i7 6700k or i5 6600k for gaming and prep for future games

KrooKs

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May 9, 2017
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I currently have a very low level amd fx-4330 and need to upgrade my CPU. I want to go Intel but can't decide between the I5 6600k and the I7 6700K. I only use my computer for gaming, and I've read that the two are very similar when over clocked. I want my CPU to last me a few years and don't want to short myself if the near future shows the I5 to become outdated. Is it worth the extra 100$ to upgrade to the I7 as opposed to the I5??? Or should I go I5 and upgrade my gtx 950 ssc?
 
Solution
You have good advice above. The i7 will have greater longevity over the i5 since that is important to you. The number of games and applications that can utilize more than 4 threads is increasing to a notable margin at this point and Coffee Lake (8000 series from Intel) will be offering consumer 6 core processors, meaning it will only continue/increase.

The advantage of the Kaby lake 7000 series is that they have higher clocks out of the box, and can overclock higher, making them more relevant longer.
However, if there is a sufficient price difference between the two >$50-$75, and if price is very important to you, then Skylake is not a bad option either.
If you go with a Z270 series motherboard you can always make a jump to Kaby lake...

Spring1898

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Apr 24, 2017
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You have good advice above. The i7 will have greater longevity over the i5 since that is important to you. The number of games and applications that can utilize more than 4 threads is increasing to a notable margin at this point and Coffee Lake (8000 series from Intel) will be offering consumer 6 core processors, meaning it will only continue/increase.

The advantage of the Kaby lake 7000 series is that they have higher clocks out of the box, and can overclock higher, making them more relevant longer.
However, if there is a sufficient price difference between the two >$50-$75, and if price is very important to you, then Skylake is not a bad option either.
If you go with a Z270 series motherboard you can always make a jump to Kaby lake down the line.
 
Solution


Some of the 7700ks run hot due to the crummy thermal paste and some bad glue holding the IHS to the die. It's why there is much more interest in delidding lately as people try to get the temperatures under control when pushing high overclocks. The 6700k might not be quite as bad in that regard, though you do get lower stock clocks and your overclock is likely to max out at 4.6-4.7 rather than 5.0.
 

Spring1898

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Under stock clocks, the processor should behave normally, albeit warmer than skylake.
There are some people who seem to be having issues even at stock clocks, however that is generally regarded as a manufacturing error and should be covered under warranty (at least so far as I have seen)

The issue is the Thermal Interface Material under the heatspreader, which is notably poor this time around.
The solution is simple, delid the processor and replace the thermal paste with something superior like AS5, MX-4, etc.
The downside is that voids the warranty, despite it being very simple to do.

Some people go a step further and replace the material with "liquid metal" thermal interface, which is probably about as good as one can get with a non-soldered heatspreader. But this more extreme than you would likely need to achieve respectable overclocks and temperatures.

For me, the temperature alone would not scare me away from Kaby lake, if it truly was unusable I would warranty it. If it is fine, I would keep it that way until I was satisfied there would be no defects in the chip and I wanted to overclock and delid it.

Skylake does not have this issue but max clock speeds are limited as stated compared to Kabylake, which means it performs very closely to Haswell's 4790k when overclocked.
 
I wasn't aware this was any different than what has been going on since Intel moved away from solder on their mainstream chips back in ~2012 with Ivy Bridge. The only major difference is that the 7700K has the highest clockspeed and smallest die size of any chip shipped to date, so the heat density issue is a bit worse. Luckily, there's no indication that even running close to 100c at stock clocks and voltage is any issue.
 

Spring1898

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Well things got a little better on Skylake, but kaby lake is worse than the increased clocks would indicate.
Even overclocked skylake doesn't always reach the temperatures of Kabylake.

The temperature differences between after delidding also favor an inferior TIM on Kabylake.
 

amtseung

Distinguished
Honestly, all the i7's since Haswell have benefited greatly from delidding temperature-wise.

On a different note, why not try Ryzen? The 1600/1600X/1700 seem very competitive to what Intel has to offer at the same price point. And don't forget, AMD FineWine included.