CPU Upgrade Options (help I am a CPU noob)

Quad core CPUs have been mainstream for a decade and only now are games starting to use all 4 cores. It usually takes around 5 years for AAA games to be developed, so just because 6 core and 8 core chips are mainstream in 2017, does not mean that in 2018 games will require 6 or 8 cores.

The very important factor in the "more cores" argument is consoles. Consoles makes game developers much more money than PC. Therefore, game developers develop games to run on consoles, then port them over to run on a PC. Making a game run on a console is the primary focus for the vast majority of game developers. Considering both playstation and Xbox run on 8 core jaguar AMD CPUs, do not expect games to use more than 8 threads until consoles use a new CPU. Also, don't let the "8 core Jaguar" CPU fool you. It is not the true 8 core chip like you see in the Ryzen 7 lineup. AMD used some funny marketing for their previous generation CPUs. Because their previous "8 core" were really just "4 modules" that had simultaneous multi threading.

I would probably not go with the 4690 unless it was a very good deal on the CPU and motherboard or if you are on a strict budget. I would look at getting the 4790k because in some games you will benefit from having 8 threads where on the 4690 you will only have 4. You should be able to get a decent price on a used 4790k and a decent motherboard right now. Intel just released their new lineup and people with the 4790k may be looking to upgrade.

The 4790k will beat or tie any Ryzen processor at gaming and you wont have to upgrade your RAM. RAM prices are twice as much as they were a year ago. But if you perform any professional type task such as video editing or rendering, or if you like to stream games, then go with the 1600 because you will be able to use the extra cores and threads. But for gaming, 8 threads will be more than enough at least until the next generation console is released and they have more than 8 threads.

If you like to game, spend your money on the GPU, not the CPU. The CPU does not have near the impact on gaming as a good GPU.