4c/8t 6700k (stock) vs 6c/12t 3960x (4.7ghz oc) for my son in laws first PC. Need advise

DaeviousMax

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Hi all, so my brother’s wife’s son is looking to build his first PC and they don’t have the funds to pay for it. I offered to use my old components just sitting in my closet. My question is which cpu would be better for his computer for modern games. A 4c/8t 6700k that will remain stock as it is not a quality chip. Got it to 4.5 from 4.2ghz but at rediculous temps and voltage so not worth it. Or my old 6c/12t 3960x that has reliably been oc for 7 years straight at 4.7ghz from 3.9 stock. Basically do y’all think the increased core count makes up for the decreased IPC of sandy ridge compared to sky lake in modern games? Thanks for your input!
 
100% 6700K, that is still a decent chip for a mid-range system nowadays. It might struggle a bit on the latest AAA games but it's still really good.
 
Which GPU and/or resolution? While the 6700K does have better IPC, the 3960X @ 4.7Ghz would be 700Mhz faster which would close that gap considerably. In fact, single thread performance gap would only be about 6%. Not sure that would be worth the 50% reduction in core count.
 
Which GPU and/or resolution? While the 6700K does have better IPC, the 3960X @ 4.7Ghz would be 700Mhz faster which would close that gap considerably. In fact, single thread performance gap would only be about 6%. Not sure that would be worth the 50% reduction in core count.
GPU would be a gtx 960 so nothing powerful but in the future I will give him my 1080 once I upgrade when prices are sane.
 
Don't know if heat/power consumption are a factor, 6700K would run away there in addition to other points already raised.
6700K should be able to support NVMe SSD, which would be a significant performance boost. 256G NVMe SSD can be had for cheap for a system drive. Sure, you could also install PCIe NVMe adapter in the X79 MB.
Depending on how much effort you're willing to put into it, you could sell both rigs and use proceeds to get 8th gen 4c/8t chip or even a 4-core Ryzen. That's sort of what I did when I was in a similar situation.
 
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GPU would be a gtx 960 so nothing powerful but in the future I will give him my 1080 once I upgrade when prices are sane.
That system will be GPU limited with either CPU. So in all honesty the system is better off having more threads and resources available for the OS, background software, etc. Especially considering the 6700K @ stock is barely faster than 3960X @ 4.7Ghz for single threaded applications.
 
I'd favor the 6700k for better overall support of newer drop in upgrades, better mobo uefi support most likely.
 
I'd favor the 6700k for better overall support of newer drop in upgrades, better mobo uefi support most likely.
This. Older platform is harder to get parts for or maintain, and even with the extra cores is somewhat outdated now (and may not run stuff before too much longer)
 
I'm still on the 6900K which is the monster 8 core 16 thread version of the 6700k. I have it paired with a Hydrocopper 3080Ti FTW3 Ultra and It's still a beast & I run most modern games at 120fps or close at 4k. Absolutely the 6 series chip vs the older one.
 
The 6900k is a 5th generation Broadwell-E chip while the 6700k is a 6th generation Skylake chip. The two really aren't very similar at all.
Oh ok i thought being the 6th generation family they were similar but I don't know the specifics go figure the same generation family is different lol anyway my 6900k runs 4k on a 3080ti like a champ that was my point xD
 
I'm still on the 6900K which is the monster 8 core 16 thread version of the 6700k. I have it paired with a Hydrocopper 3080Ti FTW3 Ultra and It's still a beast & I run most modern games at 120fps or close at 4k. Absolutely the 6 series chip vs the older one.

You should give them that and build yourself a new one.
 
Hey didn’t know this thread was still getting hits. So update, the motherboard for the 6700k got warped in storage and so several cpu coolers I tried couldn’t get a good seat on the heat spreader, getting 93C on prime 95 at stock settings. So just decided to open my wallet and got him a new core i5 11400. Seems to be a really good chip and got it for $130 and $120 for motherboard. Also got him a 980 pro nvme and mated it with my old cas 14 3200mhz gskillz trident neo 16GB kit and Amy old gtx 1080. Needless to say he is super happy with it and very thankful.
 
Hey didn’t know this thread was still getting hits. So update, the motherboard for the 6700k got warped in storage and so several cpu coolers I tried couldn’t get a good seat on the heat spreader, getting 93C on prime 95 at stock settings. So just decided to open my wallet and got him a new core i5 11400. Seems to be a really good chip and got it for $130 and $120 for motherboard. Also got him a 980 pro nvme and mated it with my old cas 14 3200mhz gskillz trident neo 16GB kit and Amy old gtx 1080. Needless to say he is super happy with it and very thankful.
Ah, chip shortage/crypto madness/pandemic/whatever style budget rig build. Use easily available Intel parts for proc & mobo, toss in an SSD and some ram, and dig a servicable vid card out of your closet/basement. He's lucky you built his rig instead of me. If I'd done it he'd have ended up with a GTX 1660Ti, which isn't as fast as a 1080.
 
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