6850K vs 6700K vs wait for Kaby (for gaming)

[Teched Out]

Hi all.

 

Currently, my PC looks this:

3570K @4.6GHz

Z77 Fatal1ty Pro

4*4GB DDR3 @1600Mhz

2x GTX 670 in SLI

Corsair AX750

Corsair H110 Push-Pull with Bitfenix Spectre Pros

ROG Swift PG279Q

BenQ BL2710 (secondary 2560x1440 display)

 

I have a GTX 1080 (EVGA FTW) on the way and as soon as I can find another in stock, I'll be buying a second.

I also have a 2400Mhz 4*4GB kit on the way, was interested in seeing if the bump in memory speed would make a difference.

 

 

Anyway, I was just going to stick with the 3570K, given I've gotten a decent overclock out of it. However, the upgrade itch has become too much and I'd like to get the most out of two 1080s and my 165Hz display.

 

Now I'm torn between going X99 and 6850K or Z170 and 6700K.

 

We know the 6700K beats out 6850K in majority of games, thanks to it's faster architecture and higher potential overclock. However, part of me feels it's silly to go from one quad core to another (though I've already done this (Q9505 to 3570K). Theres the "what if games take advantage of more than four cores in the near future", which we've been saying/hoping for since Phenon X2 hex core time.

 

whichever I get, I'll be overclocking. I'll be sticking with my H110, so maybe my oldschool cooler will limit the potential overclock of a Broadwell-E chip?

 

I don't really do anything which currently benefits from more than four cores. I'll transcode a video once a week, but that's about it.

 

Not sure what the smartest play is (don't think there is one). My thinking is, if I go with a 6700K, I will have spent less money on this upgrade by the time games are utilising more than four cores. In saying that, I can justify the extra cost of going 6850K, so this isn't a huge issue.

 

Interested in hearing any advice. 

Thanks.

 

 

EDIT: Oops, after all that, I forgot the third option. Should I just wait for Kaby Lake? It doesn't look like it's going to be anything special.

[ryslinkee]

IMO, it depends on how long into the future you want to upgrade. If you are fine upgrading in a year (exageration), then go with the quad core. If you want a CPU to last for a while, I would recommend the six core. I think some big games will support it eventually, but I don't know how soon.

[HKZeroFive]

You've said it yourself, the i7 6700K will likely be better. Of course, the mentality of 'more cores is better' is tempting but the situations in which games utilise all of them is extremely rare. Besides, the i7 6700K will become the bottleneck in CPU-intensive scenarios.

 

One other thing to note is that Broadwell-E isn't a good overclocker, so that makes Skylake an even more viable choice if you're keen on overclocking. You should see a benefit in increased memory speed (3000-3600MHz would have been good but you've already ordered the kit so nothing I can do) in the form of average and minimum framerates.

[Teched Out]

22 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

(3000-3600MHz would have been good)

This is a DDR3 kit.

[HKZeroFive]

5 minutes ago, CuRle_ said:

This is a DDR3 kit.

So the 4x4 2400MHz kit is DDR3? Right, then grab a higher frequency DDR4 kit if you're upgrading. The higher frequency memory kit should help for the i5 3570K though.

[Teched Out]

2 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

So the 4x4 2400MHz kit is DDR3? That won't work with a Z170 motherboard that supports SLI.

Yes, for my current setup. If I go X99 or Z170, I will of course buy a DDR4 kit.

[HKZeroFive]

2 minutes ago, CuRle_ said:

Yes, for my current setup. If I go X99 or Z170, I will of course buy a DDR4 kit.

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I should read better in the future...

 

Anyhow, you should see that the higher frequency RAM should help in at least your minimum framerates. If you're upgrading to DDR4, I'd say 3600MHz RAM would be a solid choice.

[Flesky015]

1 hour ago, HKZeroFive said:

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I should read better in the future...

 

Anyhow, you should see that the higher frequency RAM should help in at least your minimum framerates. If you're upgrading to DDR4, I'd say 3600MHz RAM would be a solid choice.

Overkill. 3000mhz is the point where faster memory won't help

[HKZeroFive]

2 minutes ago, Flesky015 said:

Overkill. 3000mhz is the point where faster memory won't help

Wrong:

 

[not_Linus]

Any of those options will be solid choice, don't get caught up in the 6+ core hype.  Even when games start using all the available cores, a quad core will still hold its own in any game.  Get the one you will be the happiest with. The X99 platform will probably have a longer life span then a Z170 platform, but the Z170 will still perform well for some time. Kabylake will be just a minor upgrade over skylake.

[Teched Out]

19 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I should read better in the future...

 

All good.

 

Thanks for the feedback, so far, guys.