Upgrade from i7 950 to i7 4790k

[Shadowjump]

I am trying to figure out if its worth updating my current system which has

i7 950 @ 4.2GHz (watercooled)
Gigabyte G1.Assassin
7970 x 2 CrossFire (watercooled)
24GB RAM (pagefile disabled)
2 x Samsung 850 PRO Raid0

to an i7 4790K (I ll use water again) and an Asus Z97 Hero (found them used for a good price) and obv, use 16GB RAM (with pagefile enabled).


Its not that my PC is slow, its that, when I use my friends PC with an i7 3770k @ 4.6, 16GB RAM, Samsung 830 Raid0 I feel that the general repsonce of the system is quite faster.

What matters most is that I'll have native SATA 3 (I am using SATA 2 now) and I guess, the CPU will be faster too?


I use my PC for casual gaming (heavy titles though) and some of everything, video converters, photoshop, lightroom, lots of internet, autocad, etc.

You think its worth the upgrade?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Obviously you'll get a much newer platform with Z97 + 4790K than what you have now, plus a pretty solid performance boost from the CPU.

Given your workloads (Photoshop, video converters, autocad, etc.), you might want to consider the 5820K + X99 board, although you wouldn't be able to reuse your DDR3 in that case.

In any case, I'd say go for either the 4790K or the 5820K.

 

[toyota]

yeah since you keep your cpus for a long time and do more than just gaming, the 5820k may be a better fit.

 

[Berliner]

Its not that my PC is slow

I would go with that sentiment.

Or throw money at a smallish increment.

 

[escrow4]

If you keep parts that long skip the hexa's and go for the 5960X. That would give you the biggest boost and likely last beyond Cannonlake.

 

[Shadowjump]

Thanks for all your answers.

I was thinking about the 5820k but my budget skyrockets. For 16GB DDR4, a 5820k and a X99 UD4 I 'll need at least 850€ (1050$) compared to the 400€ (500$) I need for the Z97 setup.

So I think it's better to buy a Z97 now and upgrade to a DDR4 setup later when RAM will be more affordable.

Am I thinking straight or not?

 

[steve wilson]

I would go with the 4790k and save the money for an upgrade in the future.

Edit: The reason being you won't get a lot better performance for over double the money.

 

[Jacky60]

I went from a 4ghz 920 to a 4770k at 4.7 and the performance increase shocked me. It's much much quicker and better at everything I do. Obviously other components have also been upgraded e.g. the SSD but I think a 4790K would certainly be a worthwhile upgrade for you.

 

[Denithor]

Upgrade your CPU to an x5650/x5660/x5670 instead. 6 cores that typically hit 4+ GHz very easily. Available from eBay for like $70-100 in most cases.

See this thread for more details: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636

 

[Makaveli]

Upgrade your CPU to an x5650/x5660/x5670 instead. 6 cores that typically hit 4+ GHz very easily. Available from eBay for like $70-100 in most cases.

See this thread for more details: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636

This!

 

[Arachnotronic]

Upgrade your CPU to an x5650/x5660/x5670 instead. 6 cores that typically hit 4+ GHz very easily. Available from eBay for like $70-100 in most cases.

See this thread for more details: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636

To quote the OP...

What matters most is that I'll have native SATA 3 (I am using SATA 2 now) and I guess, the CPU will be faster too?

I'd say it's better to move to the Z97 for the better platform.

 

[Headfoot]

nevermind; not cost effective

 

[WittyRemark]

Thanks for all your answers.

I was thinking about the 5820k but my budget skyrockets. For 16GB DDR4, a 5820k and a X99 UD4 I 'll need at least 850€ (1050$) compared to the 400€ (500$) I need for the Z97 setup.

So I think it's better to buy a Z97 now and upgrade to a DDR4 setup later when RAM will be more affordable.

Am I thinking straight or not?

You're definitely thinking straight.
go for the 4790k.

 

[Blue_Max]

I'm heavily debating this exact choice RIGHT now (only I have a 920.)

Even overclocked, my chip or the X5650 is absolutely CRUSHED by the 4790k in single-core performance (so games will certainly be much better!)

Other advantages? USB3, faster SATA drives, lower power use, newer chipset, can use DDR3L memory (not just 1.5V+) ... and just plain *faster* in everyday, gaming, and heavy use.

Downside? Cost... $600 in parts.
and the trouble of selling off the old rig to lowballers on kijiji.


AGONIZING over the decision... ugh.

 

[scannall]

Get a 5650 and a SATA 3 controller card. About $100 total. It will work just fine with 6 core Xeon goodness for your converters, Photoshop etc. In a year or two when DDR4 comes down, and Skylake is out you can make a bigger jump, and have more money set aside for it.

I would add that Skylake will use a different socket. So any motherboard you get now will have a very short life cycle for upgrades.

 

[Burpo]

+1... It's no slouch in single thread either @ 200bclk

 

[tential]

Thanks for all your answers.

I was thinking about the 5820k but my budget skyrockets. For 16GB DDR4, a 5820k and a X99 UD4 I 'll need at least 850€ (1050$) compared to the 400€ (500$) I need for the Z97 setup.

So I think it's better to buy a Z97 now and upgrade to a DDR4 setup later when RAM will be more affordable.

Edit: I'd entertain this upgrade to a 6 core Xeon processor and upgrade to skylake later if you could do that though. Skylake is far away though. Even the 6 core Xeon then continue saving for haswell or broadwell e would be nice. Just throwing some options.

Am I thinking straight or not?

Yup although you'll feel odd later next year when DDR4 ram prices Tone down. I'd only get the 5820k if you can get a microcenter deal on it. Doesn't seem like that's the price bracket you want to hit at all.
You've got the right idea but if You had money to splurge then I'd upgrade to the 5820k just cause...

 

[Blue_Max]

Get a 5650 and a SATA 3 controller card. About $100 total. It will work just fine with 6 core Xeon goodness for your converters, Photoshop etc. In a year or two when DDR4 comes down, and Skylake is out you can make a bigger jump, and have more money set aside for it.

I would add that Skylake will use a different socket. So any motherboard you get now will have a very short life cycle for upgrades.

Firstly, Canada doesn't have as many options or cheapies in that regard, so I'll be spending closer to $200 instead. Still cheaper, but only by about $100...

...PLUS I have 12GB of DDR3L 1.35V stuff I got in a super trade but can't use on the existing platform, only on the new one.


Gotta' admit... I've sold myself on the amazing single-thread performance while still lower voltage... not to mention jumping about 3-4 generations and being totally current for once.

...but is 1150 really that doomed of a socket already?? What else is so close around the corner? And if that's the case, maybe I SHOULD get the X5650 (can live without SATA10GB a while longer) and try to trade this DDR3L for normal 1.5 or 1.65V stuff... *sigh* P.I.T.A.

 

[Blue_Max]

+1... It's no slouch in single thread either @ 200bclk

Hmmm.... you make a good point. I was comparing using the Anandtech Bench with 920 at stock (from this list.) An overclocked X5650 would be much closer to the 980X off that list... and it does hold up quite well... less than 50% difference in x264 HD Benchmark.... but still almost double in Cinebench R10. :\

A couple games did better, most liked the new processors more... but games would get even MORE benefit from a second R9-270 in crossfire than they would the processor boost... even if I were to stick with the 920 I already have.

One undeniable fact was the 50-60 Watt difference between them...

 

[escrow4]

Thanks for all your answers.

I was thinking about the 5820k but my budget skyrockets. For 16GB DDR4, a 5820k and a X99 UD4 I 'll need at least 850€ (1050$) compared to the 400€ (500$) I need for the Z97 setup.

So I think it's better to buy a Z97 now and upgrade to a DDR4 setup later when RAM will be more affordable.

Am I thinking straight or not?

Why spend $500 now and another $500 next year? Blow a $K on X99 and get something that will last.

 

[Blue_Max]

With a 4790k now, why would he (or I) need something next year at all?

 

[Arachnotronic]

With a 4790k now, why would he (or I) need something next year at all?

You wouldn't; that's the whole point of buying chips like the 4790K. Higher upfront costs, but it'll last you longer and you'll enjoy using it more.

At some point it gets to be overkill for most users (i.e. 5960X), but the 4790K is a pretty solid deal -- especially with Amazon/Newegg selling the chip for $299.99.

Pick up a decent Z97 board and enjoy.

 

[RussianSensation]

Honestly if you waited THIS long, you should wait for Broadwell or Skylake. I would not buy a 4790K as it's essentially nearly 2-year-old binned 4770k tech. That means you could have had 97% of 4790K's OC performance at least 1.5 years ago. So now you are contemplating a full platform upgrade by starting with nearly 2-year-old tech, that's not on sale like old SSDs or GPUs are. The best time to buy a new Intel platform is at the beginning of that generation. Since you keep your parts for so long, Skylake brings H.265 hardware support, DDR4, more IPC, and it should have faster M.2 support than almost all Z97 boards.

It's not as if 4790K is selling for $150-200 now from $340 price of 4770K. Therefore I view this as paying Broadwell/Skylake prices for 1.5 year old tech which I personally wouldn't do. Otherwise why didn't you just upgrade 1.5 years ago to the 4770K?

I say summer 2015 when 300 series and GM200 come out, you can do a full platform and GPU upgrades. If you don't want to wait though, given the prices you listed, get the 4790K platform.

 

[alcoholbob]

So you are suggesting he wait until 7-10 months for 14nm quad core broadwells that might be 3% faster than a 4790k? For slight power savings? Who knows when quadcore Skylakes come out. It could be 2016 for all we know.

 

[ShintaiDK]

So you are suggesting he wait until 7-10 months for 14nm quad core broadwells that might be 3% faster than a 4790k? For slight power savings? Who knows when quadcore Skylakes come out. It could be 2016 for all we know.

Skylake is Summer 2015. And Broadwell is almost nonexistant in the desktop space (K model only and LGA2011 Xeons.)