Which (Intel) CPU Should You Buy?

[SkullyFM]

Hi, I have an old i7 920 on a Rampage II Extreme motherboard (1366 socket). Do you think I could buy an used Xeon processor to gain some cpu power? What do you think?

[atiq666]

Does ECC memory helps gaming in any way?

[minibois]

1 hour ago, SkullyFM said:

Hi, I have an old i7 920 on a Rampage II Extreme motherboard (1366 socket). Do you think I could buy an used Xeon processor to gain some cpu power? What do you think?

On the same socket? Probably not.

9 minutes ago, atiq666 said:

Does ECC memory helps gaming in any way?

No.

[uLoop]

36 minutes ago, SkullyFM said:

Hi, I have an old i7 920 on a Rampage II Extreme motherboard (1366 socket). Do you think I could buy an used Xeon processor to gain some cpu power? What do you think?

Yes, the Xeons from that era should be compatible. You should be able to get at least 6 cores, and also you can overclock those xeons via base clock.

[uLoop]

BTW if you want bang for buck, just go with a Z97 motherboard and a Pentium G3258 and overclock the snot out of it, you wont even need a good cooler. Also, you gonna have a great upgrade path by buying an used 4790k, and a good cooler.

[GirlFromYonder]

4 minutes ago, uLoop said:

BTW if you want bang for buck, just go with a Z97 motherboard and a Pentium G3258 and overclock the snot out of it, you wont even need a good cooler. Also, you gonna have a great upgrade path by buying an used 4790k, and a good cooler.

yes buttt some aaa dont even load on a 2c/2ts

[YongKang]

 

8 hours ago, Freaverx said:

Hm, currently i have i7-3770 non K, on a Asus Maximus V motherboard (LGA 1155 and z77), 16 gigs of ram, and a 980ti strix factrory overclocked from Asus, Samsung 850 PRO 512 Gig as OS drive, so regarding this theme, should i wait for Kaby lake CPU lineup to hit the market and upgrade for that, or can i still sit on my 3770 non K untill next generation after Kaby lake, which is Cannon Lake if im not mistaken there.

It depends on what you're doing with your pc. If you're gaming and you're happy with its performance, you shouldn't worry until your next gpu upgrade. Your 980ti is close to a 1070 performance. So, I think you'll be fine for 2-3 more years. 

[Bouzoo]

1 hour ago, uLoop said:

BTW if you want bang for buck, just go with a Z97 motherboard and a Pentium G3258 and overclock the snot out of it, you wont even need a good cooler. Also, you gonna have a great upgrade path by buying an used 4790k, and a good cooler.

If you want bang for the buck you won't pair a Z97 with an G3258, since you can get a H97 with an i3 for instance. You can oc the G3258 with an H81 or a B85 (almost) as good as with a Z97. 

[Streetguru]

Death to dual cores, the Athlon 845 is a superior choice in that case not counting an upgrade path, or just get an i3

far as the i5's go, the 6400 almost isn't worth it over the i3 6100 due to the difference in clock speeds almost making up for the real cores vs hyperthreaded cores

Far as the i5 6600K is concerned I wouldn't really recommend it at all over an i7 6700, 8 threads at 4ghz turbo is going to be much better for 99% of cases rather than 4 threads at 4.5ghz when the price is close in the end factoring in a more expensive board and a hyper 212 evo

though the 6700K is currently on sale for $320, would make a lot more sense to go for that with a Z170 board than a 5820K, the prices difference used to be like $100
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/DdGCGX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/DdGCGX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($295.52 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $422.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-26 13:23 EDT-0400

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/q4bZt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/q4bZt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $407.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-26 13:25 EDT-0400

 

[NavyCuda]

I just can't justify getting rid of my 3770K yet.  I'd like to put a 1080 into my machine but I recently picked up a 970 and it runs everything I play at ultra in 1080p and gives me 60fps or close to it.

[paps511]

For some reason I did not get a notification for this video?

Is it a problem with my email? (gmail)

[uLoop]

1 hour ago, DeezNoNos said:

yes buttt some aaa dont even load on a 2c/2ts

True, but that is still the minority, and you can get some of them to work with a bit of tweaking (Farcry4). Also some do not support dualcores officially, but still work regardless. Even Dragon Age Inquisition, which was notorious for not running at all on dualcores, has been fixed, and runs acceptably well. Also, some games still have poor multithreading, and the Pentium@4,5Ghz should demolish any i3 in those cases, for very little money.

 

 

[uLoop]

47 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

If you want bang for the buck you won't pair a Z97 with an G3258, since you can get a H97 with an i3 for instance. You can oc the G3258 with an H81 or a B85 (almost) as good as with a Z97. 

As Linus have said CPUs greatly outlast motherboards in almost all cases. If someone buys a H81 board, and wants to upgrade to a 4790k a few years later, they will have a lot harder time finding a decent Z87/Z97 board, than finding a 4790k or 4770k or comparable CPUs. Its always the motherboards that become a limiting factor when shopping for used parts.

Look at the X58 platform right now, plenty of cheap 4 and 6 core CPUs floating around, but really hard to get a motherboard for them. Pretty much the same goes for Sandy Bridge.

[uLoop]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Death to dual cores, the Athlon 845 is a superior choice in that case not counting an upgrade path, or just get an i3

Not counting an upgrade path when buying a low end CPU is a poor choice.

[vanished]

9 minutes ago, uLoop said:

Not counting an upgrade path when buying a low end CPU is a poor choice.

Buying a low end CPU is a poor choice

[Bhav]

Personally as I've mentioned in another thread, I cant recommend a 6700k over the 5820k or 6800k, even if it somehow performs slightly better in games that dont yet use more than 4 cores.

[Bhav]

6 hours ago, SkullyFM said:

Hi, I have an old i7 920 on a Rampage II Extreme motherboard (1366 socket). Do you think I could buy an used Xeon processor to gain some cpu power? What do you think?

If you can find an I7 970 or 980 for cheapo, that would make a solid upgrade to an X58 build without needing a new motherboard.

[uLoop]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Buying a low end CPU is a poor choice

Well, if you are poor,  you only get poor choices

[Streetguru]

21 minutes ago, uLoop said:

Not counting an upgrade path when buying a low end CPU is a poor choice.

Generally you're going to be holding onto those low end systems for a long time to come, and buying a new motherboard in the future is only adding maybe $60-80 for a decent budget board.

Especially since by the time an upgrade may happen, zen CPUs should be out.

[uLoop]

Just now, Streetguru said:

Generally you're going to be holding onto those low end systems for a long time to come, and buying a new motherboard in the future is only adding maybe $60-80 for a decent budget board.

Especially since by the time an upgrade may happen, zen CPUs should be out.

The thing is, out-of-production but desirable motherboards tend to become quite scarce and expensive on the used market as time goes on. Buying a decent Z87/Z97 board will be difficult in 2018 but compatible CPUs and coolers will still be plentiful.

[Ithanul]

11 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

are the motherboards expensive though?

There is the natex.us bundles.  Usually can get a cpu/mobo bundle for around 400 bucks.

 

Later on plan to get one myself for a dedicated BOINC rig.

[minibois]

Hmm, weird video.

The video is about what CPU to choose, but it really just says "if you have X to spend, get this. If you have Y to spend, get this" etc. But if you're just going to look at the CPU's of one CPU maker, you can just name the CPU's in the order really (except for a couple options, like at the end with the i7's vs. Xeon's). If you're not going to say what amount you should minimal spend for different use cases, it's not very useful. 

[vanished]

11 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Hmm, weird video.

The video is about what CPU to choose, but it really just says "if you have X to spend, get this. If you have Y to spend, get this" etc. But if you're just going to look at the CPU's of one CPU maker, you can just name the CPU's in the order really (except for a couple options, like at the end with the i7's vs. Xeon's). If you're not going to say what amount you should minimal spend for different use cases, it's not very useful. 

It's which one is best for your budget.  He definitely skipped over lots of them on purpose - hardly just reading out the SKU list sorted by price

[minibois]

16 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

It's which one is best for your budget.  He definitely skipped over lots of them on purpose - hardly just reading out the SKU list sorted by price

But he didn't go over extra stuff, like what kind of motherboard you should get, what kind of cooler you should get (don't think he even mentioned that K series CPU's come with one), etc.

Just the extra step from bringing a simple CPU guide, to a comprehensive one.

 

Not saying I didn't like the video, just hoped it would have had a bit more info.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

4 hours ago, Streetguru said:

Death to dual cores, the Athlon 845 is a superior choice in that case not counting an upgrade path, or just get an i3

far as the i5's go, the 6400 almost isn't worth it over the i3 6100 due to the difference in clock speeds almost making up for the real cores vs hyperthreaded cores

Far as the i5 6600K is concerned I wouldn't really recommend it at all over an i7 6700, 8 threads at 4ghz turbo is going to be much better for 99% of cases rather than 4 threads at 4.5ghz when the price is close in the end factoring in a more expensive board and a hyper 212 evo

 

I'm not sure 99% of the cases use more than 4 thread, up to which point id higher speed vs. bigger cache.

 

But when you go to more than 4 threads, it's important to remember that you can't have 8 threads at 4GHz in a CPU with 4 cores at 4GHz. HT is not a magical button to turn 4 cores into 8, yet intel forgot to advertise their CPUs as 8-core because they are lazy...

 

 

For applications that can use 8 threads, a 4GHz quad-core would be equivalent to running 8 cores at 1.95-2.2GHz, depending on the exact application.

But that's assuming you have a 4GHz base clock CPU. Turbo speeds are nice for single or dual thread applications, but when it comes to using all available cores at the same time (that is, when the core count and tweaks like HT can make a difference), you get the base clock (which, again, is not there just because intel likes to make their products look less powerful).

 

TL,DR: Linus evaluated the 6700 for the 4x3.6GHz wHT processor it is, not the 8x4GHz it is not.