I was searching components for my new pc and I decided that I want a watercooled i5-6600K overclocked to 4,5/4,6 GHz or a non-K i7-6700. I watched a video from digitalfoundry and in that video the i5-6600k oc had similar performance to the i7-6700K not overclocked. The i5 is more expensive if I watercool it and the i7 6700 has more threads and hyperthreading. My question is: should I buy an i5-6600K or an i7 6700?
i5-6600K OC or i7-6700?
- Thread starter floewqua
- Start date
- Oct 31, 2015
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Some of it depends on what you're going to be doing with it. If this will be a gaming rig, an i5 is more than adequate since most games still rely on single thread performance. You don't need water cooling, either. An inexpensive air cooler such as the CM 212X/Evo or the Cryorig H7 can easily handle a Skylake CPU overclocked to 4.6. You also have the option of overclocking using a locked i5 along with certain Z170 motherboards and the right Bios or one of Asrock's Hyper series motherboards. My recommendation is to use the 6600K, a decent mid level motherboard, faster RAM (3000/3200), and the Cryorig H7. Any performance gains over this set up compared to a more expensive build (including the i7 or watercooled i5) would be minimal and not worth the extra money.
But the i7 is cheaper and it has basically the same performance as the i5 oc. Are the extra threads helpful in the future or not? I agree that I can also use cheaper cooling, but I want my pc to look great also because it's the first thing you see when you walk in to my room. Thanks for your help.
- Jul 15, 2014
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Firstly what is your budget? Unless your GPU is already a 980Ti there is no reason to watercool. Even then I'm not sure, as money saved from watercooling the CPU could be put into a second GPU.
- Jul 15, 2014
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And you want to watercool why?
I mean, I get it if you want it for "cool looks" or to tell your friends your PC is "watercooled" but realistically if you're doing it for the looks, make a full $500 custom loop done right.
If not doing it for the looks, forget the watercooling altogether and save your money and buy someone special something special.
- Dec 8, 2013
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If the i7-6700 is cheaper then you should get that, no question. Normally the i5-6600k is meant to be like 30-35% cheaper, so then the i5 is better value for gaming.
Your solution is simple, get the i7-6700 processor with the ASRock B150 Gaming/Hyper motherboard, and you will be able to overclock the i7-6700 when you need too. That Specific motherboard can overclock non-K CPUs.
Your solution is simple, get the i7-6700 processor with the ASRock B150 Gaming/Hyper motherboard, and you will be able to overclock the i7-6700 when you need too. That Specific motherboard can overclock non-K CPUs.
The i5 is more expensive, because if I want to cool my cpu, I want watercooling for the looks. But the other guys are saying that I need an i5, I'm a little bit confused. I live in NL and the prices are:
i5 6600K = 248 euros\
Raijintek Triton = 90 euros
i7 6700 = 316 euros
i5 + watercooling = 338 euros
So the i7 is cheaper and it is a better cpu, right?
I had a similar question to ask myself when building my PC, in the end I went for the i5 6600k because it can be overclocked and has a faster base speed out of the box. The only advantage the i7 has is the hyperthreading which makes very little difference for the kind of stuff I do on a PC.
I tested some programs I use on my old PC with a borrowed i7 2600k then did the same tests with hyper threading turned off, the results were the same for me.
The other advantage of the i7 is it comes with a stock cooler but if you want to buy a water cooler AIO then that cancels this advantage out.
If you aren't taking advantage of hyper threading and using single core or 4 cores then the i5 is faster than the i7.
I tested some programs I use on my old PC with a borrowed i7 2600k then did the same tests with hyper threading turned off, the results were the same for me.
The other advantage of the i7 is it comes with a stock cooler but if you want to buy a water cooler AIO then that cancels this advantage out.
If you aren't taking advantage of hyper threading and using single core or 4 cores then the i5 is faster than the i7.
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