lieutenantfrost :
Im faced with a choice of an i7 4790k or an i5 6600K?
You really want to have a look at the underlying platforms, e.g. Skylake makes the PCI-E lanes from the PCH PCI-E 3.0 instead of PCI-E 2.0, which is an aid if you're looking at SLI or multiple M.2/U.2 devices, etc. Personally, I'd be inclined to look at Skylake, although if there's a big price difference, maybe not.
lieutenantfrost :
I realize the haswell i7 will operate at higher Ghz speed without the need to OC
I could be wrong, but isn't the max turbo quoted on Skylake "all core", whereas that on Haswell is "single core"? The 4790K will turbo to 4.2GHz with 4 cores loaded.
++ EDIT: Whoops - thrown by the mentions of the 6700K by other posters ... with the i5-6600K, it's about 0.5GHz difference, although most games aren't CPU bound, so I'm not sure it'll make much difference.
This is the first I've heard of maxturbo all core. Could you elaborate on what you mean here? and do you think 0.5GHz is significant enough to choose hazwell over skylake?
lieutenantfrost :
however Im concerned about the voltage/sleep issues that seemed to plague the 4th generation chips
Never had any issues with my i7-4790K in over a year.
Are you running Win 10?
It's the sleep states , some PSU's have trouble.
Corsair explains it here.
When an Intel Core (i3, i5, i7) processor is idle, it goes into a sleep state that requires less power than when the CPU is active. Since the motherboard voltage regulation modules that provide power to the CPU gets their power from the power supply's +12V rail, these sleep states can dramatically reduce the load on the power supply's +12V rail.
According to Intel's presentation at IDF, the new Haswell processors enter a sleep state called C7 that can drop processor power usage as low as 0.05A. Even if the sleeping CPU is the only load on the +12V rail, most power supplies can handle a load this low. The potential problem comes up when there is still a substantial load on the power supply's non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V). If the load on these non-primary rails are above a certain threshold (which varies by PSU), the +12V can go out of spec (voltages greater than +12.6V). If the +12V is out of spec when the motherboard comes out of the sleep state, the PSU's protection may prevent the PSU from running and will cause the power supply to "latch off". This will require the user to cycle the power on their power supply using the power switch on the back of the unit.
While we are still working with Intel on the details of the testing methodology they use to check PSUs for Haswell compatibility, it is already known that a power supply that uses DC to DC for the non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V) will not have an issue with the new low power sleep states. This is because a DC to DC buck converter is used to convert +12V to +3.3V and +5V. This means that no matter what load the CPU puts on the power supply, there will always be a load on the +12V because the +12V is required to provide power to +3.3V and +5V.
Corsair utilizes this DC to DC technology in most of their power supplies. Starting with the CX750 and CX750M and moving all of the way through the GS Series, TX and TX-M Series, the HX Series, both the AX Series Gold and AX Series Platinum, and the new AXi Series. So whatever your budget, if you choose Intel's new Haswell processor and wish to utilize the new, low power C7 sleep state, Corsair has a power supply for you.
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