What is the difference between i5 4670k and i7 4790k for gaming?

[lionheart09jm]

am looking to upgrade my cpu from a i5 2320 , and im not sure what would be the difference between a i5 4690k and the i7 4790k for gaming, just a massive price difference between the two. i have bought a new motherboard already MSI pc mate z97, just need the cpu now :)

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

i5 4690K

http://ark.intel.com/products/80811/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i5/Intel-Core%20i5-4690K.html


i7 4790K

http://ark.intel.com/products/80807/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_40-GHz

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7-4790K.html


Comparisson

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4690K



i7 is a higher clock, larger L2 cache (more per core), twice the threads (windows 10 for example typically has approximatly 960 threads running on a new install - I checked last night in VirtualBox). i7 has HyperThreading (pipeline trick for concurrent floating point and integer instructions) and i5 has no hyperthreading (If you are overclocking you turn HT off to run cooler).

Clock speed gives you more performance boost than larger L2 cache (there is not really a big difference in the L2 cache sizes between these two processors anyway).

Slightly better performance per dollar 3.94 pt/$ vs 3.52 pt/$


They are VERY similar so it is up to you to decide if it is worth it :)

For instruction sets the i5 has F16C over the i7 and the i7 has Supplemental SSE3 over the i5.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F16C

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSSE3


Is Hyperthreading worth it? Probably increasingly more so in newer games I imagine (but if you overclock it will run hotter). In most newer games you need as much horsepower as you can get as they get more and more into realism and simulation.

http://techbuyersguru.com/cpu-bottlenecking-games

Keep in mind those are Generation 4 processors, Intel is now at Generation 6 (Skylake).

If money is tight, then use the savings for something else that will help speed up (SSD's, more ram etc, ).

Basically i7 gives you Hyperthreading (as do i3's but they have no turbo boosting and less cores) whereas i5's have no hyperthreading. That is really the major difference in the Intel iN family of processors.

The K suffix means they are unlocked, you can overclock either of them in the BIOS.

Those links I put up are the major three sites I go to for processor info. Cpu-world gives detailed info (and useful when you are looking for compatible upgrades) as does Ark from Intel. Cpuboss does attribute comparissons in an easy to read layout.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

... Intel is now at Generation 7 (Skylake)

skylake is generation 6, denoted by i3-61xx, i5-64xx/65xx, i7-67xx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylake_%28microarchitecture%29

[Zoid Bacon]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von lionheart09jm:

im not sure what would be the difference between a i5 4690k and the i7 4790k for gaming

Essentially the i7-4790K as the same quad-core processor as an i5-4690K but with a few extra tricks up its sleeve. First and foremost: hyperthreading. The i7 can handle two logical threads per CPU core, meaning it appears to be an 8-core processor. Although it's not the same as having 8 physical cores, it still gives it a significant boost over the i5 in applications that can utilize more than 4 cores.

In most games this will not make a difference. Most games can't utilize more than four threads in a meaningful way (in fact it's only newer games that can utilize more than one or two). Future games will be increasingly multi-core dependent, but I doubt this will happen fast enough for the i5-4690K to become obsolete before its time.

The other main differences are clock speed and cache size. Cache size isn't a big factor in gaming performance, so don't worry about that. At its base clock speed the i7 has a 500MHz boost over the i5. This isn't game changing, but you might notice it if you are pushing the CPU to the absolute limits. You can overclock both processors which helps the i5 close the gap a little.

Hopefully that helped. Now my advice: If you just want it for gaming, I don't think the extra cost of the i7 is justified. I own an i5-4690K and I have not encountered any situation where I felt like I needed more grunt.

EDIT: Also, everything that The Muppet Surgery Special said.

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von chiefputsipoopovich:

... Intel is now at Generation 7 (Skylake)

skylake is generation 6, denoted by i3-61xx, i5-64xx/65xx, i7-67xx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylake_%28microarchitecture%29

I meant generation 6 sorry Lol

[lionheart09jm]

TY for all your help guys :) think i will go for the i5 4690k as im only gonna be gaming, but if the i7 does drop in price then i may just get the i7 :)

[DeadPhoenix]

i5 for gaming and i7 for multi-tasking and video rendering.

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DeadPhoenix:

i5 for gaming and i7 for multi-tasking and video rendering.

I would agree, IF, you are 1) on a budget and 2) overclocking and thus disabling HT anyway, however, if you need raw power, then you also want HT.

Just so you know, Windows 10 runs 960 threads on a base installation :) (I have not checked Windows 7 :) then on top of that you have your apps and games :) Of course that will be time-sliced but that is still quite a LOT of threads you are running just by using Windows before you even get to your game. Of course it is not all concurrent and a heck of a lot of context switching is going on :)