i7-3770k or i7-4790k upgrade

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Glovernator

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Jan 7, 2014
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I currently have a Z77 sabertooth motherboard which means it only accepts socket 1155.

Is it worth buying the i7-3770k and overclocking on the current motherboard or purchasing a new socket 1150 motherboard along with the i7- 4790k.
 
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J

jdcranke07

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Feb 10, 2014
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I love my 4790K and wouldn't go back to a lower Intel CPU. However, the question of being worth it is really your opinion. If you want to spend the money to upgrade the mobo and CPU then do so. If you don't want to do that then just upgrade the CPU and there you go.
 
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rhysiam

Splendid
Mar 24, 2013
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What's your current CPU and what are you using it for? Are you sure it's holding you back? If it's an i5 or i7 and you're gaming, it's almost certainly NOT holding you back at all, and you'd be better saving your money or upgrading your GPU.

If it is an i3/pentium/celeron or you have some particular need to get every bit of performance you can, there's between 5 & 10% difference clock-for-clock between Ivy Bridge (3xxx) and Haswell (4xxx). Maybe a 4790K would get you 15% better performance, at the cost of a new motherboard AND (if you have an OEM Windows copy) a new copy of Windows.
That's not worth it in my book unless you can get a good price for your current gear. If you can sell your CPU+Mobo+RAM, you'd be better looking at a new Z170 build with an i7 6700K. At least Skylake gets you several "next gen" features like M.2 slots and DDR4 RAM (which isn't actually helpful now, but makes future upgrades easier).

I'd still vote for either keeping what you have or (if you have a valid reason), going for a 3770k... unless you can get a good second hand price for your current components.
 
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guanyu210379

guanyu210379

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Mar 30, 2007
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i7 4790k is roughly about 15-20% faster than i7 3770k. You must first consider if the 20% is worth of buying a new mobo or you can simply live by going only with i7 3770k and keep your current mobo.

If you have or want to change the mobo anyway, you might even consider going all the way to Skylake i7 6700k. For Skylake, you will need to replace your RAM too. i7 6700k is about 5% faster than i7 4790k and supports with the more future-proof DDR4 RAM.
 
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G

Glovernator

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Jan 7, 2014
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Was using a GTX 660ti but I upgraded to a GTX 970 recently and am currently using an i5-3570. Frames have improved but not significantly, was wondering if the CPU could be the problem.
 
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G

Glovernator

Honorable
Jan 7, 2014
6
0
10,510


Was using a GTX 660ti but I upgraded to a GTX 970 recently and am currently using an i5-3570. Frames have improved but not significantly, was wondering if the CPU could be the problem.
 
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R

rhysiam

Splendid
Mar 24, 2013
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You're very unlikely to see any difference in gaming between a 3570 and even a 6700k overclocked... let alone a 3770k.

There are a few particular games which are heavily CPU dependent (BF4 multiplayer on large maps is one such example), but the vast, vast majority of games don't benefit from hyperthreading and will run just fine on any modern Intel quad core.

What's the game(s) you're struggling with? Perhaps worth posting full system specs and a bit of a description of what's happening (games, settings, etc). It's possible that something else is going on. No point going out and spending a chunk of cash until you've identified the actual problem.
 
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