8 year old ''beast'' gaming pc, advice needed after a long hiatus

[PullTheTricker]

Black Friday/Cyber Monday just isnt celebrated in our culture like in North America. If I wait for a deal, best bet would be christmas sales I guess. Meh, we don't really have consumeristic society, we're rather more boring then that.

 

[Zorander]

It's true that you're not going to see a 50% gain in FPS in today's games (or perhaps any in the foreseeable future) with the i7, but in anything that actually uses the extra threads, hyperthreading is worth well over 5%. See the Devil's Canyon review.

The speed gap is easily closed once the 4690K is overclocked to match or exceed the 4790K base speed. I argue the i5 can be overclocked higher just because it has no HT that causes extra heat.

Since OP mentions mostly games and nothing else that benefits from extra cores, the 4690K is sufficient. I'd pocket that $100 saving and upgrade to a newer chip if the need ever arises.

Speaking from experience, I bought an i7 for my previous Lynnfield system (primarily gaming and media playback) for similar longetivity reason. In retrospect, I should have got an i5. I saw no noticable difference with my other Lynnfield i5-based HTPC. I therefore no longer buy the notion an i7 will outlast an i5. Both will be equally outdated against newer CPU architecture.

 

[Revolution 11]

You mentioned needing a "beast" gaming PC. I am assuming you will go multi-monitor or try virtual reality games like the Oculus Rift (upcoming VR product).

If so, you will need substantially faster GPUs than the mid-range products.

The speed gap is easily closed once the 4690K is overclocked to match or exceed the 4790K base speed. I argue the i5 can be overclocked higher just because it has no HT that causes extra heat.

Since OP mentions mostly games and nothing else that benefits from extra cores, the 4690K is sufficient. I'd pocket that $100 saving and upgrade to a newer chip if the need ever arises. From experience, I bought an i7 for my previous Lynnfield system (primarily gaming and media playback) and in retrospect I should have got an i5. I saw no noticable difference with my other Lynnfield i5-based HTPC. I therefore no longer buy the notion an i7 will outlast an i5; both will be equally outdated in a few years.

I would just save that money, as well as other savings (you don't really need 16 GB of RAM and if you do, just buy some more later) and use it for a GPU upgrade some years from now. A four year high-end consumer CPU is still very good but you will feel the outdated performance of a four year GPU.

 

[mfenn]

ok..$95

You could get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130695
limited vcore to 1.35v..crappy mosfets and inductors..lowest grade used out of any mobo.

or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-380-_-Product 10-phase power with high quality mosfets and inductors..

+just to make sure it runs a newer chip: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOS-Chip-B...US_Motherboard_Components&hash=item5d4cb5d672

The OP is not located in the US, so US-specific deals and aftermarket BIOS chips aren't really very useful.

That MSI would catch on fire is you tried to do this with it: http://valid.canardpc.com/2897134

Where did the OP say that he was going for a 6 GHz+ OC?

 

[mfenn]

I agree with your conclusion, but not with your maths. If a 4790K is only 20% faster than a 4690K with a 14% clock speed advantage, that would make hyperthreading worth only 5%.

It's true that you're not going to see a 50% gain in FPS in today's games (or perhaps any in the foreseeable future) with the i7, but in anything that actually uses the extra threads, hyperthreading is worth well over 5%. See the Devil's Canyon review.

You have to keep the use case in mind when considering benchmarks. The OP is looking for a gaming machine, and that's not a place where HT has a huge benefit.

EDIT: Basically what Zorander and Revolution 11 said.