i7 4790k vs i5 6600k

[rehpyc]

I've had my current system (e6600 @ 3.6ghz and 4gb ram) since '07 and am finally thinking about upgrading. I just recently purchased an Asus Strix 970 GTX, since I know my AMD 5850 is a huge bottleneck with games. I'm assuming my current CPU will still bottleneck things, right? If it is, I've been planning out 2 different builds that are roughly the same in price:

i7 4790k w/ 8gb DDR3
-or-
i5 6600k w/ 8gb DDR4

For current games, I know there really isn't much difference between the two, correct? However, as you can see I don't really upgrade often, namely just the GPU every ~3 years. I'd assume a few years down the road games will better use HT, right? In this regard, wouldn't the i7 4790k, though an older architecture, serve me better?

What key features should I be looking at between the Z97 and Z170 chipsets? For the Z97 I'm looking at THIS motherboard, which has: PCI 3.0, Sata 3.0, Sata Express, M.2 port, USB 3.0 ... all the essentials, and I wouldn't really be missing much from Z170?

Thanks!

 

[ShintaiDK]

A 6700K should be close to the same price as a 4790K.

Also you need to OC the 6600K to get a good performance. While the 4790K does pretty well at stock.

 

[beginner99]

If you don't already have reusable DDR3 Ram, go with the i5-6600k. Why? If you buy DDR3 now you for sure won't be able to reuse it. DDR4 however is here to stay for some time. So if you upgrade again in maybe 3-5 years you can reuse your DDR4.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Compare skylake to haswell and skylake is a tiny bit faster.

But the cpu is more expensive, the board is more expensive and the memory is more expensive.

Haswell wins price/performance.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Between those two, definitely the 4790k. It has hyperthreading and higher stock clockspeeds. If the cost is close, the 6700k is maybe 10% or so faster but requires fast ddr4 to show that improvement. A third option if you are willing to overclock is the 5820k. It has six real cores, but stock clocks are low. Unless you get unlucky in the silicon lottery, you should be able to overcook to 4+ GHz though. Considering the increased utilization of more threads in current games and other software, I would tend toward the 5820k and take the chance of not getting a dud overclocker. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't see fit to offer the best option, a true hex core on the most current current architecture and process node.

 

[dark zero]

5820K. Hexa Core. Upgradeable. DDR4.

Nuff said.

 

[Head1985]

6600k vs 4790k stock http://www.purepc.pl/procesory/test...56600k_skylake_mocne_cztery_rdzenie?page=0,14
6600K vs 4790k OC 4500Mhz http://www.purepc.pl/procesory/test...56600k_skylake_mocne_cztery_rdzenie?page=0,34

6600k is faster after oc in Fc4,Arma3,skyrim,sc2,GTA5
4790k is faster in bf4,crysis3,watchdogs

 

[frozentundra123456]

Interesting data. Even when overclocked, the standby 2500K is starting to show its age. Too bad they didnt include an overclocked 5820k in that test.

BTW, when I said skylake was about 10% faster I meant clock for clock. Thus at stock, 4790k and 6600k trade blows depending of the game and whether hyperthreading shows any benefit.

 

[DigDog]

if you plan to do some good overclocking, you can get more out of the 6600k. if you are just going for price/performance, get a 4790, a cheap board, and it will do well for a couple of years or more, considering your upgrade regime.

seriously, still with a 6600; i replaced mine a year ago.

 

[crashtech]

I'm impressed with my 6600K, but it doesn't quite come to the level of a 4790K. Even so, building new I always try to go for the newest platform. Also, in single thread, the 6600K wins if you get even a mediocre OC out of it. With the newer platform you can always sell the 6600K and get a 6700K, or even have a chance at something faster that is yet unreleased (small chance, but still). For Haswell, we are definitely at the end of the line.

 

[nanaki333]

they're both pretty decently matched. i was going from an i5 2500k recently in my arcade box and was looking at a 4770/4790 or the skylake. since i already had a stack of DDR4 ram (got a lot of samples), i would have had to just buy a new mobo/cpu. i went with the skylake in the end because if i get another freebie of an i7 skylake, it'll be an upgrade whereas the 4790 would have been the top chip for that socket.


you'll be happy with either. both beat out the other in some aspects, but not by too much each time anyway (3D Particle Movement looks like the biggest GFY between the 2). http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1260?vs=1544