What CPU should I buy? i5 or i7? (Mainly for gaming)

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

Hi,

I am planning to upgrade my CPU for better performance of my PC.
Now I am not sure which CPU to buy. I'm looking at the i7 7700 and i7 7700k but are they worth it?
I've heard that i5's are also very good.

I mainly play games, but I also make video's for youtube. I use Photoshop and Premiere Pro for example.

My priority is to get the highest FPS in games tho. Bf1, SWBF2, GTA V, Overwatch etc. Very CPU heavy games. If rendering of video's takes a little longer, I don't really bother that.

My current PC build:

MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition
I5 4460
GTX 1070 EVGA FTW
16 GB RAM

So what CPU should I buy? Thank you in advance!

PS. I do know that I have to upgrade my mobo and ram, don't bother me with that (;

Roland Of Gilead · Sep 18, 2017

an i7 7700/k would be an improvment, and help with the tasks your running. If you are deterimned to stick with Intel, wait! coffee Lake is around the corner, offering 6 cores (potentially for the same price as the current I5's) and will have massive increases in performance.

I'd wait for the that.

Otherwise Ryzen 5/7 offer great multi threaded performance right now, and really good gaming performance too.

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

Based on your current Haswell-Refresh (4th-gen) rig, you haven't fully exploited its full potential due to your i5-4460 on a Z97 mobo.

Instead of getting a 7th-gen (Kaby Lake) i7-7700 or i7-7700K, which would necessitate the overhauling of your 4th-gen Z97 motherboard and DDR3 RAM (i.e., spending a WHOLE LOT of money), you should just consider upgrading your current locked/non-OCable 4C/4T i5-4460 CPU to a beefier unlocked/OC-able 4C/8T i7-4790K.

The difference in CPU performance between the i7-4790K and the i7-7700K is not that significant, esp. with a GTX 1070 ideal for gaming at 1440p/60Hz.

constantine_99 · Sep 18, 2017

meh, the i7 4790k is still great for today's games

u can still prolong the whole rig's life with that i7 instead of getting a whole new platform

i7 4790k can handle even a 1080ti just fine, so don't worry 'bout bottlenecking the 1070

HowieIsBoss · Sep 18, 2017

As an owner of the i7-4790k, I have had great experiences with it. I have played very graphical intensive games while playing music, YouTube, streaming and etc. I agree with everything said above!

It really is a great CPU.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

raisonjohn :

So if I pick up the i7 4790k, will I be able to overclock it?

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

Yes. That's because you have a Z97 motherboard capable of overclocking an unlocked Haswell-Refresh generation CPU such as the i7-4790K.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

raisonjohn :

Okay, the only unfortunate thing is: is that the i7 4790k is very hard to get in the Netherlands right now..

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

BTW, is it a better buy than the i5 4690k?

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

Here are some i7-4790K I found in your location:

https://azerty.nl/product/intel/707629/core-i7-4790k-4-ghz-4-cores
https://www.4launch.nl/product/352523/Intel-Haswell-Core-i7-4790K-4.0GHz-8MB
https://www.pixmania.nl/p/intel-core-i7-4790k-4-ghz-socket-1150-processor-bx80646i74790k-975939?offerId=5725755

If you can find a used i7-4790K at a much lower price, the better.

Definitely, the i7-4790K is a much better upgrade coming from an i5-4460 than getting an i5-4690K for the specific games and things you want to do in your PC.

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

You should also get an aftermarket CPU Cooler (such as the Cryorig H7):

https://azerty.nl/product/cryorig/947310/h7-koeler-voor-processor-lga1156-socket-socket-am2-socket-am2--lga1366-socket-socket-am3-lga1155-socket-socket-am3--socket-fm1-socket-fm2-lga1150-socket-socket-fm2--lga1151-socket-

guanyu210379 · Sep 18, 2017

If you are already on i5 4xxx, I would actually simply leave this system as it is for now.
Wait and see how the coming Coffee-lake will do before replacing the proc.
You can even wait longer.

I5 4xxx is a bottle neck for those new AAA heavy cpu intensive games but not yet a bottleneck for gpu intensive games. It is not yet the time to send these I5 s to retirement.
The bottleneck for cpu intensive games is also not yet on the point of worrying state unless you are really wanting to really high fps on games like BF1.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

raisonjohn :

guanyu210379 :

I'm really bothered with the fps under 60 on heavy players spots in bf1. It's really annoying to have this stuttery movement. So I'm really looking for an CPU upgrade.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

raisonjohn :

Since I build this pc I'm using the Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Rev.2 Cooler, so I'm not sure if a CPU cooler upgrade is necessary. https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/247755/gelid-solutions-tranquillo-rev2.html

What do you think?

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

The i5-4460 does hinder the performance of a GTX 1070 in those games: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EQOWVLxk0DOFXKfzCmz9lEZ-qpMb7mIvt8KUYek69A8/edit?usp=sharing

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3192807/ultimate-bottlenecking-guide.html

geofelt · Sep 18, 2017

Your I5-4460 has a passmark rating of 6672. That is when all 4 threads are fully utilized from an app or game.
Today, few games can make effective use of more than 2-3 threads so the single thread rating of 1946 is more applicable for gaming.
You can look up passmark ratings for other processors for an approximate capability estimation.
Here are a few others:
I7-4790K 11192/2530 4 threads
I5-7600K 9272/2403 4 threads
I5-7700K 12132/2581. 8 threads
Ryzen 1600 12358/1829 12 threads
1700x 14634 1867 16 threads.

In general, haswell might oc to 4.5
Kaby lake to 5.0
ryzen to 4.0

You can get some idea of how many threads are useful to YOUR games.

You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to 3.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.

Your cooler should be ok for a modest OC.
That assumes you have a case with decent fresh air intake. 2 120mm intakes or better will do it.

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

theRTT :

You can use the same Gelid cooler as you please, no need to get a new one. I was under the impression that you are using the stock Intel CPU cooler of your i5-4460 as you did not list the CPU cooler specs of your current PC build in your opening post.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

raisonjohn :

theRTT :

You can use the same Gelid cooler as you please, no need to get a new one. I was under the impression that you are using the stock Intel CPU cooler of your i5-4460 as you did not list the CPU cooler specs of your current PC build in your opening post.

That wasn't really a needed spec imo. But okay. I think the stock coolers are pretty worthless.

apple_noob · Sep 18, 2017

I recommend an i7 7700k. It has really good single core speeds, especially if you overclock it, reaching speeds of 5 Ghz. It also has hyperthreading which makes it much better than the i5 for anything other than gaming. Another option you may want to consider is the i7 6850k as this has more cores. It is just slightly worse in gaming (around how the Ryzen 1800x is in gaming), but it is FAR superior in multitasking and editing. I know you said you want mainly gaming performance, but you will not even notice the difference, especially with a good GPU. It may be a few frames less at most.

theRTT · Sep 18, 2017

apple_noob :

I might already have decided to go with the i7 4790k from the same gen. Amazing cpu and no need to spend extra money on the mobo and ram.

raisonjohn · Sep 18, 2017

theRTT :

apple_noob :

I might already have decided to go with the i7 4790k from the same gen. Amazing cpu and no need to spend extra money on the mobo and ram.

It's a good choice (performance-wise and expense-wise).

theRTT · Sep 25, 2017

raisonjohn :

theRTT :

It's a good choice (performance-wise and expense-wise).

Thank you for putting me up for this cpu. It's amazing and especially in BF1 I barely get under 75 fps! It's so good to play games like this. Thank you. I'm looking to overclock it later.

alsmith · Oct 13, 2017

nice!

... and thanks for posting your performance after the upgrade. It's really helpful, most people don't bother so you never find out the the actual result of the changes made.

What CPU should I buy? i5 or i7? (Mainly for gaming)

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