A build with Haswell I5 or I7 K models

[vanibanez]

Good day all,

I'm finally going to upgrade from my Phenom X6 and I'm going to try Intel for my gaming needs. This will be a bit more to the budget conscious side of things. I'm consider either the I5 or I7 K versions to go with an Asrock Fatal1ty gaming Z97 killer motherboard. Here are the ones I have in mind:

I7 4790k $454
I7 4790 $399
I5 4690k $324

I got these prices from Newegg.ca, the motherboard will be $209. I have read quite a few reviews and forums and there seems to be mixed opinions on I5 or I7 when it comes to gaming. I don't do much else with my pc so I'm wondering if the I7 is overkill, my Phenom X6 really chokes right now playing Starcraft 2 but it seems to do ok for most games. The reason I haven't went to skylake is because i was going to stick with DDR3 from my old board to try to keep my cost down somewhat. I have 16gb DDR3 1866Mhz currently. Also I am not one of those who always has to get the latest and greatest every 6 months. I just need something that gets me along for the next few years at max or near max graphics settings on new games that will come out. The graphics card may need an upgrade in a year or two (maybe nvidia).

I have been an AMD fan for ears but I recently considered Intel when a friend came over with his alienware laptop running an I7 and it destroyed my pc in every game we ran for frames per second. His clock speed is also lower because its a laptop; I guess usually kept lower to reduce temps and prolong battery life? So I'm taking the plunge....

I apologize for asking this old question again because I am sure it has been asked a lot on here. Thanks in advance for the help....

 

[ninjacore]

i5 4690K for sure, for your needs/budget.

I'd have to look at what's available, but there may also be a better or similar z97 board for cheaper.

Your plan sounds good. Reuse the ram and save some money.

 

[vanibanez]

i5 4690K for sure, for your needs/budget.

I'd have to look at what's available, but there may also be a better or similar z97 board for cheaper.

Your plan sounds good. Reuse the ram and save some money.

Yeah I've been using newegg's reviews as a baseline. For the price, this board seems to be the best. There are a lot of 1150 model motherboards that have a lot of bad reviews, I'm not sure why though. People keep saying to get I7's but I'm not sure it's such a big deal in the gaming world. Probably more hype than anything else, thanks.

 

[ninjacore]

Don't use newegg (or any other retailer) reviews for anything other than comic relief

Just google "z97 <insert model> review" and read an actual review for it to see how they compare.

For about the same money, I'd go with the Z97 Extreme 4. Fatality is overpriced. It has the same feature set as the $160-170 boards.

 

[EarthDog]

Yeah I've been using newegg's reviews as a baseline.

Please dont. Newegg reviews are only good for DOA information.

I'd also go i5 with that build.

 

[BugFreak]

I'm in the same boat and as you can see in my sig, coming from the same hardware era to a new Intel build. I got lucky and found a good deal on a board in our classifieds but before that I was going with an Asrock extreme 4. Unless you need all the crazy bells and whistles of the more costly boards the 4 should serve you well. Also the 6 and ocf versions go on sale pretty regularly on newegg so watch for that if you want a little more.

I'd also go i5 with that build

Why?

 

[EarthDog]

Why?

Per the OP........

This will be a bit more to the budget conscious side of things.

That would be why. Would you suggest otherwise? If so, why?

 

[BugFreak]

No, I wasn't arguing. I'm about to buy my cpu but leaning towards an i7 for mine so I was wondering if i5 would be enough or i7 would have a performance increase worth the $$ increase.

 

[ninjacore]

Games are not being coded yet to make meaningful use of > 4 threads, so there isn't much advantage to the i7 if you're gaming. There are other use cases where more threads can be helpful, however.

 

[mimart7]

Most people don't need the hyper threading. Unless you are rendering or doing number crunching, the 4690k is good. You could look into the 6600k.
The Asrock Extreme 4 is a solid board, and there is no need to get an overpriced board as others have mentioned.

 

[vanibanez]

Thanks for the info guys, I have always loved overclockers for the knowledge base of its members.

The only reason I consider the I7 was for the possibility that some games may start using hyperthreading. I also checked that extreme4, It has good specs and a good price. If the I5 is the way to go for the next couple of years than so be it.

As a side note, ASUS apparently makes a couple of 1151 boards for the new I5/I7's that use DDR3, also an option since the I5 6600k is about $30 more than the 4690k if I remember right.

 

[EarthDog]

Dont get DDR3 on this platform... seriously. Its not a performance thing, but, why get old tech on a new platform??

 

[vanibanez]

Dont get DDR3 on this platform... seriously. Its not a performance thing, but, why get old tech on a new platform??

It was only an option, from what I have read on the interwebs.....DDR4 is not a huge boost.

 

[caddi daddi]

if your staying old tech stay all old tech, no reason to explore....
get the 4690K, for game ht is a total waste and will not get used, I game on a 4790K no games use the ht and only some of my software will.
the asrock extreme 4 is the "go to" board for most because of the not over the top feature set, rarely fails, and will fit most budgets.
don't go over the top with the motherboard like I did, I have the extreme 9, the top of the line is a habit from running amd 8 cores.
sell off the 1090t to help with the budget, or better yet invest in an ssd.

 

[BugFreak]

True, but down the road when you want/need ddr4 you will need another new board and new ram.

 

[EarthDog]

It was only an option, from what I have read on the interwebs.....DDR4 is not a huge boost.

right. I said that.. but why go with older tech? It barely costs more...

Just not the best idea considering.

 

[vanibanez]

True, I'll stick with the DDR3 on the 4690k then, thanks peeps.

 

[EarthDog]

Again, why old tech when it isn't much more for the latest?

 

[vanibanez]

Again, why old tech when it isn't much more for the latest?

Well, it's probably about a $200 difference or so. From what I've seen in benchmarks, there are slight advantages to the newest Intels but not huge amounts. I guess it all comes down to if I need the newest or not.

 

[caddi daddi]

it really comes down to what you want to do next year.
if you go socket 1150 you will do nothing, it's a dead socket now and nothing will be coming out for it.
socket 1151 is the new socket so some new stuff should be coming out for it and it will be upgradable for a while.