Intel i7-4790 vs. Xeon E5-2640 for gaming with a GTX 970 , which is better?

Chevy_Monsenhor · Mar 16, 2015

I'm so fucking happy!
Sorry for the word bellow , but i'm really excited , i unloaded my crappy AMD APU based gaming PC for 5k(brazilian Reais , mind you)!
Now , i have a big figure to spend on and i already choose the mobo, the rams and the graphics card , but i'm not sure about the CPU yet.
Should i go for the Xeon , which has always been my dream , that has a bigger cache and it's famous for holding lots of stuff , or should i go for the i7 , which is the obvious choice?
What do you guys think?
And also , should i get a watercooler too? I'm used with the A10's high temperature , but i never tested Intel stuff for gaming, so in that way , i don't know how much hot will it be.

Thanks since.
Chevy

OctopusMan · Mar 16, 2015

Well, depending on your build, you may need to watercool it if you plan on using powerful programs often. If not, then a typical air-cooling solution would be quite alright for you. Although, from what I can tell, you are making a beastly build that would benefit from watercooling. Also, from my limited experience, Xeon based intel chips are more geared toward corporate builds. Think about it this way: Xeon is a specialized tool for certain jobs, while the i-7 or i-5 is an excellent all-around tool. If you are planning on using this build for photoshop or video-editing, then an i7 would be right for you; if you're mostly going to play games on it then an i-5 would be a better choice. I'd personally disgard the notion of Xeon-based chips entirely and go for an i-7 or i-5.

Chevy_Monsenhor · Mar 16, 2015

OctopusMan :

Well , i'm planing to build this PC for heavy gaming purposes and massive files storage (i already have a Seagate's Barracuda 2tb HDD being shipped to my house now) , since my new job demands it.

OctopusMan · Mar 16, 2015

Yeah, in that case I really wouldn't recommend a Xeon (unless you want to spend a lot of money for features you really won't use), I'd go for a top of the line i7 processor like the Intel Core i7-5930K.

And if you're going into some hardcore gaming then watercooling is almost a must. For your CPU I'd recommend the Corsair H100i watercooling system.

DubbleClick · Mar 17, 2015

Bullshit. Sorry to say, but that's bullshit. The stock cooler of an I7 4790 is completely capable of cooling it, no matter what software you're using. Especially for gaming, which barely puts constant or demanding load on it.

Second, watercooling being stronger than air cooling is a myth and nothing else. A noctua nh-d15 cools as well as high end AiO water coolers such as the H100i. What AiO watercooling really is, is being expensive and loud. And it has a chance of leaking which might take down the whole pc, although corsair puts warranty on that.

As for the original question, unless you somehow feel like paying a grand and using two cpu's (2x xeon), there is no point in the E5.
The I7 5930k that has been suggested is once again a waste ($200 extra for 12 pcie lanes that you only need for 4 way sli) as well as it isn't compatible with DDR3 ram or socket 1050 motherboards.

Either way, an I7 4790 (non k) doesn't make sense either. You should either pick a xeon e3-1231v3 for $220 with a $50 b85 (or $100 for a h97 if you feel like paying for the higher number) or z97 board (if you plan on SLI) or get the I7 4790k with an aftermarket cooler and a decent z97 board (~$110). The k version is barely more expensive but is worth it's money. These two are the cost effective options you can get in the performance range.
For your information, the e3-1231v3 is nothing but an I7 4770 without integrated Gpu (which gets disabled with a dedicated like the gtx970 anyway).

Chevy_Monsenhor · Mar 17, 2015

DubbleClick :

Bullshit. Sorry to say, but that's bullshit. The stock cooler of an I7 4790 is completely capable of cooling it, no matter what software you're using. Especially for gaming, which barely puts constant or demanding load on it.

Second, watercooling being stronger than air cooling is a myth and nothing else. A noctua nh-d15 cools as well as high end AiO water coolers such as the H100i. What AiO watercooling really is, is being expensive and loud. And it has a chance of leaking which might take down the whole pc, although corsair puts warranty on that.

As for the original question, unless you somehow feel like paying a grand and using two cpu's (2x xeon), there is no point in the E5.
The I7 5930k that has been suggested is once again a waste ($200 extra for 12 pcie lanes that you only need for 4 way sli) as well as it isn't compatible with DDR3 ram or socket 1050 motherboards.

Either way, an I7 4790 (non k) doesn't make sense either. You should either pick a xeon e3-1231v3 for $220 with a $50 b85 (or $100 for a h97 if you feel like paying for the higher number) or z97 board (if you plan on SLI) or get the I7 4790k with an aftermarket cooler and a decent z97 board (~$110). The k version is barely more expensive but is worth it's money. These two are the cost effective options you can get in the performance range.
For your information, the e3-1231v3 is nothing but an I7 4770 without integrated Gpu (which gets disabled with a dedicated like the gtx970 anyway).

I was taking a look on the 4790K yesterday , nice cpu , really like it.
But what about an AMD FX-9590 , that would be a good choice?

DubbleClick · Mar 17, 2015

Chevy_Monsenhor :

If you want a nice room heater, go ahead.

Aside of that, it does almost compare to the i7 at stock speeds in perfectly well threaded scenarios that do not make use of new technologies. But the i7 does run about twice as fast in single threaded tasks (or multiple single threaded tasks), has newer technology to offer on mainboards (m.2, etc) and is a lot more energy efficient. If you were to get a 9590fx + board + cooler + psu really cheap, you'd probably still pay more for less performance over time of 2-3 years. I mean it's a 200+w average draw cpu (9590fx) versus a <88w cpu (4790k) in load scenarios.

IaMaBooZeR · May 14, 2015

yes. I'm late to this thread. Someone was saying that the 4790(non-k) makes no sense. You're going to need an aftermarket cooler for the 4790k if you're going to overclock at all. The 4790 mildly overclocks with the 5-way optimization on ASUS boards(mine runs at 3.8 with turbo 4.2 ghz). The highest temps I've seen during gaming is 56c. with my ASUS Strix gtx 980, I'm seeing framerates in the 120-130 in Battlefield 4 1080p ultra settings.

4790k costs about $40 more than 4790. add another $50-60 for a quality air cooler. You're spending about $100 more to buy and properly set up the 4790k over the 4790(non-k)

You don't need the "k" for gaming. Everyone that saying you need the "k" is full of it. Your gaming experience will not be improved one iota by getting the "k".

DubbleClick · May 14, 2015

IaMaBooZeR :

yes. I'm late to this thread. Someone was saying that the 4790(non-k) makes no sense. You're going to need an aftermarket cooler for the 4790k if you're going to overclock at all. The 4790 mildly overclocks with the 5-way optimization on ASUS boards(mine runs at 3.8 with turbo 4.2 ghz). The highest temps I've seen during gaming is 56c. with my ASUS Strix gtx 980, I'm seeing framerates in the 120-130 in Battlefield 4 1080p ultra settings.

4790k costs about $40 more than 4790. add another $50-60 for a quality air cooler. You're spending about $100 more to buy and properly set up the 4790k over the 4790(non-k)

You don't need the "k" for gaming. Everyone that saying you need the "k" is full of it. Your gaming experience will not be improved one iota by getting the "k".

Neither will it by getting an i7 instead of an i5, for that matter.

entropy4money · May 14, 2015

If all you care is about gaming save some money and get an i5, or i7 if you want. The xeon processor is going to be WORST than the i7 because of single core performance. I use an i7 on my gaming computer, and 2 xeon processors on my numerical simulation workstation. and you don't need the k. the k is for overclocking which you don't need for gaming, plus it hurts the processor. Xeon processors are designed for servers running multiprocessors and ECC memory, which you don't need.

And if you have the money, don't go for AMD. AMD processors are a piece of ****. Sorry, but they are. Also, I7 4790 is LGA 1150 which is much cheaper than LGA 2011, so stick with 1150, I would still suggest you get i5 though if you only care about gaming. (money saver)

DubbleClick · May 14, 2015

entropy4money :

They have ABSOLUTELY THE SAME single core performance. It's same same architecture after all.

entropy4money · May 14, 2015

DubbleClick :

No
----
For the X\eon
# of Cores 6
# of Threads 12
Processor Base Frequency 2.5 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3 GHz
TDP 95 W

I7
# of Cores 4
# of Threads 8
Processor Base Frequency 3.6 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 4 GHz
TDP 84 W

Xeon has more cache than i7 too

Xeon is a workstation/server processor not a gaming processor.

DubbleClick · May 14, 2015

Oh, wasn't looking at the thread title, this thread is so old I already forgot it was about an E5. Thought of E3-v3 xeons, sorry!

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Intel i7-4790 vs. Xeon E5-2640 for gaming with a GTX 970 , which is better?

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