Should I upgrade to i7-6700k or i7-4790k from a i5-4460 in 2017?

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gordon31991

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Jul 30, 2017
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Hi I currently have a I5-4460 with a gtx 980ti. I am debating if i should upgrade to a i7-4790k (used on ebay $250) since I already have a 1150 mobo. Or upgrade to 6700k which means a new motherboard and ddr4 ram.(add up to around $450 used). I am only considering the 6700k because its more future proof with the LGA 1151 socket . That means I can probably upgrade to coffee lake in the future but I am not sure if it is worth spending an additional $200 dollars right now. I know the performance difference between 4790k and 6700k are very slim. I am also considering SLI the gtx 980 ti in the future.


I mainly use the system to play games including CSGO and PUBG. I am running 1080p monitors.
What do you guys think ?


There is also a i7-5930k + x99 + 16gb set for 400 dollars I can buy used but there won't be any new cpu for the lga 2011v3.
 
Solution
Chugalug_
Fact is though that the IPC and clock speed would likely make it redundant before the 4790k/7700k, and even now it falls far behind in gaming, that gap may well close in the future, but I don't think it'll end up being that much better.
Also given the lower cost of the 4790k, it also allows for the remaining funds to be saved for the next big thing in CPUs.
When 6-8 CPU cores become really strongly utilized in say 3-4 years time, he can just jump ship to another newer platform.
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mdd1963

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The 4790K would seem a logical/semi-economical option as a 'hold you over for a year' solution (evaluate Coffeelake vs. R5-1600, 7700K, etc..), given already owning a compatible mainboard, etc...

I'd expect a 4790K to match the R5-1600's gaming performance, anyway....; neither is 'slow', to be sure.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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The i7 4790K is the cheapest route. In gaming the difference between the i7 6700K and 4790K is extremely small. So why buy new ram and motherboard. This only makes sense if your moving to a 6C or better chip. See this review of kaby lake-x. It has sandy-bridge thrown in for good measure and it hold its own at 1080P. Even winning a couple and at 4K they are essentially tied for the most part. This is a 2nd gen part holding it's own against the latest and greatest. Good gaming CPU's last a very long time. People frequently upgrade CPU platforms for gaming when there is zero need to do so. Thing is more threads are important as of late in gaming so we do see a lot of i5 users needing i7s like yourself.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11549/the-intel-kaby-lake-x-i7-7740x-and-i5-7640x-review-the-new-single-thread-champion-oc-to-5ghz/11
 
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aquielisunari

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As long as you can confirm the Coffee Lake assertion I would opt for a compatible Z270 board and a 7700K if you have the money. Yes, the 4790 is perfectly capable and "current". It won't hold you back but that board, RAM and CPU can be sold making the fairly drastic price difference not so drastic. It offers the longevity and a performance increase over Haswell CPUs. The DDR4(3000?MHz vs 1866MHz) RAM also offers a slight performance boost .

I have the 4690K and won't be upgrading it any time soon. I will be pairing it with a 1080, hopefully.

I wouldn't opt for the used part. Invest $400 and if it dies in a week? You have some protection with newly purchased hardware. No net with used. You've also no idea how they treated that CPU. Was it in a server that was run 24/7? How cool was it kept. Too many unknowns that would prevent me from spending that amount. I recommend investing the money into what I mentioned up there ^. Always invest. Never spend.
 
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gonf

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what is the purpose of upgrading? is there any program that you run right now is giving you problems?
If yes. what are your spec now? do you run your OS and "programs" off an SSD drive? how much ram do you have? etc etc. some times upgrading CPU is not the best solutions.
If no. than why are you even looking for an upgrade.
you said you want to do SLI on your Video card. are you sure if that is a good idea? I never like the idea of SLI or CrossFire myself mainly due to driver and supports. 2 video card do sounds good but it may now work as good as you think. besides what are you looking to do with the SLI? 4k gaming? VR gaming? etc etc. you should always try run the software you want to run with the setting you want to run first and see how your pc is doing first. and if you don't like the results than think of upgrading it. the hardware price always drop and the hardware speed always increase in time so don't upgrade unless you needed it.
For the pass 8? years. Intel cpu had like 10%?15%? speed increase year over year? the morse law of computer wasn't happening (because there is no competition, AMD was like gone for the pass 8 years). so CPU should be the last thing you want to upgrade.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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I agree there should be an issue but that said it is very well documented online at this point i5s are bottlenecking in a lot of games and if you throw in game streaming the issue only gets much worse. Point being for system longevity adding a few more threads is a good idea. This should buy the OP a couple years, maybe more. I answer several threads a week about i5s bottlenecking GPUs in games like BF1, Watch Dogs 2, Ghost recon Wildlands (16+ thread games). Then you have Rise of the Tomb Raider, GTA V, The Divsion, The Witcher 3 which will use 8+ threads. We are at a point 4C/4T CPUs don't make much sense for gaming unless your budget strictly dictates otherwise. I now recommend 6C/12T or better for mainstream gaming rigs being built new up from my 4C/8T of even 8 months ago. Things are changing fast in the gaming front, finally.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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I don't know if he added it later or I didn't see it when I first read it but the i7 5930K set-up is also a solid choice. Be way more future proof then the 4C/8T setups. My guess is that would buy him another 7+ years in gaming whereas the 4C/8T is closer to 4 maybe 5 if he is lucky. My i7 3930K (6C/12T) still performs like a champ today with 2 GTX 1080s (were best when I bought, but agree buy best card and only SLI if that isn't enough) and will for years to come. My guess is I'll get about 9 years out of my CPU platform, at 5 1/2 now. This is why the i7 5930k should not be ignored for price and number of cores/threads.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Fact is though that the IPC and clock speed would likely make it redundant before the 4790k/7700k, and even now it falls far behind in gaming, that gap may well close in the future, but I don't think it'll end up being that much better.
Also given the lower cost of the 4790k, it also allows for the remaining funds to be saved for the next big thing in CPUs.
When 6-8 CPU cores become really strongly utilized in say 3-4 years time, he can just jump ship to another newer platform.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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I'd argue there are strongly used now but not 100% essential yet. You have a point on clock speed and I should have qualified it with a "he should think about overclocking it to 4+ghz". If he doesn't overclock then you have a much stronger point. IPC wise he overclocks the i7 5930K is the same as the i7 4790K clock for clock (ie both at 4ghz or what ever speed OCd too)
 
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gordon31991

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Thanks for all the help. all great input. I think I will most likely go with the 4790k and save some money. The 5930k was tempting but I don't think OC is ideal for me.
 
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