Thoughts on a CPU upgrade

[Spork829]

Right now I have a Z97 Extreme4 board from ASRock with my i5-4460. This is because I bought the board knowing that I would want to upgrade to an unlocked chip soon enough and could save money if I stayed on the same platform. So I was wondering a few things about Haswell K series CPUs:

1. I've heard the 4770K and 4790K are basically the same exact thing, just one has higher out of the box clocks. Is this true, or is the 4790K actually better for some reason?

2. Is it worth getting one of those for light content creation (being able to encode, preferably at 60 FPS 720p with the CPU while gaming), or should I go for the 4690K?

3. Should I wait till Zen comes out, because perhaps if it's competitive, the price on Haswell will drop a bit?

[NeoSk11zle]

2 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Right now I have a Z97 Extreme4 board from ASRock with my i5-4460. This is because I bought the board knowing that I would want to upgrade to an unlocked chip soon enough and could save money if I stayed on the same platform. So I was wondering a few things about Haswell K series CPUs:

1. I've heard the 4770K and 4790K are basically the same exact thing, just one has higher out of the box clocks. Is this true, or is the 4790K actually better for some reason?

2. Is it worth getting one of those for light content creation (being able to encode, preferably at 60 FPS 720p with the CPU while gaming), or should I go for the 4690K?

3. Should I wait till Zen comes out, because perhaps if it's competitive, the price on Haswell will drop a bit?

why not just go for i5 6600k

[Spork829]

Just now, NeoSk11zle said:

why not just go for i5 6600k

Would have to buy a new motherboard. The point is I bought the Z97 board so I could buy Haswell instead and save the extra money.

[CostcoSamples]

I think for your build the 4460 is good.  Yes, the 4790k will be a good upgrade, but you might not actually notice a big difference.  I think you should wait for Zen or Kabylake and see how things look.  You can always upgrade to the 4790k later if the next gen CPUs aren't as good as you hoped.

[NeoSk11zle]

Just now, Spork829 said:

Would have to buy a new motherboard. The point is I bought the Z97 board so I could buy Haswell instead and save the extra money.

Oh Ok. 4790k is better in single/multi threaded workloads so your call 

[NeoSk11zle]

1 minute ago, CostcoSamples said:

I think for your build the 4460 is good.  Yes, the 4790k will be a good upgrade, but you might not actually notice a big difference.  I think you should wait for Zen or Kabylake and see how things look.  You can always upgrade to the 4790k later if the next gen CPUs aren't as good as you hoped.

he doesn't wan to by a new motherboard for kaby lake

[zMeul]

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75123,80807

Processor Base Frequency	3.50 GHz	4.00 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency	3.90 GHz	4.40 GHz

 

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)‡

No

Yes

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, CostcoSamples said:

I think for your build the 4460 is good.  Yes, the 4790k will be a good upgrade, but you might not actually notice a big difference.  I think you should wait for Zen or Kabylake and see how things look.  You can always upgrade to the 4790k later if the next gen CPUs aren't as good as you hoped.

That's what I thought as well, but the 4460 has been showing weakness in a few situations, and I've been solely using NVENC for livestreaming because it can't really handle video encoding at all unless the game isn't taxing more than maybe 20%.

[WereCat]

I have another option.

Xeon E3 1231 V3

Xeon E3 1241 V3

 

These are basicaly i7 4770/4790 (non K) without the integrated graphics. They are way cheaper than i7 4770/4790 but perform exactly the same and it is great upgrade from i5 4460. You just cant OC it easily... OC is very limited on these.

[Schrodingers Kat]

4 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Right now I have a Z97 Extreme4 board from ASRock with my i5-4460. This is because I bought the board knowing that I would want to upgrade to an unlocked chip soon enough and could save money if I stayed on the same platform. So I was wondering a few things about Haswell K series CPUs:

1. I've heard the 4770K and 4790K are basically the same exact thing, just one has higher out of the box clocks. Is this true, or is the 4790K actually better for some reason?

2. Is it worth getting one of those for light content creation (being able to encode, preferably at 60 FPS 720p with the CPU while gaming), or should I go for the 4690K?

3. Should I wait till Zen comes out, because perhaps if it's competitive, the price on Haswell will drop a bit?

1. They're not  quite the same thing. Yes higher clock speed but the 4790K also has better overclocking potential as Intel replaced the thermal paste between the IHS and the die.

2. For content creation yes an i7 is noticeably better especially with multi tasking while doing so.

3. I wouldn't wait for Zen, as much as I want it to be amazing, because it is still an unknown. 

4. However do none of the above really. I think you would be better served waiting for Cannonlake (the one after Kaby lake) for a full mobo and cpu change. 

Just my 2c

[NeoSk11zle]

1 minute ago, Schrodingers Kat said:

1. They're not  quite the same thing. Yes higher clock speed but the 4790K also has better overclocking potential as Intel replaced the thermal paste between the IHS and the die.

2. For content creation yes an i7 is noticeably better especially with multi tasking while doing so.

3. I wouldn't wait for Zen, as much as I want it to be amazing, because it is still an unknown. 

4. However do none of the above really. I think you would be better served waiting for Cannonlake (the one after Kaby lake) for a full mobo and cpu change. 

Just my 2c

Wait cannon lake. THEY NAMED IT CANNON LAKE. I U FKING KIDDING ME. kms

[ARikozuM]

9 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Right now I have a Z97 Extreme4 board from ASRock with my i5-4460. This is because I bought the board knowing that I would want to upgrade to an unlocked chip soon enough and could save money if I stayed on the same platform. So I was wondering a few things about Haswell K series CPUs:

1. I've heard the 4770K and 4790K are basically the same exact thing, just one has higher out of the box clocks. Is this true, or is the 4790K actually better for some reason?

2. Is it worth getting one of those for light content creation (being able to encode, preferably at 60 FPS 720p with the CPU while gaming), or should I go for the 4690K?

3. Should I wait till Zen comes out, because perhaps if it's competitive, the price on Haswell will drop a bit?

I'd recommend a 4790K if you're going to use OBS to record. 

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Schrodingers Kat said:

1. They're not  quite the same thing. Yes higher clock speed but the 4790K also has better overclocking potential as Intel replaced the thermal paste between the IHS and the die.

2. For content creation yes an i7 is noticeably better especially with multi tasking while doing so.

3. I wouldn't wait for Zen, as much as I want it to be amazing, because it is still an unknown. 

4. However do none of the above really. I think you would be better served waiting for Cannonlake (the one after Kaby lake) for a full mobo and cpu change. 

Just my 2c

Okay, I'm not liquid cooling anyways so I think for the modest OC I'd get they would be functionally the same. And for now I may just be patient, because if I can get a new motherboard and a really powerful new-gen chip for the same price as one of these current ones, I'd definitely spring for that. On the other hand I really would like that extra power.

[Spork829]

4 minutes ago, WereCat said:

I have another option.

Xeon E3 1231 V3

Xeon E3 1241 V3

 

These are basicaly i7 4770/4790 (non K) without the integrated graphics. They are way cheaper than i7 4770/4790 but perform exactly the same and it is great upgrade from i5 4460. You just cant OC it easily... OC is very limited on these.

That would be interesting. I would like to OC but at the same time the prices on those are tempting. Certainly an option.

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

Okay, I'm not liquid cooling anyways so I think for the modest OC I'd get they would be functionally the same. And for now I may just be patient, because if I can get a new motherboard and a really powerful new-gen chip for the same price as one of these current ones, I'd definitely spring for that. On the other hand I really would like that extra power.

The differences in Haswell and Skylake is minimal most of the time. I'd say get the best you can get for the platform since they still have 6 years left in them.

[Spork829]

7 minutes ago, zMeul said:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75123,80807

Processor Base Frequency	3.50 GHz	4.00 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency	3.90 GHz	4.40 GHz

 

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)‡

No

Yes

Thanks, never even knew ark had a compare feature.

[Schrodingers Kat]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

Okay, I'm not liquid cooling anyways so I think for the modest OC I'd get they would be functionally the same. And for now I may just be patient, because if I can get a new motherboard and a really powerful new-gen chip for the same price as one of these current ones, I'd definitely spring for that. On the other hand I really would like that extra power.

You can find the last gen chips for slightly cheaper (depending where you live) but I personally think its money spent on an outdated platform and so not needed. If your really hunting for a new platform you could spring for the kaby lake line which should be available Q1 2017. Anandtech has done a semi deep dive into the changes of the new generation however its not complete without the desktop parts. You could spring for the 7700k (if its called that) and a half decent mobo and should be set. If you cant wait for even that then you may be able to snag a 6700k and z170 mobo for cheap nearing the end of this year as we get close to the kaby lake launch. 

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Schrodingers Kat said:

You can find the last gen chips for slightly cheaper (depending where you live) but I personally think its money spent on an outdated platform and so not needed. If your really hunting for a new platform you could spring for the kaby lake line which should be available Q1 2017. Anandtech has done a semi deep dive into the changes of the new generation however its not complete without the desktop parts. You could spring for the 7700k (if its called that) and a half decent mobo and should be set. If you cant wait for even that then you may be able to snag a 6700k and z170 mobo for cheap nearing the end of this year as we get close to the kaby lake launch. 

I'd consider that. Though at the same time, how outdated really is Haswell? I don't think I'll be missing out on anything big for a few years after buying, even if that's after Kaby Lake or even Cannonlake. So if those drive Haswell prices down I might just go with that, because personally I don't really need to be on the bleeding edge.

[Schrodingers Kat]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

I'd consider that. Though at the same time, how outdated really is Haswell? I don't think I'll be missing out on anything big for a few years after buying, even if that's after Kaby Lake or even Cannonlake. So if those drive Haswell prices down I might just go with that, because personally I don't really need to be on the bleeding edge.

I forgot to mention xeon parts for your platform. If you can get xeon parts 4c8t for you mobo for half decent prices then that may be your best bet  The idea of changing platform isn't so much about IPC changes or slight performance improvements, its more about if you need what the new z270 (or whatever they call the main chipset) brings. If you can do with the haswell Z97 chipset and it isnt holding you back then a haswell xeon (since your not going to be ocing it) would be a good choice.

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Schrodingers Kat said:

(since your not going to be ocing it)

Well, I would like to OC a little. I only said since I'm using an air cooler it will probably be modest. But yes as mentioned by @WereCat Xeons are definitely an option as well.

[Schrodingers Kat]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

Well, I would like to OC a little. I only said since I'm using an air cooler it will probably be modest. But yes as mentioned by @WereCat Xeons are definitely an option as well.

With a 212 Evo you can get some half decent OCs (had one before this current cooler). So itll now depend on how cheap you can find the chips. The 4770K if its cheaper (or very close to) the xeon prices then that would be a good bet. Thing is these chips still go for a fairly high price so it just depends on how good you are at hunting for sales

[ARikozuM]

9 hours ago, Schrodingers Kat said:

With a 212 Evo you can get some half decent OCs (had one before this current cooler). So itll now depend on how cheap you can find the chips. The 4770K if its cheaper (or very close to) the xeon prices then that would be a good bet. Thing is these chips still go for a fairly high price so it just depends on how good you are at hunting for sales

4770K and 4790K go for around the same price. It'd be worth taking the 4790K even if overclocking isn't a priority thanks to higher TDP and better TIM.