Skylake i5 vs Haswell i7

[Schatzi96]

Hey guys, I have just about $500 to upgrade my cpu. I'm on an AMD fm2 platform looking to upgrade to an intel cpu. I started looking at my options with my budget in mind and saw that an i5 6600k + 16GB DDR4 would be more expensive than an i7 4790K. What should I get?

 

 

Option #1:

CPU: i5-6600k - $280

    Cooler: Hyper 212 - $30

MOBO: ASRock Z170 Pro4S - $80

Memory: G.Skill NT 16GB DDR4 2133Hz - $80

Total via Newegg + shipping = $469

 

Option # 2: 

CPU: i7-4970k - $340

   Cooler: Hyper 212- $30 (Might just use stock)

MOBO: MSI z97 - $94

Memory: old 12 GB of ddr3 1600Hz - Priceless

Total via Newegg + shipping = $469 ($430 with stock cooler) 

 

 What I use my pc for: Multitasking (Mainly Twitch/youtube while playing a game), gaming, lite video editing. 

What I want: To not have to upgrade for 3-4 years and I plan to get an Oculus rift in April.

[jimakos234]

haswell i7 would be the wisest choice

[fire219]

The Haswell i7 will get you better performance in most if not all cases.

[SeanAngelo]

Hey guys, I have just about $500 to upgrade my cpu. I'm on an AMD fm2 platform looking to upgrade to an intel cpu. I started looking at my options with my budget in mind and saw that an i5 6600k + 16GB DDR4 would be more expensive than an i7 4790K. What should I get?

 

 

Option #1:

CPU: i5-6600k - $280

    Cooler: Hyper 212 - $30

MOBO: ASRock Z170 Pro4S - $80

Memory: G.Skill NT 16GB DDR4 2133Hz - $80

Total via Newegg + shipping = $469

 

Option # 2: 

CPU: i7-4970k - $340

   Cooler: Hyper 212- $30 (Might just use stock)

MOBO: MSI z97 - $94

Memory: old 12 GB of ddr3 1600Hz - Priceless

Total via Newegg + shipping = $469 ($430 with stock cooler) 

 

 What I use my pc for: Multitasking (Mainly Twitch/youtube while playing a game), gaming, lite video editing. 

What I want: To not have to upgrade for 3-4 years and I plan to get an Oculus rift in April.

I'd go Haswell i7.

[Majestic]

Skylake i5, it's 19% faster overall in games compared to Haswell (at equal clock). And those other tasks like streaming you can delegate to either your GPU or iGPU.

[theereal]

The 4790K will offer better performance.

[Interfectorem]

Skylake i5, it's 19% faster overall in games compared to Haswell (at equal clock). And those other tasks like streaming you can delegate to either your GPU or iGPU.

But that 19% improvement will be trumped by the i7's higher Base & Turbo clocks and HyperThreading.

[Luc401]

An I5 in US is only 280$?? wtf , canada a 6600k is $350+ if you can find one in stock.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I'd go with the 4790k plus Hyper 212 EVO.

[Majestic]

But that 19% improvement will be trumped by the i7's higher Base & Turbo clocks and HyperThreading.

 

Depends on the game, not all support HT. And you can always overclock the 6600K. 

 

However, why a B150 + 6700K isn't coined is beyond me.

[flipped_bit]

Another option might be to wait and see whether retail Skylake parts come down in price a little.  If you look at the Intel ARK, the box pricing for the 4790K and 6700K are identical at $350.  For whatever reason (poor yields?), the Skylake parts are still very expensive compared to Haswell.

[flipped_bit]

But that 19% improvement will be trumped by the i7's higher Base & Turbo clocks and HyperThreading.

 

Presumably he would run the 6600K or 4790K at similar clocks.

[App4that]

Depends on the game, not all support HT. And you can always overclock the 6600K.

However, why a B150 + 6700K isn't coined is beyond me.

Most games support HT and those that don't are why we mod.

[Majestic]

Most games support HT and those that don't are why we mod.

 

You don't just 'mod' in support for 4 extra theads... Not effectively anyway.

[MageTank]

Most games support HT and those that don't are why we mod.

Not exactly true. MMO's and MOBA's are games too. Almost every single one of them do not scale beyond 2 cores, because they are designed to be playable by the lowest common denominator of computer hardware. Their products reach more people, means more potential sales in their stores, means more money. The genre is holding us back as a whole, if you ask me.

 

To say "most games support HT" just is not true. In fact, i would say out of every single game available on PC, less than 10% actually show a performance boost when using HT. The most noticeable advantage when using HT, is from games that require 4 threads to run properly. An i3 will play the game, while a G3258 will struggle, or even fail to launch the game. 

 

Some games are on the opposite spectrum. They flat out lose performance with HT enabled. Final Fantasy XIII is a great example of this. Many forums and steam posts dedicated to that problem, but the easiest solution seems to be to turn HT off. 

 

In short, HT is great, but it's not magic. In games that can actually use it, an i7 over an i5 will only yield about 10% more FPS. Games that do not use it, will see absolutely no difference when comparing similarly clocked i5's and i7's.

 

As for OP's decision, the 6600k will match the 4790k's performance in gaming, but it will not match the raw lifting power of an i7 in compute and rendering. Since both are the same price, I would suggest the 4790k. 

[App4that]

Not exactly true. MMO's and MOBA's are games too. Almost every single one of them do not scale beyond 2 cores, because they are designed to be playable by the lowest common denominator of computer hardware. Their products reach more people, means more potential sales in their stores, means more money. The genre is holding us back as a whole, if you ask me.

To say "most games support HT" just is not true. In fact, i would say out of every single game available on PC, less than 10% actually show a performance boost when using HT. The most noticeable advantage when using HT, is from games that require 4 threads to run properly. An i3 will play the game, while a G3258 will struggle, or even fail to launch the game.

Some games are on the opposite spectrum. They flat out lose performance with HT enabled. Final Fantasy XIII is a great example of this. Many forums and steam posts dedicated to that problem, but the easiest solution seems to be to turn HT off.

In short, HT is great, but it's not magic. In games that can actually use it, an i7 over an i5 will only yield about 10% more FPS. Games that do not use it, will see absolutely no difference when comparing similarly clocked i5's and i7's.

As for OP's decision, the 6600k will match the 4790k's performance in gaming, but it will not match the raw lifting power of an i7 in compute and rendering. Since both are the same price, I would suggest the 4790k.

You're correct, poor wording on my part. I should have said most new releases and those being released. But you have a point with MMOs as well.

[MageTank]

You're correct, poor wording on my part. I should have said most new releases and those being released. But you have a point with MMOs as well.

Yeah. I am actually quite surprised about how well the new AAA titles benefit from HT. It's almost night and day when compared to just a year ago. This is also without even seeing what DX 12 will do.