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i7 920 @ 4.6 GHz vs i7 4790K

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lunarprops

New Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2015
So I've been running an old i7 920 rig which I recently slapped a Corsair H110 in, and run stable at 1.4v / 4.6Ghz topping around 73C avg. I was considering an upgrade to a newer chip like the i7 4790K (not too familiar with how these OC, but I'm guessing I could get it to at the very least 4.6Ghz as well). All I really do on this rig is gaming and some light music production. I plan to upgrade my 780 to a 980ti soon. My question is, are the performance gains worth the cost of a new mobo + CPU? Will my current setup bottleneck the 980ti?
 
Please post all the hardware that you currently have in your rig and all the hardware that you 're plan to upgrade so OCF member can help you.
 
Don't count on being able to get an 4790k to 4.6. Some will only do about 4.4 ghz.

Why are you considering an upgrade? Is the system as it currently us not adequate for what you use it for or do you just have the upgrade itch? Nothing wrong with the itch, by the way. But I don't think you will see a big gain by upgrading the CPU to an i7. You will see more with the video card upgrade.
 
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if this is mainly a gaming rig and nothing more, the GPU upgrade is more then enough for a while longer with that cpu clock speed.

now assuming it lives long is another question, i dont recall to many people pushing 1.4v on first gen i7's for 24/7. another upgrade you could do is a hex-core Xeon in the X58 but oc speeds, that something i havent kept track of for the hex cores.
 
If the OP is in the US, and lives near a Microcenter, the Intel combos are attractively priced. At this point, I would be more concerned about the psu, if it is more than 5 years old, I personally would factor the cost of a new one into cost of potential upgrades.
 
Please let us know the following:
- Full system specs (like my sig)
- Intended system usage (if gaming, what resolution)
- Location (even just state/country is plenty, so we can look for good deals and such)
- Upgrade budget
 
How in the bloody hell did you get a 920 to go over 4.1ghz?
Mine wouldn't do more than 3.8ghz without hitching a fit doing video editing.

i7 920 is a Nehalem chip which is 1st gen Core i processor, 4970K is a devils canyon a broadwell 4th gen refresh.
They're designed to turbo to 4.4ghz stock, and I'm seeing people reach 4.6ghz with good liquid coolers.

A haswell at 4.4ghz is definitely going to be a step up over a nehalem chip, at the same clock speed.
Nehalem to Sandybridge was 9% peformance improvement, Sandy to ivybridge was 6~7% iirc, and ivy to haswell was a 3~4% improvement.

However considering the time frame, and your overclock from the intel gods themselves, you're better waiting for 5th gen skylake. Haswell consumer and z97 is on its way out.
Just wait for the next series, it does say Q2 2015 on intel's website.
 
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