i5-4690k vs i7-4790k as I understand it...

[MoonDoggy-X]

I am in desperate need for a new rig(current specs in the signature), and was researching these very popular gaming options. There have been a lot of other people trying to decide between getting a 4690k and a 4790k for about $80USD more. I know we've all seen the multiple "i5 or i7" threads on here lately. It is honestly a very good question to ask about a new build at the present. What has my jaw hitting the floor, however, is how many people are backing the i5 over the obviously superior i7. As I said above, I am also in the for a new system, but the i5 just does not seem like the logical choice if someone can afford better. Now, by no means should you sacrifice the rest of your system to squeeze an i7 in it. If the money saved allows for a better GPU, thats another story. But, all things being equal, why not an i7? Especially with DX 12 right around the corner. Hopefully this analogy helps me get my point across. Here's the way I see it...

 

Say I go to a car dealership and say "I want the fastest car(CPU) I can buy. I know i want at least an 8-cylinder(quad core) car. So, Should I get the Camero(4690k) or a Corvette(4790k)?"

 

The dealer asks "Well, what are you going to use the car(computer) for?"

 

I say, "I use the highway a lot and I want to get back and forth as fast as possible(Gaming)."

 

He says, like a lot of people on this forum, "Oh, thats it? Then your best choice is the Camero(4690K)."

 

Surprised that he suggested the cheaper car, I say "Really? But I read online that the Corvette(4790k) has a bigger engine(clock speed), better handling(hyperthread), and is equally as fuel efficient(TWP). According to the numbers from the test track(Benchmarks), the Corvette is 50% faster than the Camero."

 

The dealer laughs and says "Thats all true, but you will never see that extra performance because the highway(Gaming) has a speed limit. No matter how much you potential your car(CPU) has, the fastest you can go is XXmph(fps), and the Camero(4690k) will get you to the speed limit just as fast at the Corvette(4790k) will."

 

Thinking the dealer must have been living under a rock for the last several months, I ask "Um, haven't you heard about the new law being passed(Directx 12)??? In a few months the highway(Gaming) will no longer have a speed limit and you will be able to travel as fast as your car(CPU) will allow. So, considering that, is the Camero(i5) still the better choice over the Corvette(i7)...?"

 

 

Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I dead wrong and the 4690k is hands down the better choice over the 4790k? Thats an honest question, as I will be starting my build soon. Either way, I hope this helps put the choice in pespective for all the other noobs like me. :blink:

[TheSLSAMG]

It isn't hands down a better choice, but for gamers, an i7 is of little benefit now. The i5 4690K is a perfectly competent gaming CPU, the i7 4790K is faster than it but not significantly for gaming.

[SeanAngelo]

if you're gaming, an i5 will do.

 

but if you can afford an i7, then i say go for it.

[vSyNd1c4t3]

I am in desperate need for a new rig(current specs in the signature), and was researching these very popular gaming options. There have been a lot of other people trying to decide between getting a 4690k and a 4790k for about $80USD more. I know we've all seen the multiple "i5 or i7" threads on here lately. It is honestly a very good question to ask about a new build at the present. What has my jaw hitting the floor, however, is how many people are backing the i5 over the obviously superior i7. As I said above, I am also in the for a new system, but the i5 just does not seem like the logical choice if someone can afford better. Now, by no means should you sacrifice the rest of your system to squeeze an i7 in it. If the money saved allows for a better GPU, thats another story. But, all things being equal, whay not an i7? Especially with DX 12 right around the corner. Hopefully this analogy helps me get my point across. Here's the way I see it...

 

Say I go to a car dealership and say "I want the fastest car(CPU) I can buy. I know i want at least an 8-cylinder(quad core) car. So, Should I get the Camero(4690k) or a Corvette(4790k)?"

 

The dealer asks "Well, what are you going to use the car(computer) for?"

 

I say, "I use the highway a lot and I want to get back and forth as fast as possible(Gaming)."

 

He says, like a lot of people on this forum, "Oh, thats it? Then your best choice is the Camero(4690K)."

 

Surprised that he suggested the cheaper car, I say "Really? But I read online that the Corvette(4790k) has a bigger engine(clock speed), better handling(hyperthread), and is equally as fuel efficient(TWP). According to the numbers from the test track(Benchmarks), the Corvette is 50% faster than the Camero."

 

The dealer laughs and says "Thats all true, but you will never see that extra performance because the highway(Gaming) has a speed limit. No matter how much you potential your car(CPU) has, the fastest you can go is XXmph(fps), and the Camero(4690k) will get you to the speed limit just as fast at the Corvette(4790k) will."

 

Thinking the dealer must have been living under a rock for the last several months, I ask "Um, haven't you heard about the new law being passed(Directx 12)??? In a few months the highway(Gaming) will no longer have a speed limit and you will be able to travel as fast as your car(CPU) will allow. So, considering that, is the Camero(i5) still the better choice over the Corvette(i7)...?"

 

 

Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I dead wrong and the 4690k is hands down the better choice over the 4790k? Thats an honestion, as I will be starting my build soon. Either way, I hope this helps put the choice in pespective for all the other noobs like me. :blink:

 

I would say to these laws... The government is slow, and chances are it will take them years to fully implement something of this nature. And realize I paid all this extra money for a Corvette but am never aloud to take it over the promised to increase speed limit. As I am waiting on others to decide if I am even able to go the extra speed limit at all.

[___]

Can someone tell me what DirectX12 has promised and what is confirmed?

[Godlygamer23]

Comparing cars to computers is a pointless endeavor, especially considering the Corvette would beat a Camaro by a lot. The 2015 Corvette has 650HP, while the 2015 Camaro has 325HP. The whole post becomes pointless.

 

The difference between a 4690K and 4790K is hyper-threading and amount of L3 cache. Hyper-threading creates an additional thread on a physical core and allows for additional processing while reading/writing from/to RAM. As a result, programs that like a lot of threads benefit greatly from hyper-threading. Video games can benefit from the additional threads - BF4 for example can gain 10FPS on a 4770K vs the equivalent Core i5.

[vSyNd1c4t3]

We will be releasing the availability of new speed limit on several roads around holiday 2015. But only about 50% of the of roads will actually benefit from this change.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/20/directx-12-first-dx12-games-to-hit-the-market-around-holiday-2015-says-microsoft/

[MoonDoggy-X]

We will be releasing the availability of new speed limit on several roads around holiday 2015. But only about 50% of the of roads will actually benefit from this change.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/20/directx-12-first-dx12-games-to-hit-the-market-around-holiday-2015-says-microsoft/

...and this...

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/03/26/directx-12-delivers-amd-nvidia-and-intel-hardware-tested-with-awesome-improvements/

[Samfisher]

Can someone tell me what DirectX12 has promised and what is confirmed?

 

DX12 has promised and confirmed improved CPU performance for instances that they are draw-call bottlenecked.

[MoonDoggy-X]

DX12 has promised and confirmed improved CPU performance for instances that they are draw-call bottlenecked.

,,,and this...

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2903586/directx-12-will-goose-gpus-too-amd-says-unlocking-the-potential-of-its-graphics-cards.html

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Honestly what I think is...

 

Both Hyper and Non-Hyper Threaded CPUs are going to get a benefit form this, but probably most of the improvements will be made with a graphics card driver update. Most peoples graphics cards are already dx12 compatible right?

 

You know if it was only CPUs getting the benefit of dx12 I could understand more, but both CPU and GPU will getting performance increase with it. SOOO... We probably still wont need hyperthreading CPUs to run dx12 games at insane FPS increase thanks to its new API.

 

The whole spill of dx12 is probably marketing to get people hyped about it, I mean it looks awesome, so why wouldn't we be hyped. Right?

 

People get hyped, investors see people getting hyped, they invest more money... Profit.

 

So to show some setup tech demos that show off in their favor makes sense, real numbers are probably drastically lower.

 

It's like a corvette vs a subaru in a rally race. Corvette is fast when you give it a predetermined track that it knows very well and was made for, but throw it some dirt and rain and you will watch that corvette spin out of control.

 

idk just my thoughts.

[MoonDoggy-X]

Not to throw out the "F" word, but wouldn't DX 12 at least make the 4790k more futureproof?

 

https://youtu.be/jsxn93Wb7vk

[Faceman]

Absolutely.  If you have enough money, and it doesn't detract from the rest of your build, buy an i7.

[CoolaxGaming]

The i7 is a nice have. But the 4690k is recommended if you need space somewhere else in yo build.

[Gargantua]

buy i5 and i'll ask you again after 2 years ...what would be the better option ...? Corv. or cam. coz the age of motorways is at the door and speed limits are going to increase soon . so if you can buy the corv.. instead of buying it after buying the cam....got my point ?

[runit3]

This is a decently short article to summarize the theorized advantages of DX12 vs DX11 -> http://wccftech.com/dx12-revealed-compared-dx11/

Games are going to have to catch up to DX12. In order to utilize the better scaling of DX12 developers will need to code around it. DX12 isn't going to be a magical retroactive pill for every poorly optimized 1-2 core game out there. MANY games fall into that category, and in either case of your Corvette or Camaro, they're going to function similarly. You can OC the piss out of either the i5 or i7 with a good sample, base clock is pretty much completely irrelevant as most samples will hit 4.5GHz without sweating.

 

The bigger concern is which games you plan on playing. If you're into BF4 and the multithreaded lot of new AAA titles then it would make more sense to go with the i7-4790k, the caveat being that if you're only playing at 60Hz 1080p it's not going to make a damn bit of difference anyways -assuming you have a GTX 970 / R9 280X or higher, you'll never see those extra 10-20 frames. Which then brings us right back to the price discrepancy, if the ~$100USD difference between the i5 and i7 changes your GPU from a 960 to a 970 it's a no brainer to go with the i5.

 

One minor addition to all of this is that if you're in the price range of an i7 on Z97, you're not that far off from X99 territory (5820k). Chances are you won't be able to get the clock as high, but you will have +2 cores and 4 extra threads. If you're making this computer with the intention of keeping it for ~5 years I'd spend the extra $1-200 on X99, just make sure to wait a month or two for full USB 3.1 adoption and you've got yourself a machine that should be able to do just about anything under the sun, and you have a bit of DX12 security should it prove to be truly ground breaking.

[MoonDoggy-X]

This is a decently short article to summarize the theorized advantages of DX12 vs DX11 -> http://wccftech.com/dx12-revealed-compared-dx11/

Games are going to have to catch up to DX12. In order to utilize the better scaling of DX12 developers will need to code around it. DX12 isn't going to be a magical retroactive pill for every poorly optimized 1-2 core game out there. MANY games fall into that category, and in either case of your Corvette or Camaro, they're going to function similarly. You can OC the piss out of either the i5 or i7 with a good sample, base clock is pretty much completely irrelevant as most samples will hit 4.5GHz without sweating.

 

The bigger concern is which games you plan on playing. If you're into BF4 and the multithreaded lot of new AAA titles then it would make more sense to go with the i7-4790k, the caveat being that if you're only playing at 60Hz 1080p it's not going to make a damn bit of difference anyways -assuming you have a GTX 970 / R9 280X or higher, you'll never see those extra 10-20 frames. Which then brings us right back to the price discrepancy, if the ~$100USD difference between the i5 and i7 changes your GPU from a 960 to a 970 it's a no brainer to go with the i5.

 

One minor addition to all of this is that if you're in the price range of an i7 on Z97, you're not that far off from X99 territory (5820k). Chances are you won't be able to get the clock as high, but you will have +2 cores and 4 extra threads. If you're making this computer with the intention of keeping it for ~5 years I'd spend the extra $1-200 on X99, just make sure to wait a month or two for full USB 3.1 adoption and you've got yourself a machine that should be able to do just about anything under the sun, and you have a bit of DX12 security should it prove to be truly ground breaking.

 

I plan on playing BF4, STO, DCUO, Guild Wars 2, Witcher 1-3 and REALLY trying to fight the urge to give WoW another go.

 

I have cosidered the 5820k also, but i couldn't thing of a 12-cylinder car to compare to th Corvette.  I narrowed my build to 3 options...

 

Minimalist: 4690k, z97(ASRock), 8gb ddr3 = $397

 

Middle of the Road: 4790k, z97(Asus), 8gb ddr3 = $513

 

Swinging for the Fence: 5820k, x99(ASRock), 16gb ddr4 = $688... I went with 16gb fr this one because the x99 looks dumb with only 2/8 ram slots filled.

[Faceman]

I plan on playing BF4, STO, DCUO, Guild Wars 2, Witcher 1-3 and REALLY trying to fight the urge to give WoW another go.

 

I have cosidered the 5820k also, but i couldn't thing of a 12-cylinder car to compare to th Corvette.  I narrowed my build to 3 options...

 

Minimalist: 4690k, z97(ASRock), 8gb ddr3 = $397

 

Middle of the Road: 4790k, z97(Asus), 8gb ddr3 = $513

 

Swinging for the Fence: 5820k, x99(ASRock), 16gb ddr4 = $688... I went with 16gb fr this one because the x99 looks dumb with only 2/8 ram slots filled.

Even an i7 is going to last you a long, long, very long time.  Unless you absolutely need the horsepower of the X99 platform, stick with Z97.

[runit3]

I plan on playing BF4, STO, DCUO, Guild Wars 2, Witcher 1-3 and REALLY trying to fight the urge to give WoW another go.

 

I have cosidered the 5820k also, but i couldn't thing of a 12-cylinder car to compare to th Corvette.  I narrowed my build to 3 options...

 

Minimalist: 4690k, z97(ASRock), 8gb ddr3 = $397

 

Middle of the Road: 4790k, z97(Asus), 8gb ddr3 = $513

 

Swinging for the Fence: 5820k, x99(ASRock), 16gb ddr4 = $688... I went with 16gb fr this one because the x99 looks dumb with only 2/8 ram slots filled.

Quite the mashup of games If your GPU(s) are going to be equal across all of those systems I'd say middle of the road. Gets you halfway to SLI or Xfire, w/the minimalist you're at another GPU for games that support it (I fully expect Witcher 3 to support SLI/Xfire).

 

With most of those games listed being more core speed dependent, rather than core count, I'd go the Z97 route...and another GPU...all day.

[MoonDoggy-X]

Even an i7 is going to last you a long, long, very long time.  Unless you absolutely need the horsepower of the X99 platform, stick with Z97.

 

 

Quite the mashup of games If your GPU(s) are going to be equal across all of those systems I'd say middle of the road. Gets you halfway to SLI or Xfire, w/the minimalist you're at another GPU for games that support it (I fully expect Witcher 3 to support SLI/Xfire).

 

With most of those games listed being more core speed dependent, rather than core count, I'd go the Z97 route...and another GPU...all day.

 

I am leaning heavily towards "Middle of the Road", but I was trying to wait(If my com holds up) to see how DX12 will effect the CPU's ingame performance before i decide. If DX12 deliver's the 5820k will leave the other 2 in the dust. I saw a guy get a 16k+ physics score in Firestrike with a 5 year old, 6 core Xeon.

 

If DX12 flopps and the i5 is still neck-and-neck with the i7 ingame, I'll probably go the "Minimalist" route for now and upgrade again with Skylake.

[fracking4oil]

Can someone tell me what DirectX12 has promised and what is confirmed?