Old i7s v. New i5s.

[GiGrannis]

If I am building a gaming machine, is there any reason to choose a newer i5 over an older i7 with higher clock speeds?  I am new to PC building, so this may be a very stupid question.  What about a newer i5 versus an older i5k?

[Firewrath9]

new i5s, as they are cheaper and perform similar. new i5s are much better, than old i5s, imo a i5-8400 is better than a 6600k or a 6700k becuase of those 2 extra cores.

 

6 cores is better than 4 real ones and 8 fake ones.

[jiyeon]

New i5s for sure, for many reasons:

 

1. New i5s have 6 cores + 6 threads (first time in history)

2. New i5s are still supported - Kaby Lake i5s and older are on 200 series, outdated

3. New i5s can reach higher clocks easier

4. New i5s are able to be delidded for added temperature decrease

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

new i5s, as they are cheaper and perform similar. new i5s are much better, than old i5s, imo a i5-8400 is better than a 6600k or a 6700k becuase of those 2 extra cores.

 

6 cores is better than 4 real ones and 8 fake ones.

For tasks like gaming, I'd take a 6700k over an 8400 any day; an 8600k vs. a 6700k would be a different story. Threads are fine for gaming, and the extra clock speed is certainly beneficial (assuming a powerful enough GPU). Raw cores is only more important if you happen to be doing something where there isn't a lot of downtime for cores to switch tasks. 

[Fullmental]

Hold up a second and let us know exactly which i5 and i7 you are considering. Because "older" and "newer" is relative, as is the relative performance. For example: If you're talking "i7-4790K" vs "i5 6400", then the answer is an i7-4790K. If you're talking "i7-2600K vs "i5-8600K", then the answer is the i5.

 

We also need to know your use case. Are you gaming, doing light video/photo editing, or building a powerhouse for streaming or virtualization? These are all important to know in order to answer the question fully.

[Jurrunio]

frequency doesnt mean everything when comparing CPUs accross different architectures, so what exact CPUs are you comparing?

[GiGrannis]

35 minutes ago, Fullmental said:

Hold up a second and let us know exactly which i5 and i7 you are considering. Because "older" and "newer" is relative, as is the relative performance. For example: If you're talking "i7-4790K" vs "i5 6400", then the answer is an i7-4790K. If you're talking "i7-2600K vs "i5-8600K", then the answer is the i5.

 

We also need to know your use case. Are you gaming, doing light video/photo editing, or building a powerhouse for streaming or virtualization? These are all important to know in order to answer the question fully.

i5 8400 is what I would buy from eighth gen.  If i plan to game/mine to make some money back, is there a better chip for the same price point ($200)?

[Fullmental]

The i5-8400 is about as weak as current gen i5's get without going to low-power mobile CPUs and it isn't unlocked (no overclocking), so keep that in mind.

 

I don't recommend mining to earn cash (you'll lose more in electricity costs), but if you're interested in multi-threaded applications and are building your PC from scratch, you may want to consider a Ryzen CPU instead. The 1600x, 1700, and 2600 are all around that $200 price point. Just keep in mind any X series processor won't have a cooler.

 

If you're hell-bent on Intel, you probably can't get an i7 for that price point that'll beat the i5 in any significant way.