Looking for CPU Recommendations

[Burpo]

Everybody thinks the i3 will do the job adequately (maybe), but for a few dollars more, the i5 is a better choice. You've had 4 real cores for a long time & it served you well. Why settle for less?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...841?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae9678a49

 

[MongGrel]

Where are the quad core police, they clearly haven't seen this thread.

Joking aside, I like the fast i3 for an all-around system. But you do have to keep it in "fighting trim," and eliminate excess unwanted CPU hogs that accumulate in the background. If you do regular maintenance, and don't expect to run anything demanding at the same time as your game, a fast i3 can do spectacularly well for a dual core.

Lurking.

:sneaky:

 

[crashtech]

Everybody thinks the i3 will do the job adequately (maybe), but for a few dollars more, the i5 is a better choice. You've had 4 real cores for a long time & it served you well. Why settle for less?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...841?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae9678a49

For quad core builds, I don't use anything less than the 45xx series, because the cheaper 44xx series has low clocks and poor turbo bins. That 4590 in the link is a really good deal, I'm halfway tempted to buy it just because.

 

[skipsneeky2]

1200p,a 6870 and a ton of older games the i3 4370 would get my vote.Having had a 2100 and a 3225,those held up just fine in GTA4.IPC increases and a overall faster clockspeed should be sufficient trust me for the 4370..6870 is pretty much going to be gpu bound in many titles anyways at 1200p.

Now if you decided to get a 290/970 or something similar and get into brand new titles,simply get the best i5 you could afford and disregard any of the i3 chips period.

 

[Leyawiin]

The difference in the US between an i3-4160 and i5-4590 is $70. I was in your shoes a few months ago and went with the i5-4590. I'm going to keep it for a number of years and it just seemed the safer bet. Even if it turns out that there's little difference in gaming between an i3 and locked i5 over 4+ years its not like $70 is going to break the bank (at least for me).

 

[SteveGrabowski]

If you intend on playing GTA V though, there is a pretty massive difference between a 3.4GHz i3-4130 and a 3.5 GHz i5-4690k (stock speed). See the results in the ingame benchmark below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLs-sMteggg

 

[DrMrLordX]

Duh, of course there's going to be a big difference between a lower-clocked i3 and a higher-clocked i5. The draw of the i3 is that it's supposed to offer higher clockspeeds at a lower price, and cover up for the absence of cores with HT which is pretty darn efficient nowadays.

Granted ,that ~$170 for a used i5-4590 is hard to beat. Yay eBay?

edit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...198?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fe063506

i3-4370 for $145 shipped. Not too bad.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...735?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ee0ac6f7f

i3-4160 for $70 shipped. Wow.

 

[crashtech]

Where do we get to see a 4460 vs 4170? That might open some eyes depending on the game.

 

[TheELF]

If you intend on playing GTA V though, there is a pretty massive difference between a 3.4GHz i3-4130 and a 3.5 GHz i5-4690k (stock speed). See the results in the ingame benchmark below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLs-sMteggg

Sure,of course you have to buy a titan and play at insane quality settings to see these differences ,same site's benchmark with GTX 750 Ti vs R7 260X ... i3=i7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF5bbUP7wys#t=18

 

[coolpurplefan]

I don't know how much of a difference it makes but if you compare the i5-4460 to the i5-4570 or 4590, the 4570 and 4590 have:
-Trusted Execution Technology
-Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP)
-Intel® vPro Technology

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Sure,of course you have to buy a titan and play at insane quality settings to see these differences ,same site's benchmark with GTX 750 Ti vs R7 260X ... i3=i7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF5bbUP7wys#t=18

Yeah you're right, I forgot the op was using an HD 6870, which would completely mask any gains in an i5 vs an i3 since it's significantly weaker than an R7 260x.

 

[escrow4]

For quad core builds, I don't use anything less than the 45xx series, because the cheaper 44xx series has low clocks and poor turbo bins. That 4590 in the link is a really good deal, I'm halfway tempted to buy it just because.

4460 max turbo all cores is 3.4GHz. 4690 is 3.9GHz. Straight out the box. $37 for 500MHz based off Intel's RRP box price is something I'd pay.

 

[Harry_Wild]

I found on Newegg the quad core i7 4790 selling for just under $300 U.S.D.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116987&cm_re=i7_4790-_-19-116-987-_-Product

Also, the i7 4790K is the exact same price and you get a free game to boot!

 

[Gikaseixas]

i5 non K version
Worth every cent if you're keeping it for several years.

 

[Valantar]

Being in more or less the same situation as you (although my Q9450 has yet to croak), I'd get the i5 for longevity's sake. If you can see yourself getting a cheap/used quad (or even an i7) in a few years time, then the i3 is a decent stopgap (with good performance for its price), but considering the tendency for applications and games to multithread ever more efficiently, getting a true QC seems like the best bet for future proofing. I doubt anyone these days gets more than half-decent performance out of a 6-7-year-old E8400 gaming rig, while I'm having no real issues with mine (Q9450+HD 6950). Sure, it's more expensive today, but worth it down the line.

How much did you pay for the motherboard, by the way? Around $100, judging by your post? Since you're not OC'ing, I'd really recommend going with the bare essentials there, and choose a quality brand over "might be useful some day" features. Just taking a quick look at newegg.ca, I found a decent looking Gigabyte H81 mobo for CAD $80 and Geil/G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3-1600 C9 kits for around $70, leaving you $250 out of your $400 budget. Sure, the motherboard only has 2 SATA3 ports, but that only matters if you plan on running more than 2 SSDs at some point, HDDs never even saturate SATA2. Same goes for lack of PCIe x16 slots - from what you're saying, you'll never be doing CrossFire. Z97 only really makes sense if you're overclocking, otherwise you're paying for loads of features you'll never use. And since you're saying "the less I spend, the better I will feel," those $20 for the mobo seem like a decent way of saving a bit. Are you able to return the Z97 board? Otherwise you might be able to sell it off?

 

[DownTheSky]

+1 for cheapest i5.

 

[anelectricmind]

Sorry... I have been away for a while.

First of all, thanks everyone in this thread for the overwhelming amount of answers and opinions. They are very useful and very informative. I haven't had time to "digest" everything yet, but everything in their is information that I will read carefully later on.

That being said, I'll add a bit more to my specs and what might be happening.

Overall, I wanted to spend 400$ CAD to upgrade MOBO-RAM-CPU (possibly cooling if my H50 2009 won't fit on socket 1150). Like I said, if I could spend less, I'd be happy.

I recently found a very decent MSI Z97 for about 80$ CAD (100$ with taxes and shipping). That leaves me about 300$ for RAM-CPU. I know I won't go below 8 GB of RAM for sure as my current system is 8GB and I am pretty confortable with that. I need 6 sata connections and the board that I bought fits the bill (1 SSD, 1 HDD, 1 CD, 1 Case, 2 Hot swaps), AND Crossfire compatible (don't think I'll go down that road again).

I know I can find RAM for around 70-80 CAD, so that leaves me 220 for a CPU.

I know I can almost get a decent i5 (although, from recommendations, it would be a 4460 and I should avoid them), but I don't know if I want to spend all that money since in 5 years that computer might sit in the basement only to be used for emails and watching cat videos.

... but I had set a side money for something, an other project, and I decided this weekend, that I won't be using that money anymore for that project. So that may leave me a bit of room to go straight to an i5.

I will let you know.

And again, thanks everyone.

 

[happy medium]

If you have 220 to spend I'd grab the 4690k for 214$ on Newegg after promo code ,1 day left for promo code. That way you can overclock later and/or have a much better resale value also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372

edit: oh I see 220 Canadian money , I guess your stuck with the i5 4460 for 220 Canadian.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-core-i5-i5-4460-haswell-48-96203-1382.htm

 

[anelectricmind]

If you have 220 to spend I'd grab the 4690k for 214$ on Newegg after promo code ,1 day left for promo code. That way you can overclock later and/or have a much better resale value also.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372

Well.. Like I mentioned earlier, I do not plan to overclock. And since I am in Kanada and the currency exchange kills every deals, the 4690k is 270 cad at new egg.ca

 

[crashtech]

The 4590 is $240 CAD, just $20 over your budget. That's the one you should go for if you do decide to get an i5.

 

[happy medium]

The 4590 is $240 CAD, just $20 over your budget. That's the one you should go for if you do decide to get an i5.

That's 27$ more shipped than the 4460 . I don't think its worth the extra 100mhz.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-co...82.htm?affiliate_id=43737&click_id=1268626821

 

[Valantar]

That's 27$ more shipped than the 4460 . I don't think its worth the extra 100mhz.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-co...82.htm?affiliate_id=43737&click_id=1268626821

100MHz base, 300MHz turbo. Definitely worth it when it comes to longevity. ~10% faster for $27 over say, six years, so $4.50/year? Yes. Worth it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

When building any new rig, I tend to favor "overkill." So I offer biased advice.

And if you're choosing a Z97 chipset and motherboard, I just see no reason to short yourself initially on the CPU. Get an i5, I say and that means the "K" processor. The chipset allows you to tweak an i5 or i7 (K) for better overclocks. If you don't intend to overclock at all, a non-Z chipset will reduce the cost of the motherboard as well as the cost of the CPU (non-"K").

But why go dual-core i3, hoping to replace it later? Granted, you may find a used i5/i7/K processor down the road -- you might even "break even." Why trouble yourself with that?

Also, about the Q6600. I'm still using mine for a file-server. You could probably find a refurbished LGA-775 board to replace your dead one at an outfit like this:

http://www.ascendtech.us/intel-lga775-motherboards_cp1_mblga775.aspx

Of course, just looking, I see that the boards I'd otherwise "want" are at the pricey end. If you could find the right board and chipset for ~$50, and IF you WANTED to use that Q6600 for "other duty," there might be possibilities.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Hate to say this; but I have a E8400 duo core and now a i7 9470 quad core and both are close to the same because I have top of the line SSD inside. Before; I thought it was the CPU that made the computer fast; but in truth it is the hard drive that is the primary counts for the speed of the computer system; not the RAM either!

 

[Valantar]

Hate to say this; but I have a E8400 duo core and now a i7 9470 quad core and both are close to the same because I have top of the line SSD inside. Before; I thought it was the CPU that made the computer fast; but in truth it is the hard drive that is the primary counts for the speed of the computer system; not the RAM either!

That depends entirely on what you're doing. In ordinary, light day to day usage an SSD is the best bet for a quick PC. For heavier usage, anything requiring any computational power (such as compiling or media en-/transcoding), it quickly loses relevance. Also, recommending "top of the line SSDs" for ordinary desktop usage is not a good move - outside of benchmarks, an average user wouldn't notice any difference between, say, an MX100 and an 850 PRO.

But (slightly) back to the topic, OP already has an SSD, and his motherboard is dead, so the issue here is which CPU to go with, not whether an SSD would make a better improvement.

OP: given that you already have a Z97 board, and have freed up some cash, I'd definitely splurge on an i5 K CPU. You say you're not going to OC, but it's still a great CPU today, and in a few years you might squeeze some extra life out of it through a simple OC. Also, the 4690K Devil's Canyon should run a bit cooler (and thus be more stable) than other Haswells due to the improved TIM, although if there are significantly cheaper K i5s out there I'd go for them instead.