Z97 or Z170?

[BigChimp97]

Hi guys

So i'm currently running an FX-8350, and have done for getting on for 2 years now and has served me well, but... it's not starting to show its age in the newer games that are released such as The Witcher 3, but also very heavily in games that I've attempted to mod like Skyrim where it simply cannot keep up. This has lead me onto feeling that now is the time to make the swap to Intel, but now i'm stuck on whether it would be wiser to go with the last gen Z97 range of CPU's or make the jump to the new Skylake. If anybody could help me out with this then it would be greatly appreciated!

If you need anymore info then simply ask!!

[TheRandomness]

Skylake if you can afford it. What're the rest of your specs?

[ZetZet]

Since you have 16GB of DDR3 I would grab a 4790K and be done with it.

[Oshino Shinobu]

As you're going to be switching out the board anyway, I would go for Skylake. The price difference isn't very big between Z97 and Z170 anymore. 

[Trey222]

1 minute ago, ZetZet said:

Since you have 16GB of DDR3 I would grab a 4790K and be done with it.

I agree with this. The 4790k will last you a very long time.

[BigChimp97]

Just now, ZetZet said:

Since you have 16GB of DDR3 I would grab a 4790K and be done with it.

The one thing that has been making me think of going for the Z170 is that there are barely any boards around for the Z97 platform, that i've heard are worth getting, any recommendations on boards that are still knocking around?

[ZetZet]

2 minutes ago, BigChimp97 said:

The one thing that has been making me think of going for the Z170 is that there are barely any boards around for the Z97 platform, that i've heard are worth getting, any recommendations on boards that are still knocking around?

do you have any specific needs? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a z97 a basically has everything

[Trey222]

What is your budget? 

[Str_Mape]

3 minutes ago, BigChimp97 said:

The one thing that has been making me think of going for the Z170 is that there are barely any boards around for the Z97 platform, that i've heard are worth getting, any recommendations on boards that are still knocking around?

I'd personally go for one of these two but there are a fair few other options out there.

MSI Gaming 5

Asrock Extreme 6

[BigChimp97]

1 minute ago, Trey222 said:

What is your budget? 

Haven't really got one at the minute, I'm sort of getting this ready as a plan so i know how much money i would need, but obviously the cheaper the better, if there isnt much in the pricing then i would go for the better performer

[colinreay]

Unless you need to desperately upgrade, I would suggest waiting another couple months to see how AMD Zen Stacks up!

[DeadKerbal]

On the assumption that your PC will be used almost entirely for gaming and other low demand tasks (internet browsing etc)  then i don't think at this stage the Skylake gives good value.  From what I've seen its certainly a great CPU, but for gaming the bulk of the work is done by the GPU.  I went for a i5-4690k on a z-97 mobo and its been absolutely fine.  These will start to come down in price now the next gen is out so save your money.

[BigChimp97]

Just now, colinreay said:

Unless you need to desperately upgrade, I would suggest waiting another couple months to see how AMD Zen Stacks up!

Has the release date for Zen been announced? I'm going to be waiting a little while until I do this upgrade anyway so if its out soon then that would definitely become a possible contender

[BigChimp97]

6 minutes ago, ZetZet said:

do you have any specific needs? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a z97 a basically has everything

Completely forgot about the z97 a, thanks!

[Trey222]

3 minutes ago, BigChimp97 said:

Haven't really got one at the minute, I'm sort of getting this ready as a plan so i know how much money i would need, but obviously the cheaper the better, if there isnt much in the pricing then i would go for the better performer

if you don't mind buying new RAM the Skylake platform does perform better and has some nice new things like USB 3.1 and USB type C but other than that the Z97 platform will still give you great performance and be cheaper because you do not need new RAM and the parts are slightly cheaper than their Z170 counterparts.  

[colinreay]

4 minutes ago, BigChimp97 said:

Has the release date for Zen been announced?

From what I have heard, late 2016, so it may be too long. Still hope it will be the new king of price to performance when it comes out though.

[DeadKerbal]

You've got a long wait...

http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-launch-q4-2016/

 

 

[BigChimp97]

Just now, DeadKerbal said:

You've got a long wait...

http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-launch-q4-2016/

 

 

Wont be waiting that long! Thanks for the info on that!

[BigChimp97]

Skylake build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7mWwNG

Haswell build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/KTCPYJ

[BigChimp97]

27 minutes ago, DeadKerbal said:

On the assumption that your PC will be used almost entirely for gaming and other low demand tasks (internet browsing etc)  then i don't think at this stage the Skylake gives good value.  From what I've seen its certainly a great CPU, but for gaming the bulk of the work is done by the GPU.  I went for a i5-4690k on a z-97 mobo and its been absolutely fine.  These will start to come down in price now the next gen is out so save your money.

My PC will mainly be used for gaming yes, however I may also be starting a Youtube channel and i also livestream every now and again so the more cores could come in handy

[Trey222]

13 minutes ago, BigChimp97 said:

My PC will mainly be used for gaming yes, however I may also be starting a Youtube channel and i also livestream every now and again so the more cores could come in handy

They have the same number of cores. (both 4 physical and 8 hyperthreaded cores) They difference is the die size. Haswell is built on 22nm and skylake is 14nm. This means that the Skylake is slightly faster and better for games and other stuff. I think the Skylake CPU could be better becuase it will give you an upgrade path for the future because Haswell was the last i7 (I do not count Broadwell) for the Z97 while Skylake is only the first for Z170.