Can someone shed some light between these CPUs?

[Stg-Flame]

I have a build all ready to be ordered with an i7-6700k, but I saw someone mention the i5-7600k being able to reach 4.5+GHz fairly easily and it's $100 cheaper than the current CPU I have in my cart. There's also the i7-7700k which is $10 more than the 6700k but I found a link (at the bottom) that compares the i5-7600k to the i7-7700k and shows the i5 reaching higher frequencies at lower temps.

I don't plan on going crazy with overclocks and I'm not going with liquid cooling, so I don't plan on going anywhere near the ceiling with the clocks, but would it be a better choice to go with the i5-7600k over my current choice of the i7-6700k? This is going to be built for gaming and it's being built to last for a long time, so I'm unsure if the i5 is as future-proof as the i7 gens.

Any information is extremely appreciated because the i5 and i7 are both on sale for another two-three days and I'm planning on ordering this build tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday at the latest.

Edit: If needed, the other specs are a 1070, 600w PSU, 16GB RAM, ASRock Z170 1151

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2017/01/03/intel-core-i7-7700k-i5-7600k-review/8

 

[.vodka]

Get the i7, 7700k if possible. You have the possibility to delid + apply liquid metal and have a 5GHz CPU if you ever want to down the road. There's no future proofing in a 4 thread CPU in 2017.

Consider Ryzen if you want, too. AM4 will last into 2020, and will get lots of upgrades. $320 R7 1700 @ 4GHz is a great CPU that is quite good at gaming and has lots of horsepower (8C16T) if you ever do something more than pure gaming.


Edit: oh, you have a z170 board. Well, 7700k then, it's the least money for the most improvement.

But then, for the same money as the 7700k you can get a B350 motherboard and a R5 1600 that you can easily overclock to 1600x speeds... this is the value proposition and gets you a 6C12T CPU that will serve you well, and has a clear upgrade path to Zen 2 CPUs in the future. 6C12T Ryzen has made the 4C4T i5 irrelevant for future proofing at similar prices.


Z170 could or could not get 6C12T Coffelake compatibility... this is up in the air, same for Z270, it'll be known when it launches in August or so.

 

[DidelisDiskas]

You have to think about it this way: amd has new mainstream cpu's that have 16, 12, 8 threads, plystation and xbox both have 8 core (don't recall if they are multithreaded) cpu's and intel might soon release a mainstream 12 thread cpu. I'm not a game developer, but this does not seem to bode well for 4 thread cpu longevity.

 

[Spjut]

Digitalfoundry's i7 7700k review has the i7 7700k at stock speed outperforming the i5 7600k at 4.8 ghz in modern games.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-intel-kaby-lake-core-i7-7700k-review

 

[maddogmcgee]

6700K owner here. I would grab a R7 1700. 7700k would be faster for most games at the moment.....but in a few years may be way slower. As others have pointed out, you will also have an upgrade path with the AMD rig, where as with Intel you are shit out of luck unless you want to buy a new mobo as well.

Oh, and if you insist on going intel at this moment, I would grab the 7700k for sure.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I haven't used AMD CPUs since 2004 so I'm a bit out of the loop. Can someone recommend a comparable Ryzen CPU for the i7-7700? I need it to stay at or under $350 (preferably under).

 

[frozentundra123456]

Also, you didnt say what your time frame was for the build, but you might consider waiting for Skylake X and Coffee Lake. Coffee lake will have six cores on the mainstream platform, and Skylake X should have a clockspeed and IPC advantage over the current HEDT lineup.

 

[krumme]

I haven't used AMD CPUs since 2004 so I'm a bit out of the loop. Can someone recommend a comparable Ryzen CPU for the i7-7700? I need it to stay at or under $350 (preferably under).

Get a 6 core 12 thread 1600x and a b350 motherboard. You can do that for under 300 usd in total. It Will continue to be stellar value whatever happens.
If you oc get a 1600 or 1700 model. Dirt cheap compared to Intel. An oc 1700 will last 6 years. A b350 board is fine.
Save for some good ram for Ryzen. 14 14 14 36 samsung type at 3200 MHz.
Intel is just way to expansive and totally irrelevant in this pricerange. Bad value.
And waiting for that to change is stupid. The change in value for 200 to 400 usd cpu have happened.
Its an excellent time to buy a cpu if you dont care it have the amd label.

 

[Crumpet]

If you're looking at any i5's the current opinion is the Ryzen 5 1600 is pretty much the straight up better purchase. R5 1600 + B350 motherboard is about the same price as a modern i7 cpu on its own, The i7's would clock higher but also have 2 less cores and 4 less threads.

However the i7 6700k and 7700k are still extremely good purchases.

Comes down really to if you'll make use of the 2 extra cores vs higher single thread, price if thats important to you, or simply if you prefer Intel or AMD.

 

[sm625]

I would caution against making claims that Ryzen is going to last 6 years. Intel has been sandbagging for years but that doesnt mean they will continue to do so. If they release a CPU with a gigantic IPC burst, we will be right back where we were 5 years ago, with i3's being better than 8 core AMD. It is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that a 2020 Intel i3 might be 50% faster than current gen. Remember, with Conroe there was only 9 months between the first hints of a new architecture (Oct 2005) and release (July 2006).

 

[Crumpet]

I would caution against making claims that Ryzen is going to last 6 years. Intel has been sandbagging for years but that doesnt mean they will continue to do so. If they release a CPU with a gigantic IPC burst, we will be right back where we were 5 years ago, with i3's being better than 8 core AMD. It is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that a 2020 Intel i3 might be 50% faster than current gen. Remember, with Conroe there was only 9 months between the first hints of a new architecture (Oct 2005) and release (July 2006).

A cpu in 3 years time should beat something from this year.

SHOULD.

But yes, I disagree in the statement that anything WILL last 6 years, I think the 6 core Ryzens have the potential to still be of use in 6 years, though we'll have to wait until 2023 to find out.

One thing worth pointing out with the Ryzen series is the AM4 platform they come on is expected to last until 2020, so the cpu could be upgraded in the future.

I personally have no idea what the current expected lifespan of LGA1151 is, others may be of more use.

 

[IEC]

i7-6700K and Ryzen owner here. I would grab the Ryzen 1600 if OCing, Ryzen 1600X if not. You can't beat 6 cores/12 threads for $175-$220 (actual promo/sale prices for 1600/X within past few weeks). Pair with an $80-$100 B350 motherboard and you're in business. The only "gotcha" currently is you need to make sure to get RAM that is on the QVL for compatibility with your motherboard, as the Ryzen platform is currently picky about memory, though improving with updates. If you must have Intel, save the extra $ for the 7700K or wait to see what Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X bring to the table. i5 is a terrible value proposition being limited to four threads.

Personally I'm selling the 6700K system to a guy who wants the ST performance and will not care about more than four cores for the foreseeable future. And building a Ryzen 1600 B350 budget gaming system for a friend who doesn't upgrade for years at a time.

 

[vissarix]

Edit: If needed, the other specs are a 1070, 600w PSU, 16GB RAM, ASRock Z170 1151

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2017/01/03/intel-core-i7-7700k-i5-7600k-review/8

You should definitely wait for Coffelake which is coming in few months and buy a 6core 12 threads which might overclock to 5ghz+ fairly easily and would make it the perfect gaming cpu...

Ryzen would get beaten already by your i7 3770k 4.5ghz in the majority of games today and only be faster on few games which utilizes more then 4 cores...so is not the best choice for gaming in my opinion...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3176...-or-why-you-should-never-preorder.html?page=2

 

[richierich1212]

You should definitely wait for Coffelake which is coming in few months and buy a 6core 12 threads which might overclock to 5ghz+ fairly easily and would make it the perfect gaming cpu...

Ryzen would get beaten already by your i7 3770k 4.5ghz in the majority of games today and only be faster on few games which utilizes more then 4 cores...so is not the best choice for gaming in my opinion...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3176...-or-why-you-should-never-preorder.html?page=2

Hilarious that you link to this article from launch. There's so many other benchmarks and videos out now that show Ryzen smoking an Ivy Bridge CPU in many games.

What makes you think CoffeeLake will overclock fairly easily to 5GHz with 6 cores?

 

[scannall]

You should definitely wait for Coffelake which is coming in few months and buy a 6core 12 threads which might overclock to 5ghz+ fairly easily and would make it the perfect gaming cpu...

Ryzen would get beaten already by your i7 3770k 4.5ghz in the majority of games today and only be faster on few games which utilizes more then 4 cores...so is not the best choice for gaming in my opinion...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3176...-or-why-you-should-never-preorder.html?page=2

I'd simply point out, his budget is under $350. And a 6 core, 12 thread CL will be well over that. Not to mention a more expensive motherboard. Your overclocking speculation is a bit out there as well.

 

[Crumpet]

You should definitely wait for Coffelake which is coming in few months and buy a 6core 12 threads which might overclock to 5ghz+ fairly easily and would make it the perfect gaming cpu...

Ryzen would get beaten already by your i7 3770k 4.5ghz in the majority of games today and only be faster on few games which utilizes more then 4 cores...so is not the best choice for gaming in my opinion...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3176...-or-why-you-should-never-preorder.html?page=2

Hardly an infallible benchmark, but this would disagree with you

However considering OP already has a Z170 board I would consider how ethical waiting for Coffee Lake is. It's always a possibility. The current i7's are still damn good gaming processors though.

 

[IEC]

1. 6c/12t Coffee Lake will likely start at $400+, if past Intel pricing tiers are any indication
2. 5GHz+ OC on 7700K already requires $$$ cooling and a delid, making this a decidedly budget-unfriendly option. Now add 50% more cores and even more heat...
3. Ryzen 1700 = 3GHz stock clock, not terribly surprising a 4.5GHz processor would be beating it in core-per-core performance.
4. That review is from release - several of those benchmarks now show much better numbers for Ryzen.
5. Ryzen 1600X = 3.6 base/4.0 turbo, Ryzen 1600 = 3.2 base/3.6 turbo, either chip will OC to 3.7-3.8 on 1.25-1.30V and possibly to 3.9-4.0GHz at higher volts.

If budget is not a concern, then it's a pretty safe expectation that a Coffee Lake or Skylake-X build would hold the outright performance crown. No one is disputing that. I'm outright expecting it and have money set aside for it if the price is right.

But given that OP is talking about an i5, it's pretty clear that budget should be considered. In a world where budgets matter, the Ryzen 1600/X is king.

 

[guachi]

There are different ways of looking at "will last" in regards to the CPU.

There is "will last" in that it will be roughly the same speed as other chips in doing stuff. Then there is "will last" in that it will satisfactorily handle whatever it is you do with your CPU.

I think all of us put Ryzen 6 and 8 core versions into the second category of "will last" in that the IPC is good and all the cores ( MOAR CORES!) will mean you'll either be able to do lots of stuff at once or your CPU will be fine with programs if they manage to take advantage of more cores, even if IPC falls behind to future products.

In other words, give the 1700 and 1600 and hard look for your needs. If those needs include non-gaming along with gaming, the 1600 and 1700 are great as you'll have free cores to do stuff. For example, I encode and have browser windows open and I can use half the cores for encoding and still game just fine.

We know your needs don't include lots of OC or water cooling. This is a scenario tailor-made for Ryzen as it doesn't hit crazy high frequencies and you can to 3.7 or 3.8 GHz on a 1700 with the included cooler compared with a maximum of about 3.9 or 4.0 with really good cooling. Now, the really good cooling will keep your chip, well, cooler and it'll probably run at lower volts but the overall speed won't be much different.

Combine with a B350 board and the savings add up little by little. Enough that if you do game you can take the money and buy a better GPU, which matters more for gaming anyway. Or you could upgrade to a FreeSync or GSync monitor and both are so great for gaming, with FreeSync being much cheaper, that you'll never want to go back.

The value proposition for Ryzen is incredibly high. It's not for everyone. But there are so many positives that the accumulation of them all was enough to get me to buy a 1700. It wasn't any one thing, just the accumulation of "But wait! There's more!" that AMD provided. Which is understandable as AMD is really in no position to extract monopoly rents from its customers.

 

[happy medium]

wait for the new i5 with 4 cores and 8 threads. It should be a drop in upgrade with your current motherboard and cost less than $300.

 

[guachi]

AMD is so desperate to get you to buy a chip this is basically how their sales presentation goes:

1. You need single-threaded performance? Well, Ryzen is so much better than Bull****. I mean, Bulldozer. It's not embarrassing anymore.

2. You need multi-threaded performance? <AMD puffs out chest> Look at these Cinebench benchmarks! Pretty great, huh? You get 8 cores for less than $500. No, no, wait!!! Make that 8 cores for less than $350.

3. You game a lot? Like, a lot a lot? Sure the 7700K is faster but can I show you .1% and .01% frame times? See. We are much closer in those.

4. You do other things while you game? We give you so many cores you can spend 1/2 of them encoding and still not break a sweat in gaming. Try THAT with a 7700K! I mean, the 1800X is the only CPU that's 90% of a 7700K in gaming and 90% of a 6900K in other stuff.

5. You really like to OC? Well, umm, we really don't have anything that OCs very well. Uhh... next question.

6. You just want to OC, period? How about we unlock all of our CPUs. Yes, all of them. What does that 'X' mean? It means "why are you buying this chip as it's more expensive and doesn't come with a cooler?"

7. Don't have an AM4 bracket for your cooler yet? Fine. We'll give you a cooler. No, we won't include the cooler with the expensive version; we'll include it in the cheaper version. The cheaper version that is unlocked. Why? Because we're dumb?

8. Also, we'll put a cool LED ring on the cooler with the 1700. Yes, I know you didn't really ask for it, but take it any way.

9. Do you have a cooler of your own and will wait for an AM4 bracket? We'll give you $170 AND a cooler just so you'll buy our stuff and can use it while you wait (1700 price vs. 1800X price).

10. Want to OC but don't have lots of money? Fine. We won't require some fancy motherboard to OC. Not only can you OC any chip you want you can use either the X370 or B350 boards to OC.

Please. We beg you. Buy our CPU.

AMD: We're that needy girl/boy that will do anything if you just take us back.

 

[Phynaz]

Before going with Ryzen, read the threads with all the issues people are experiencing. If it's a problem free computer you are looking for, Ryzen isn't fully baked yet.

Also look at the post history of anyone recommending a CPU to make sure they aren't peddling an agenda.

 

[tamz_msc]

Before going with Ryzen, read the threads with all the issues people are experiencing. If it's a problem free computer you are looking for, Ryzen isn't fully baked yet.

Also look at the post history of anyone recommending a CPU to make sure they aren't peddling an agenda.

What issues? Every Ryzen CPU runs OOB with 2667 MHz DC single-rank DIMMs. It's problem-free for most of the consumer use-case situations, except virtualization.

To the OP, if you are already considering the i5 7600K, then consider the 1600X as well - it would run at 3.6GHz base, 4GHz turbo and with 6 cores and 12 threads, it will be better than any 4C Intel parts that are selling right now in terms of longevity.

The i5s are no longer good value and I would buy the 7700K only if I was targeting high-refresh rate gaming in esports titles like CS:GO or Overwatch.

 

[Crumpet]

What issues? Every Ryzen CPU runs OOB with 2667 MHz DC single-rank DIMMs. It's problem-free for most of the consumer use-case situations, except virtualization.

To the OP, if you are already considering the i5 7600K, then consider the 1600X as well - it would run at 3.6GHz base, 4GHz turbo and with 6 cores and 12 threads, it will be better than any 4C Intel parts that are selling right now in terms of longevity.

The i5s are no longer good value and I would buy the 7700K only if I was targeting high-refresh rate gaming in esports titles like CS:GO or Overwatch.

He does already have a Z170 board however, so that would make R5 1600 + motherboard about the same price as an i7 to drop into his current motherboard.

In that scenario I couldn't blame OP for purchasing an i7, however I do think personally that an i5 is a bad play at this point in time.

If OP could get some/all money back for the Z170 I still maintain Ryzen as a fantastic chip especially for the price, but we ALL know the i7's are also fantastic chips. (Both Intel and AMD have their independant strengths and weaknesses right now, which is really nice for us consumers, actual CHOICE)

(as for my post history, yes it's almost all in the Ryzen and Vega forums, it's almost like I own one and am lined up to purchase the other. *gasp*. I also have an i5 6600 and a GTX 970. I read all of the coffee lake thread posts and i'm watching Volta like a hawk. OP can take my opinion or not, it doesn't effect me, i'm just trying to offer impartial advice.)

 

[Phynaz]

What issues? Every Ryzen CPU runs OOB with 2667 MHz DC single-rank DIMMs. It's problem-free for most of the consumer use-case situations, except virtualization.

Lots of qualifications you had put on that. Sorry, but problem free for "most" situations isn't good enough. If your new car was problem free for most of the things you used it for, would that be good enough for you?

 

[Crumpet]

Lots of qualifications you had put on that. Sorry, but problem free for "most" situations isn't good enough. If your new car was problem free for most of the things you used it for, would that be good enough for you?

The biggest problem I've had with Ryzen was NZXT taking forever to ship me my AM4 bracket.

Actual issues i've had with the cpu - Erm.. It um.. Erm. Hang on give me a moment to think about it.

OH, it doesn't perform as well as I expected it to on a really badly optimised DX9 game from 2011 written on Unreal engine! I think that's my only complaint. Though I hear people with Overclocked i7's saying they get like 28fps and stutters so....