i7 (locked) vs i5 (unlocked) only for gaming and future proof?

Agera One · Mar 19, 2017

Setup 1:

Intel Core i5-7600K
Asus Z270-K
CM Hyper 212 X
Zotac GTX 1060 3GB AMP! edition
Hyper X Fury 2133MHz 8GB DDR4 memory
1080p @ 60Hz

Setup 2:

Intel Core i7-7700
Asus B250M-Plus
Intel stock cooler
Zotac GTX 1060 3GB AMP! edition
Hyper X Fury 2133MHz 8GB DDR4 memory
1080p @ 60Hz

The price difference between these two setups is: the setup-1 is at higher cost at the cost of a MSI Z270 PC mate motherboard or ~170 USD.

My question:

Go with setup-1 and not overclock for now. Then while upgrading the GPU in future (let's assume 3 years) and face bottleneck, overclock the 7600K and avoid both the bottleneck & the CPU/Mobo upgrade cost.

OR

Go with setup-2 with less initial build cost (save money and invest in other components). Then upgrade to new GPU (at the same 3 years time) without bottleneck??

In 3 years, at the time when the i5-7600K (stock speed) bottlenecks the new GPU, will the i7-7700 (stock speed) not bottleneck it?

Notes:

Thanks in advance.

Dugimodo · Mar 19, 2017

Personally I'd get the i7 but It comes down to personal preference. Performance today will be basically the same and performance in 3 years, well nobody really knows. The i7 is a better all round CPU but will not game any better right now, certainly worth it if you like to do other things at the same time like streaming etc. I watch netflix while gaming on mine quite often for example.

By the time you actually need to overclock to get decent gaming performance the whole system will likely be struggling, it's unlikely to actually last much longer as a great gaming rig at that point compared to just leaving it at stock. From unplayable to just playable is all you can expect by overclocking when it's struggling to handle a game.

One time I did a BIOS update and forgot to reapply my overclock, didn't notice for 6 months that's how much performance difference there is in the real world.

sizzling · Mar 19, 2017

What res and Hz will you be gaming at?

madmatt30 · Mar 19, 2017

Without a shadow of a doubt the locjed i7 setup mate.
Up the ram to 2400mhz if you can (its a supported speed on the b250 chipset & there is a worthwhile performance difference)

That stock i7 is fast enough for the next 4-5 years easily.

sizzling · Mar 19, 2017

If going for high FPS for a high Hz monitor there are many games that will perform slightly better on an overclocked 7600k. However the i7 looks better for longer term. For 60Hz/FPS gaming definitely the i7 in all scenarios.

Agera One · Mar 19, 2017

Sorry guys, I forgot to add the res and refresh rate. It's 1080p @60 Hz. Will add it to the main post.

1440p and above are costlier here and more than 60Hz refresh rate panels are considered as "premium panels" and over priced too, damn.

sizzling · Mar 19, 2017

At that Hz there is no reason not to get the i7. Your not going for high fps so you won't have the scenarios where an overclocked i5 would be a benefit.

Agera One · Mar 19, 2017

sizzling :

I know i7-7700+B250 can perform better than i5-7600K (stock)+Z70 in games and other applications at least for NOW. But my question is when the bottleneck period comes in.

With which of the above setups I can use for long time before the "UPGRADE YOUR CPU/MOBO TO UTILIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF YOUR NEW GPU" comes in?

sizzling · Mar 19, 2017

Games are starting to be able to use more than 4 threads but at the moment that only helps when going for high fps but at some point in the future I expect that will help at lower fps too. There isn't a perfect answer as we don't know what the future will bring but for your needs I'd put my money on the i7.

Agera One · Mar 19, 2017

madmatt30 :

Sure, if I'm going with i7-7700 I will have some money left with which I will spend on getting the best core components I can. I used the same memory so that the only changes between the setups are CPU and motherboard.

sizzling · Mar 19, 2017

Then get the i7 and upgrade the GTX 1060 to the 6gb version

Agera One · Mar 20, 2017

Isn't 3GB enough for high settings? I don't really need ultra...

franches · Mar 20, 2017

You forgot one key thing, the i5 7600k wont work on the Z170 chipset without an bios update. Which means that if you got no 6th gen processor to update the bios, you have to buy a z270 in order to oc

Ecky · Mar 20, 2017

3GB is fine so long as you're willing to lower texture settings in some extreme cases. Both cards are just about equally fast (the 6GB is about 5% faster) until the 3GB runs out of RAM.

The i7 is the better CPU. It already performs better today more often than not, and will undoubtedly pull ahead as time goes on. Consider those saying that the i5 is only "better" when the CPU isn't even the bottleneck.

franches · Mar 20, 2017

I was also asking myself the same question, In the end I went with a 7700 non K since as dx12 becomes more popular, games will take advantage of that hyperthreading. However you also must know that a CPU like the 2500k (2nd gen i5) still holds strong

Ecky · Mar 20, 2017

The 2500K is showing its age, while the 2600K has aged much better. There are plenty of cases where even a heavily overclocked 2500K will struggle to maintain 60fps, though it is admittedly a 6 year old CPU at this point.

Agera One · Mar 21, 2017

@Franches! I should've typed it as Z270-k. My bad, it's a typo. (Edited the original post)

i7 (locked) vs i5 (unlocked) only for gaming and future proof?

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