Replacing i7-920/mobo for gaming

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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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Hey there everyone.

To get to the point, I think it's finally time to retire my Core i7-920. I play a ton of high-end games and while it has no issues with most, there are a couple CPU-intensive games like Battlefield 1 I play where it is severely bottlenecking my GTX 1060 6GB.

This means I'm going to have to replace my motherboard, RAM, and of course the CPU. I'm a bit lost in trying to decide on an upgrade path, however. My current rig was a beast when I built it in 2009, and it has served me well since then with only a couple GPU upgrades. I'm not sure that's the best way to do it anymore though. Would I be better off getting a decent i5 instead of going all out on something like the i7-6700? Any motherboard suggestions would be appreciated too.

I could really use some help on this one. Thanks in advance, always been a big fan of Tom's.
 
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Herc08
Well here's the thing. If you can afford the i7-6700 then go for it. the i5-6600 is not bad, but obviously it is a bit slower, and does not have as many logical cores. If you want the K version for overclocking, get a Z170. If not then a H110 or B150 should do you just fine. Also, I recommend getting 8GBx2 (16GB) of ram. This would be just great for you.
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Herc08

Herc08

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Well here's the thing. If you can afford the i7-6700 then go for it. the i5-6600 is not bad, but obviously it is a bit slower, and does not have as many logical cores. If you want the K version for overclocking, get a Z170. If not then a H110 or B150 should do you just fine. Also, I recommend getting 8GBx2 (16GB) of ram. This would be just great for you.
 
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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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1,510


Thanks for the help, really appreciate it. I could probably move some money around and get the 6700, and I'd really like to have it so I may do that. I've read that it is considered the "gold standard" for gaming CPU's these days. Is that truly accurate or are there alternatives you may recommend?
 
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Herc08

Herc08

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Well of course there is AMD, but I may Intel. Anywho, do you plan on overclocking? I wouldn't say gold standard, but it does help with performance. But also for rendering videos. I wished I saved $100 to get it instated of the i5-6600k, but it's ok, I'm still happy.
 
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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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I strongly prefer Intel myself as well, so I definitely agree with you on that. To be honest, I have no interest in overclocking until it is absolutely necessary. I may overclock it some day if there comes a time where it is bottlenecking my GPU (as is the case with my current build) but that would only to be to stave off upgrading for another year or two at that point.

I spend a lot of time on my PC, but the only hardware intensive thing I do with it is gaming. And I do a LOT of that, but no video rendering and such.
 
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Herc08

Herc08

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Well if overclocking is not your thing, just get the 6700 version, grab a H110 or B150 motherboard, and go at it. You will be extremely happy with the results. Also, you may want to consider getting a 1070 down the load. Hopefully sales will turn around for the holiday.
 
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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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1,510


That sounds great. I just got the 1060 a few months ago because I wasn't sure when I'd be able to upgrade my processor, but it looks like I'll be doing that soon. Maybe even today if I can take advantage of these holiday deals. It's doing quite well for me for the time being. I really appreciate all your help, but I've got another question for you. Do I need to consider "future-proofing" this new build if I look into getting a 4k/144hz monitor some time in the next year or two? I've seen some people say the 6700 may be insufficient for gaming at that kind of resolution/refresh rate, but I was always under the impression that monitors were much more GPU-dependent than CPU.

And by the way, do you think it would be worth considering a 6-core CPU over the 6700? It's more pricey so I'd rather avoid it if I'm not going to see any performance gain in my games, but this Tom's article specifically mentions that it may benefit performance on Battlefield (my game of choice): http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html
 
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Herc08

Herc08

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That is true. In fact, I would go with the i7-6700 in that case. However the GTX 1060 may not be able to handle it quite well. However, the 1070 can barely get it, maybe at low-med settings. If you want quality 4K gaming, get a 1080. These are expensive, but well last for 4-5 years to come.
 
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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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1,510


That's no problem, I'm used to incremental upgrades as far as GPU goes. The only thing that I consider important to be very long-lasting is the motherboard and CPU, which it sounds like your recommendations will be. I had edited my post above to ask about that 6-core the Tom's article mentioned at the very bottom, but I think you replied before I got my edit in. Do you have any opinions on that?
 
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Herc08

Herc08

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No, you do not need 6 cores to see improvement. I mean, it can help, but nothing really noticeable. May a texture will load 0.3 seconds faster, again, not that noticeable for you to spend $100 on. Not to mention the i7 has hyper-threading which gives you 8 logical cores. So basically, you have 4 physical, and then 8 logical, for a total of 12 cores. So honestly, you should fine with the 6700.
 
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BadAtVidyagames

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Jul 21, 2016
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1,510


My thinking was similar, especially considering the improved IPC on the Skylake architecture of the 6700. I think that would be more beneficial than an extra couple of cores for gaming purposes. Thanks a lot for the help, I'm shopping around right now and will post my selections to get second opinions when I settle on something.
 
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