skylake for gaming?

[L_I_N_U_S]

i am new to the whole "lets build a computer thing" but i have decided to build my own for gaming and programming!

I made a list on PC partpicker which includes a ASUS Z170 motherboard and a i5 6600k skylake CPU.

 

Now i am wondering if I should just use a i5 4690K or if a skylake is better.

 

Please tell me if you find any flaws in this build or any improvements ( f.e better PSU)

• Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
• Graphics card: ASUS Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card    
• Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard 
• Power Supply: Seasonic M12ii 750W                  
• Case: NZXT S340 - Designed by Razer ATX Mid Tower Case          
• Storage: Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 
  SSD:  Samsung EVO-series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Dive      
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  
• CPU cooler: Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  
• Monitor: Dell UltraSharp U2715H 27-Inch  (!1440P RESOLUTION!)

[Bazilias]

-snip-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($275.99 @ B&H) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($153.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($92.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($65.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($319.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $1201.78

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-23 08:32 EST-0500

[PrimeSonic]

To clarify the above,

Skylake does have performance and feature gains (along with better thermals) than Devil's Canyon.

 

The reason you see it being questioned so much is because those gains are not enough to justify going to Skylake from Devil's Canyon.

 

If your current PC is much older and you have the choice between a Skylake CPU or a Devil's Canyon CPU for your next build,

choose Skylake so long as your budget can handle it.

 

If you're on a tight budget and you can get a 4790K for a great deal, it'll do fine.

You might still get better prices on DDR3 DIMMs over DDR4 for a while until it DDR3 starts to become rare as everyone transitions over.

 

But if you have the budget for it, a good rule of thumb is go with the latest gen any time you're starting fresh. At least that's my moto.

[typographie]

My opinion is that if a Skylake system is even close to the price of an equivalent Haswell system from the retailer you're going to use, go with Skylake. But currently on Newegg an i5-6600K is $279, compared to $239 for an i5-4690K. So you're starting with a $40 difference before you even consider DDR4 vs. DDR3, and I'm not sure it ends up being worth the extra cost.

[MageTank]

My opinion is that if a Skylake system is even close to the price of an equivalent Haswell system from the retailer you're going to use, go with Skylake. But currently on Newegg an i5-6600K is $279, compared to $239 for an i5-4690K. So you're starting with a $40 difference before you even consider DDR4 vs. DDR3, and I'm not sure it ends up being worth the extra cost.

Yeah, because that 60 cent difference per GB is REALLY going to break the bank.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#t=11&sort=a7&page=1 (DDR3)

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#t=14&sort=a7&page=1 (DDR4)

 

With board partners coming out with unlocked BCLK for Skylake, one could easily take a $200 locked Skylake CPU beyond 4690k speeds. We are already seeing 4.8ghz Core i5 6400's on HWbot. Taking them to say, 4.5ghz is reasonable i would say. However, there are some caveats. When overclocking these locked CPU's, you lose your thermal sensor (Mine always says 100C), you lose your C states and EIST, and you also lose the ability to use your iGPU at the same time, because its clock will be too unstable to use as a primary graphics card. If those 3 things are worth giving up, then buying a locked CPU to overclock it is probably the best price:performance at the moment.

 

Before anyone says "Intel will stop it with an update!" understand that they cannot force any consumer to update their bios, due to the risk of it bricking randomly. Secondly, if they release a microcode update to force a CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT, you can just use group policy editor and disable windows updates. Your only problem then, will be future service packs and updates holding you back. I still doubt Intel would go through the effort of unstrapping BCLK from PCIE just to tell people they cant OC them. They had to know this would be the outcome.

 

TL:DR? DDR4 is not expensive, that's just a myth at this point. Locked Skylake CPU's can be overclocked for better price:performance but there are consequences.

[typographie]

Yeah, because that 60 cent difference per GB is REALLY going to break the bank.

 

Well, fantastic then. I bought 16 GB of DDR4 back in September (when the 6600K was $249) and I haven't bothered to keep tabs on the prices. I didn't mean to suggest I thought the price difference was enormous between the memory types, and it's probably the least important point I made in my post.

[MageTank]

Well, fantastic then. I bought 16 GB of DDR4 back in September (when the 6600K was $249) and I haven't bothered to keep tabs on the prices. I didn't mean to suggest I thought the price difference was enormous between the memory types, and it's probably the least important point I made in my post.

Yeah, I apologize for that. I am just on a quest to dispel this myth once and for all, as every single person that asks a Skylake related question on this forum, gets told about how expensive DDR4 is, or how bad DDR4's latency is. My DDR4's latency is only 40.1ns, lower than MANY DDR3 kits, lol.

 

If OP had access to a Microcenter, he can get a 6600k for $250 (They also sell the 4690k for $220 at the moment, and just last week, the 4690k was $180). They also do combo deals, where you buy a CPU, you get $20 off a board. If he does not have access to a Microcenter, a cheaper 4690k would do just as good for gaming, which is what the title is asking.

 

If he were doing compression related tasks, DDR4 has a huge advantage over DDR3. My finely tuned DDR4 kit is just worlds ahead of my finely tuned DDR3 kit, to the point in which the fight isn't even a fair one. In my eyes, DDR4 + Skylake's platform is the only advantages it has over Haswell. If someone does not need the extra PCIE lanes, and is fine not having the work related speed boosts of DDR4, then Haswell at a cheaper price is just the obvious choice.