Please help me decide between I5 6600k and I7 6700k

[poofyhairguy]

$430 here, I would love to snap that up, but I do want a small form factor case.

They make X99 Mini ITX mobos.

 

[PowerEngineer]

DDR4 kits vary in speed from 2133 to 3200+, with 2133 CL15 being considered inferior to recent DDR3 kits (latency wise). Without paying much extra you should be able to buy something faster. Standard voltage for DDR4 is 1.2V, but 1.35 is also ok. Don't go overboard with the memory budget though. (aim for 2800+, or 2400-2666 at CL 12-13, but anything above 2400 with a good price will be better than baseline 2133)

Thanks for this! I've been looking for some wading through all the memory options for a new Z170 build.

 

[czglory]

Check this out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157588

Anandtech did a review on it a while back. I don't think you can use a normal cooler, but there might be other options. No idea if the included cooler will be reasonably quiet.

very interesting one, these are not available here unfortunately. I think I7 6700k or 6700 is most practical for me. You have been very helpful, thanks a lot: )

 

[eton975]

Are you gonna be gaming much? If not, get two Xeon E5-2670s and a dual C602 board (eg. SuperMicro X9-DRL-IF-B) from EBay. Both Xeons together will cost ~$140 USD, the mobo ~$330.

 

[beginner99]

I have spent countless hours debating between these for my upcoming build, and I am no closer to a solution. I am selling my current rig with an I7 3770k which I did not end up overclocking, I did not get along with my current motherboard.

Why upgrade at all? These new CPUs won't be a lot faster at all. Can you elaborate on the motherboard? Did you buy the wrong chipset (eg h87 instead of z87)?

My recommendation would be to OC current CPU. An OCed 3770k vs 6700k has maybe 10% speed difference. IMHO not worth the money.

 

[czglory]

Why upgrade at all? These new CPUs won't be a lot faster at all. Can you elaborate on the motherboard? Did you buy the wrong chipset (eg h87 instead of z87)?

My recommendation would be to OC current CPU. An OCed 3770k vs 6700k has maybe 10% speed difference. IMHO not worth the money.

I am going to be travelling internationally and I have one of the biggest cases out there, it would cost a fortune to ship, and I can't get ahold of the smaller form components. I also found someone who will pay a decent price for the system so the upgrade will not cost me too much more (about 25% out of pocket for a decent upgrade)

 

[StrangerGuy]

i7, cause the chip will last you a decade and 10 years of performance delta i5 vs i7 for 100$ is a nobrainer.

The same people asking this question are also likely to have no qualms wasting $200+ on mobos/cooling. You gotta love the logic sometimes.

Then again people in the know won't be asking this on tech forums in the first place.

 

[czglory]

The same people asking this question are also likely to have no qualms wasting $200+ on mobos/cooling. You gotta love the logic sometimes.

Then again people in the know won't be asking this on tech forums in the first place.

Are you suggesting I am wasting a lot of money with my build? I am trying to quantify that, I know the differences but I am not sure how much they are worth to me individually. It seems to be worth spending the money on in my use case, if this is not true please let me know. I do plan on buying an expensive motherboard as well, because I feel like it is worth it, even though I am on a budget ($195 Asus Z170i pro gaming, for a durable mobo, with wifi (internet connection reliability, backups, are hugely important to me, and one loss of an internet connection without a backup could potentially cost more than the board itself), and the ability to overclock of course, likely undervolting as well if I can. The alternative would be something like an H170N for $120, but I ruled these outbecause they do not support display port, overclocking, and ime gigabyte boards were less durable than Asus. If this logic is not sound please let me know.

I am heavily leaning towards this build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jwNRB
but I am considering trying to make due with a cheaper setup for now, and getting an x99 5280k setup later.

 

[stockwiz]

After looking at your current rig, I would upgrade to broadwell-e or not upgrade at all, personally. I'm not upgrading at all, looking at what intel is planning to charge. I only game in 1080p though... looks like you have a powerful monitor there.

 

[Yuriman]

I am heavily leaning towards this build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jwNRB

After staring at that build a bit, I have some thoughts. Here's my revision of it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wWGmnQ


-The Asus motherboard isn't as expensive as I had thought ($165 on Newegg), which makes me less inclined to recommend you pick a cheaper one. Gigabyte has a slightly cheaper Z170 board ($150) with feature parity, but I'd rather have Intel's onboard lan solution than the Killer NIC. If you're likely only going to be using WiFi it's a non-issue, and you might even prefer it. Moving down another tier to this board ($135), you move to ALC1150 audio, which may or may not be a big deal. Is $30 worth Asus' probably slightly better audio implementation? Maybe. Going down one more tier to this H170 board ($115) gives up DDR4 faster than 2133, but otherwise lacks only the audio implementation.

My choice? Probably still the Asus, though the $135 Gigabyte has a lot going for it, if you don't feel you need the onboard sound upgrade.


-I don't like overvolted RAM, so I looked for an alternative to the 1.35v Corsair sticks. I would personally go with either these G.Skill or Corsair DDR4 2800 sticks @ 1.2v.


-I like the M.2 form factor, in part because it cleans up case wiring, and in part because these drives are often faster. Reviews show some M.2 drives throttling under sustained heavy loads, but these types of loads are not going to be common under normal desktop usage. For that reason, I recommend the M.2 version of the 850 EVO.

-I changed the Toshiba HDD to a newer model.


-I picked the non-SOC model of the Gigabyte card. I have a factory-OC GPU in my current rig, and I honestly would've preferred the non-OC model, in retrospect, because the OC'd model has higher stock voltage and runs hotter/louder for not a lot of extra performance. These cards are already at the bad end of the performance per watt curve, due to AMD needing to crank up clocks to stay competitive with NV's offerings.


-I stole the PSU from the other build, even though it isn't listed on PCPartPicker. Realistically, when building I usually snag whatever is on sale at the time. My two main desktops at home are running on $25 Platinum-rated PSUs I caught on sale.


-Lately I'm fond of the Fractal Node 304 and Silverstone Milo/Raven, because they're extremely compact and make good use of their space. The Silverstone cases will require an SFX power supply.


-Swap the 6700 for a 6700K + cooler if you'd like. This adds almost $100 to the total price though, and I probably wouldn't.

 

[beginner99]

I am going to be travelling internationally and I have one of the biggest cases out there, it would cost a fortune to ship, and I can't get ahold of the smaller form components. I also found someone who will pay a decent price for the system so the upgrade will not cost me too much more (about 25% out of pocket for a decent upgrade)

Ok, makes sens in this scenario.

About your specialized programs, are they cache sensitive? If yes you might consider the 5775c with the eDRAM (eg level 4 cache). Or go HEDT with 5820k which also has bigger cache.

 

[czglory]

Thank you for the awesome response ! I have been looking into every piece in detail.

After staring at that build a bit, I have some thoughts. Here's my revision of it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wWGmnQ


-The Asus motherboard isn't as expensive as I had thought ($165 on Newegg), which makes me less inclined to recommend you pick a cheaper one. Gigabyte has a slightly cheaper Z170 board ($150) with feature parity, but I'd rather have Intel's onboard lan solution than the Killer NIC. If you're likely only going to be using WiFi it's a non-issue, and you might even prefer it. Moving down another tier to this board ($135), you move to ALC1150 audio, which may or may not be a big deal. Is $30 worth Asus' probably slightly better audio implementation? Maybe. Going down one more tier to this H170 board ($115) gives up DDR4 faster than 2133, but otherwise lacks only the audio implementation.

My choice? Probably still the Asus, though the $135 Gigabyte has a lot going for it, if you don't feel you need the onboard sound upgrade.


-I don't like overvolted RAM, so I looked for an alternative to the 1.35v Corsair sticks. I would personally go with either these G.Skill or Corsair DDR4 2800 sticks @ 1.2v.


-I like the M.2 form factor, in part because it cleans up case wiring, and in part because these drives are often faster. Reviews show some M.2 drives throttling under sustained heavy loads, but these types of loads are not going to be common under normal desktop usage. For that reason, I recommend the M.2 version of the 850 EVO.

-I changed the Toshiba HDD to a newer model.


-I picked the non-SOC model of the Gigabyte card. I have a factory-OC GPU in my current rig, and I honestly would've preferred the non-OC model, in retrospect, because the OC'd model has higher stock voltage and runs hotter/louder for not a lot of extra performance. These cards are already at the bad end of the performance per watt curve, due to AMD needing to crank up clocks to stay competitive with NV's offerings.


-I stole the PSU from the other build, even though it isn't listed on PCPartPicker. Realistically, when building I usually snag whatever is on sale at the time. My two main desktops at home are running on $25 Platinum-rated PSUs I caught on sale.


-Lately I'm fond of the Fractal Node 304 and Silverstone Milo/Raven, because they're extremely compact and make good use of their space. The Silverstone cases will require an SFX power supply.


-Swap the 6700 for a 6700K + cooler if you'd like. This adds almost $100 to the total price though, and I probably wouldn't.

1. The first one is easy for me Gigabyte and Asus are the same price here. Unless I step down in tiers to the H170, the Asus looks like the solid winner.

As far as the memory goes, I do not really understand the differences between the voltages on memory, it did not register as a concern to me, just the speed and latency timings. The ripjaw 5 series are available here, both the options you linked are unavailable. They do have many ripjaw and corsair options however, I could go for the ripjaw V 3000 mhz, it is tested at 1.35 voltage and "SPD voltage" is 1.2v, I do not understand what this means exactly Incase anyone is interested this is the site I am limited to http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/memory/16gb-kit-of-2/dimm-ddr4/sort/price/desc/

-The m2 drive looks fantastic, but it is $275 here compared to $159 on newegg! I do use PSQL read/write for work, It would be a large benefit to incorporate an m.2 drive into my build but its a real budget ball-buster here. Perhaps cheaper even to order online from Amazon and risk customs, shipping, import duty fees. The m.2 form would let me choose the Silverstone MiloMl08 case more easily, which would be great as I am also quite fond of this (Fractal Design node 304 also looks great but it is twice as heavy, bulkier to transport, yet more durable).

-Updated toshiba drive is unfortunately unavailable here, the WD alternatives are though.

-For GPU, higher voltage and heat is a big problem for me, I was planning on under-volting any card, so that does make sense. My problems are with availability and the length of the GPU depending on the case. I will look into this more.

-for PSU, I am tempted to try a non-modular superflower FX Green 500 w silver for ~$58, its small but not modular. Great deal, imo, considering the silverstone is $100. This would only work in the fractal design 304 of course.

Your post has me leaning pretty heavily towards the I7 6700 over the 6700k now, it would more easily fit into the Ml08 (raven RVz02 form), save more than $100 on a cooler/price difference, and it runs at lower tdp.

Spending way too much time on this, I should not bother checking the US prices because the availability and price differences are driving me crazy!

Thank you again for your help, I wish I could give you "reddit gold"