General use and gaming 6700k vs 6800k

Georgehillier

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Nov 26, 2013
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Hey guys, So I currently have an i5-4690 with 16GB of RAM and a 980ti (which is soon to be upgraded to a 1080 by EVGA), I want to get a new gpu as in a few games my fps seems to being let down by my cpu. These games are mostly more cpu bound, like GTA, far cry primal etc.

Either way I'm going to have to get a new motherboard and RAM, so which CPU should I get? A 6700k or a 6800k? Price isn't a massive issue between the two but ideally want to start getting around 144hz for when I upgrade my monitor
 
Solution
Your current cpu should have no trouble feeding any gpu. That said, the 6700k should be more than sufficient for gaming and general use. Save some money and go with 1151.

lrrelevant

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For gaming you might see higher FPS with a 6700k, even though a 6800k which i have should run really closely, depending on your overclock of course. (6700k overclocks better than the 6800k btw, i run my 6800k at 4.2ghz, which is the standard turbo boost frequency of the 6700k, but of course it can go higher.)
So I'd say 6700k for a minimally better gaming experience, and 6800k for a substantially better multithreaded program performance, such as video rendering and whatnot, from the 2 extra cores.
 

Georgehillier

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My current CPU isn't bad for most games, but there are a few that I've noticed my CPU being maxed or near maxed out and my GPU sitting there at 60%. A really good example is GTA, it runs well still, but the cpu is definitely holding it back and it just annoys me :L
So you guys think the 6700k is best for gaming only? As I say I'm not too fussed with the price difference but at the same time if the 6700k gets me better performance for less then great :p
 
Newer faster hardware will help but if hoping to hit 144fps for the 144hz monitor even with a gtx 1080 and i7 6700k it's not looking too promising. Maybe with settings turned down? At very high these show 110fps.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,17.html

Maybe the 980 was holding back the fps but at 1080p the 4690 was only getting 2fps less than the 6950x in gtaV.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10337/the-intel-broadwell-e-review-core-i7-6950x-6900k-6850k-and-6800k-tested-up-to-10-cores/8

Additional gtx 1080 benchmarks including far cry primal.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review

Depending on what motherboard you have I might opt for a 4790k to go with the 1080. You might gain 3-5fps by going with a 6700k, z series mobo, ddr4 ram etc. Awfully hefty investment for very little gains on the cpu front.
 

Georgehillier

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I could be wrong with gta then, but definitely far cry primal ran really badly. And It's a 980ti I'm currently on and getting the upgrade to a 1080 via the EVGA setup up program since I only have to pay shipping. I definitely want to upgrade though, because I can tell the weak point in my system is the 4690. As for hitting 144fps, I'm not too fussed, just want to get as close as possible for if I upgade
 
A $500+ motherboard? Something tells me this is a case of throwing a wallet at it hard as possible hoping for a solution. It would be unfortunate to blow thousands of dollars for little performance increase.

In terms of the gpu not being used fully, are settings set to max quality? Some games may not have a need for the graphics horsepower of a given gpu and if that's the case then upgrading to a 1080 will only make it worse. It's a bit of an exaggeration but consider minesweeper (not very gpu intensive at all) and you probably won't notice much load on the 980ti. If you're gaming at 1080p that could be part of it. Especially once using a 1080, a 1070 would be nearly overkill for 1080p gaming. Only so many pixels to drive and then it doesn't need to work any harder.

A cpu upgrade could help in handful of games if you go to an i7 with hyper threading like the 4790k/6700k. Even without a z series motherboard a 4790k comes out of the box with the fastest clock, 4ghz/4.4 turbo so 500mhz faster than the 4690. I'm not seeing any major gaming advantages from 6 core broadwell-e cpu's. Not surprising since we didn't see it with haswell-e either.
 

logainofhades

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Anything else, but dropping a 4790k, into your current motherboard, is a waste of money, and even that is debatable. 6700k is not worth the added cost. Keep in mind that not only would you need new ram, and motherboard, but possibly a new windows license as well.
 


Good points.

 

Georgehillier

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When I said I wasn't too fussed about price difference I meant as in the difference between a 6700k and a 6800k. I'm not going to buy a super over the top motherboard just for an extra 0.1ghz or something silly :p

As for windows licences I can get them from my university for free so no worry on that front :) I should also mention that I plan on using my current i5, motherboard and RAM in a different rig anyway, so not a huge waste of money or anything.

And surely the 6700k is a fair bit better than the i5-4690 for cpu intensive games and newer titles that are taking advantage of multiple cores etc?
 

Georgehillier

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Also I forgot to add, in terms of RAM am I best getting 2400mhz or is something like 3000mhz going to give a noticeable difference in gaming? I imagine it won't do much unless editing but just wanted to check
 

logainofhades

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The 6700k would be better for cpu intensive games, and titles that take advantage of multiple cores. Sounds like you have everything covered regarding windows and have a use still for that i5. Anything more than a 6700k, for just gaming, is just throwing money away. The 6800k is good, if you want to record/live stream game play, or do any kind of video editing.