25% on a $1,600 box or a 229 % return on investment
8.35% on a $1,200 box or a 172 % return on investment
12.50 % on a $800 box or a 114 % return on investment

So, the old logic of "the performance gain of the i7 over the i5 isn't worth it" is no longer so easy to justify. To my mind, if budget restrictions mean that the $100 for the 4790k is dropping you from a 780 Ti to a 780 or a 780 to a 770, then get the i5. and the faster card. On the other hand if the choice was a SSD + HD + 780 ...... or a SSHD + 780 Ti, I'd take the SSHD and the 780 Ti.

Read some OC guides whenever you have some free time. It's not horribly difficult, just time consuming. You'll need an aftermarket cooler for overclocking to help get rid of the heat.

My quick and dirty overclocking thingy ma jiggy:

Look around at different overclocks people get with your chip.

Go into the bios, find the CPU frequency and the multiplier.

Do a little math and then change the multiplier to match what the frequency people average at, try not to change voltages if you can.

Test the overclock to see its stable. Run prime 95 or something similar for a bit and see if you get any problems.

If it's fine and temps are normal and what not, then that's your overclock.

If it's unstable, then go back into the bios and lower the clock or maybe tweek the voltages a little bit. On an intel chip I believe you don't want to go over 1.1-1.2v.

And then repeat the testing process.

The i5 is definitely better than the 4170.
Since your budget is $360, if that is not including the motherboard, go for Intel's newest i7-4790(K). In my opinion it is the best gaming processor I have used.
Otherwise the i5-4670 or 4690 are great choices

I find most online overclocking guides conflicting and confusing for most beginners as they a written by people who know what they are doing. And when that person writes a guide, they assume the reader knowledge that they don't have and when they throw around terms and bounce back and forth between topics, the novice gets lost.

The other things ya should keep in mind are:

1. Many of the guides are written by "competitive overclockers" where every day system performance takes a back seat to getting a high overclock validated to move them up in the rankings.

2. For many of these folks, this is a hobby and quite a few spend as much time benchmarking as they do doing what you might consider fun stuff cause the challenge of getting another 0. 1 GHz is fun in and of itself.

I'm a cranky ole, impatient SoB and if I have to dedicated more than a weekend to any machine, that's too much

So, this is my personal "Minimalists Guide to Haswell Overclocking on Asus Boards". I don't have the patience to invest 100 of hours but I admire those who do. Using this method, most can knock it off in a weekend.

1. Stop using AIDA, Prime 95 or anything else like that. Download RoG Real Bench, HWiNFO64 and Intel ETU.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?43233-Realbench-v2-Discussion-Thread-Download-Links
http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-boards-software-extreme-tuning-utility.html


Usage of testing and monitoring programs:

When you open Real Bench, move both windows to left side of screen. Open HWiNFO64, run "sensors only", you will get a pop up asking whether to disable reading the Asus EC chip, click "Disable this sensor". Move the HWiNFO64 window to upper right hand corner of screen. Stretch bottom of window to full screen height. Make the following changes:

-Right Click on "System" right at the top, select hide.
-In the next section, hide the last 4 lines starting "Core CPU Thermal Throttling" (if you watch temps, this is useless)
-Skip over the next section and Hide the section after that (section includes CPU Package thru DRAM Power)
-Now the whole reasons we did that was so you could see everything you wanna see at same time. You should be able to see Vcore 0, 1 and 2 at -the bottom of the window. If not hide a few more lines. Save and Quit will save your edits.

2. I am going to assume that you want your PC to power down and reduce voltages when not needed so for this we'll use Adaptive settings. Adaptive will throw an extra 0.10 to 0.13 volts at your CPU. Again, I would NOT use P95 or AIDA on this setting without constant attention.

3. After setting BIOS to defaults, Input the following settings and then right click on them to add them to your favorites page. This will allow you to access all the settings you need to without bouncing all over the BIOS:

AI Overclock Tuner = Auto
1-Core Ratio Limit = 42 (all others should automatically change with Sync all cores selected above)
Max. CPU Cache Ratio = Auto
Min. CPU Cache Ratio = Auto
Fully Manual Mode = Disabled
Core Voltage = Adaptive
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Core Voltage = 1.200
Core Cache Voltage = Adaptive
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Cache Voltage = Auto
Eventual CPU Input Voltage = 1.90
DRAM Voltage = Auto

I'd suggest taking a screen shot (F12) of the favorites page when ya have successfully passed the stress tests.

4. Open Real Bench, select Benchmark Tab Check only the last box. Open HWiNFO64, run "sensors only" as described above. Start Real Bench and don't touch mouse till finished. Observe voltages and temps. If you can get thru these 2 minutes, your close.

5. Then try checking all 4 boxes and run again NOTE: During the 3rd test Open CL will send AVX instructions to CPU; pay close attention to Vcores as they will spike as described above. If passes.....

6. Switch to the Stress Test Tab and select the amount of RAM you have in your system and 2 hours..... (Note: If you plan on raising cache and / or RAM after a run, I will usually save the two hours and skip this step until I have Multiplier / Cache and RAM speed at my targets.

7. If at any point you fail, up Core Voltage to 1.225 (+0.025)...Always watch temps and stop tests if you reach temperatures of concern (> 85C in my book). Record the following:

42/A/A/Auto - Shorthand for 42 Multiplier / Auto Max. Cache / Auto Min, Cache / Auto DRAM setting
Actual RAM Speed - i.e. 1600
Ambient = Room Temperature
Coolant Temp at Idle = Requires a sensor
Idle Core Temps Before Test on Each Core = i.e. 25, 26, 24, 22
Average Core Temps for Each Core During Test = i.e. 59.6, 58.2, 52.7, 49.4
Max Core Temps During Test on Each Core = i.e. 65, 62, 59, 54
Settings you input in BIOS for VCore, VCC Ring (Cache), VCCIN (Eventual), DRAM i.e. 1.2000, Auto, 1.900, Auto
Actual Readings in BIOS for VCore, VCC Ring, VCCIN, DRAM i.e. 1.040, 1.122, NA, 1.671
Actual Readings in HWiNFO64 for VCore, VCC Ring, VCCIN, DRAM i.e. 1.296, NA, 1.920, 1.681
Highest Voltage Reading on any Core During each of the 4 Benchmarks, i.e. Image Ed. 1.200 / Encoding 1.216 / Open CL 1.296 / Multitask 1.248

7. If at any point you fail, up Core Voltage to 1.250 (+0.025). If ya fail again, go another notch (1.275) but I'd stop there.

8. Once you pass, it's time to consider cache voltage. Some are content to leave at Auto (39) as it affects very, very few applications (skip to step 9 if this is you), others try and get as close as they can to the CPU Multiplier. If you want cache up, go to 42/42/42/Auto. If ya fail, bring up cache voltage in same 0.025 increments.

Settings will look like this when starting:

Max. CPU Cache Ratio = 42
Min. CPU Cache Ratio = 42
Additional Turbo Mode CPU Cache Voltage = 1.200

9. Once stable, it's now time to get ya RAM up to its rated 2133, 2400 or whatever. Change 1st setting above to XMP

AI Overclock Tuner = XMP

Referring back to step 6, this is the point I normally do the 2 hour test when I am "done" with a given multiplier. So run the 2 hour test here, followed by an 8 hour test w/ Intel ETU.

10. If ya fail.... up ya voltages as per above..... as long as things don't get two hot.....see limits below. If ya pass, it's time to see if we can lower temps and voltages. I dunno if it matters what order ya do it in but I did VCCIN 1st till I failed then bumped up till I got lowest table setting. Then did VCCring (Cache Voltage Setting in BIOS) till I got lowest stable setting....and finally VID (BIOS CPU Voltage setting) last. I leaped in "half" amounts.

For example.... Default VCCIn is reportedly less than 1.8 .... so if 1.9 worked, i went "half way" to 1.85 .... if 1.85 failed, I went halfway between known good and bad to 1.875 ....same deal with VID and VCCring.

11. With the 42 series if tests complete, "rinse and repeat" with steps 3 thru 10 after moving up to CPU Multiplier to 43, then 44 or as high as you are willing to go. At 46 multiplier I found 1.9 VCCIN to be inadequate.... this is the one voltage I found that going too high or too low is problematic (other than heat and maximum upset voltage limits of course). I went to 1.98 (last yellow setting) and it was too low..... 2.08 was too high. 2.04 worked for me w/ 46 multiplier,

12. These are my settings to give ya an idea of luck I had .... your mileage will vary. Asterisked ones are those I didn't go back and try and get better temps / voltages.

42/42/42/XMP (2400) *
VCore 1.200
VCC Ring 1.200
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700

43/43/43/XMP (2400) *
VCore 1.225
VCC Ring 1.225
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700

44/44/44/XMP (2400) *
VCore 1.260
VCC Ring 1.260
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700

45/45/45/XMP (2400)
VCore 1.325
VCC Ring 1.325
VCCIN (Ev) 1.880
DRAM 1.700 *

46/43/43/XMP (2400)
VCore 1.385
VCC Ring 1.385
VCCIN (Ev) 2.020
DRAM 1.700

46/46/46/XMP (2400)
VCore 1.385
VCC Ring 1.410 *
VCCIN (Ev) 2.040
DRAM 1.70

* I dropped this to 46/46/43/XMP to get Vring down below 1.39

13. As for cooling / heat / voltage concerns

Here's Asus recommendations:

A very good air cooler is required for voltage levels above 1.15V.
1.20V-1.23V requires use of closed loop water coolers.
At 1.24V-1.275V dual or triple radiator water cooling solutions are advised.

Click to expand...

My thinking is:

Up to 1.200v = Very Good Air Cooler (Hyper 212)
Up to 1.250v = Best Air Coolers (Phanteks PH-TC14-PE, Silver Arrow or Noctua DH14) ....... Dual 140mm CLC / AIO Cooler w/ 1500 rpm fans (Corsair H110)
Up to 1.275v = Extreme Speed Dual Fan CLC / AIO w/ 2700 rpm fans (too noisy for most folks)
Up to 1.325v = Custom Loop w/ 15C Delta T (3 x 120mm / 140mm) *
Up to 1.400 = Custom Loop w/ 10C Delta T (5 x 140mm or 6 x 120mm) *

* At this level having the GPU(s) also under water is assumed

Also, if you are not running AVX, you can add as much as 0.10 to all those voltages.

14. NEVER WALK AWAY from your machine while stress testing until you are sure that temps have stabilized.
Be AWARE if test uses multiple instruction sets like Real Bench who throws out its hardest load voltage wise with the 3rd test in the Benchmark but the 4th test results in higher temps.

Remember some AVX instructions are present during RoG Real Bench type loads which will raise VCores by 0.10 to 0.13 for short periods.
I would not suggest running Prime 95 w/ AVX under adaptive under above conditions.

15. Having 4 sticks of memory will hinder ya OCs a bit.

16. If ya want the best OCs ya machine can get, this is not the guide to use. If ya wanna get it done over the weekend in between taking work home, course work, Honey-Do Lists, Daddy Taxi and other life demands, this may get it done in a weekend .

WORD OF WARNING: Some of us are having problems with the BIOS clock freezing and a suspected cause is the use the saving, loading and backing up of OC profiles in the Tools section of the BIOS. I would avoid use of that feature until such time as the cause is confirmed or a fix is available.