Is Intel Core i7 4790K worth buying in 2018 ?

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pc-freak

pc-freak

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Hi

My brother has a fairly good PC and purchasing latest gen Intel CPU would require buying a new motherboard and new DDR4 ram so I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to get Intel Core i7 4790K ?

His current PC specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150
Memory: 16GB DDR3 (4x4)
Storage: WD 1TB & SSD
Video Card: Nvidia GTX1060 6GB (Asus)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze

What do you think?
Is Intel Core i7 4790K worth buying in 2018 ?
Can Intel Core i7 4790K compete with latest i7 models within same price range?
Is a 650w PSU strong enough to power Intel Core i7 4790K + the specs above?

Thanks :)
 
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pc-freak

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Thanks!

I could never understand this list. Are the top tier CPU's sorted from top to bottom? or by generations?
If it's by generations his current CPU is top tier, yet it's not very good in CPU intensive games :(

Is his current PSU sufficient enough to power his build + i7 4790K?
What happened to your i7? :/


 
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clutchc

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Each tier is roughly equal in gaming capability. All the CPUs in the tier will perform about the same; at least the difference being small enough to not be concerned about. (so says Tom's Hardware)

His i7-4790K should have been excellent at CPU intensive games. If he had issues, I suspect something else was at play.

I gave my i7-4790K away to a young relative of mine along with my MSI Z87-G55 motherboard... for his birthday present. Then I got crazy and added my extra Corsair H60 liq. cooler at the same time. He's gaming at 1080p/144 Hz nicely now.
 
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pc-freak

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He has problems with his i5-4440. He wants to get an i7 4790K as an upgrade to the i5 :)
Is an after market cooler necessary for an i7 4790K if it isn't going to be overclocked?

That must've been a hell of a bday present :D




 
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clutchc

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NO, not at all. But if you/he do decide to OC, be sure to update the H97 board to the latest BIOS. In fact, the BIOS may need to be updated for the i7-4790K. That board was sold in 2 different revisions, I believe. Which one is his? 1.0 or 1.1?
 
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pc-freak

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I don't know. The board was bought sometime in 2014.

The Gigabyte website says it does support:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H97M-D3H-rev-10#support-cpu

It's not a problem. I'll update the BIOS before installing the CPU. Thanks for pointing that out, I would've forgotten :D

One more thing. Is a 650W psu strong enough to power the i7-4790K with rest of the rig?
 
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4745454b

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A different site tested the "new" 7700K against the older 2600K. Same clocks, just different systems.

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/01/13/kaby_lake_7700k_vs_sandy_bridge_2600k_ipc_review/5

This article was wrote before the 8700K came out, which is why it's not included. They found the 7700K was ~20% faster. That's it. The 3770, 4770, 4790, etc would be even closer. If you have a system that can run a 4790, it makes little sense to spend the money on buying a completely new 7700K/8700K. The money spent on a new board and ram wouldn't come back to you.
 
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theonerm2

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Also the difference would be even less than that at realistic gaming settings. Let's be honest here any gamer with a Core i7 CPU whether it be 2nd gen or 8th gen is going to be at least playing at 1080p and they will be more than likely be playing at the highest graphics settings that they can. I'd say most gamers playing at 1080p have a GTX 970 or lower. So they are likely going to be more GPU limited anyway.

A 4790K with a GTX 1060 at 1080p is going to be more GPU limited in newer titles than CPU limited and if a game requires a lot of CPU power the 4790K has it.
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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20% is what I consider the "worst case". I believe they also pointed that our in the article. They sum up by saying only get the new setup if you need the newer features found in the motherboard. I upgraded from my i5 750 to my i7 3770K because I wanted the "3's". USB3, SATA3, PCIe3. Those are all found on my board and I can run my 840pro at full speed instead of the slower speed if I had stuck with my 750 setups. Performance wise the 750 was enough, but the system couldn't run everything like I wanted. This might happen again as M.2 drives come out and more PCIe lanes are found in chips. But for now I'm happy that my 3770K, which is faster than the 2600 they tested with, should be enough to drive any card out there. Minus 10-15%. Give or take.
 
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clutchc

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The 650W PSU is more than enough for the i7-4790K and the GTX 1060.
Be sure to check whether the board is rev. 1.0 or 1.1. They may use different BIOSs. At the top of that page you posted has both links there.
On the board, the Rev # is printed in the corner by the 8-pack of capacitors.
 
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M

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I know this thread is old, but I was looking recently for a i7 4790K and noticed the prices are extremely high on sites like Amazon and Newegg. Private sellers do this because its a discontinued part. I suggest eBaY for this CPU, "used", but the prices can almost be comparable to a brand new i7 sometimes too, by about $100. Anyways, thats what I recommend.
 
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