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Build cpu thoughts?

C

c3k

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
2,331
Folks,

I've got an aging (okay, "aged") AMD1090T running on a gigabyte 890gpa mobo. It's got 8Gb of Ram. It's been okay, but, well, it's time.

I've put a Samsung SSD into it, as well as an R9 390 gpu. It's currently driving a 1080p screen, but may soon get a 1440. Shrug.

I have an itch to replace the cpu/mobo/ram. I like the price of the i5-6600k. But, that's a 4 core/4 thread processor. The 1090T is a HEXacore!

Push me over the edge: should I go i7? Will an i5 not be enough of an upgrade? (I'm leaning towards this swap, then taking the OS from W7/64 to W10. That'll be my excuse to use 4x 8Gb of G.Skill ram.)

Is the i5 enough to drive 32Gb of ram, an R9 390, and 1440? Or is that like dropping a Prius' engine in a Dodge Challenger? ;)

i5, i7, or something else?

Thanks,
Ken
(P.S. Anyone interested in a working 1090T/890gpa/4x 2Gb ram combo? :) )
 
Looking at raw performance numbers the i5 6600K is roughly a 36% performance increase while the i7 6700K is almost a 100% increase. With that said it somewhat depends on whether you can take advantage of the extra threads that the i7 will provide compared to the i5. On a per core performance comparison the i5 is roughly 70% better than the 1090T and the i7 is roughly 90% better. So unless you think you will be able to heavily utilize more than 4 cores then the i5 should be a very big performance increase.
 
First 8gb of RAM is still enough for gaming. Most people seem to be going 16GB , 32GB is overkill unless you use your PC in a way that needs it. Do you run VMs, edit large video files or anything like that?


Personally I think you get more out of going up to 6700k than you do adding the extra RAM so go 16GB and get the I7
 
I can't imagine really needing an i7 outside of work for myself. I can say at work, on a busy day as an overworked sysadmin, I regularly use more than 16GB of RAM. Here's a snapshot of my Perfomance tab in my task manager.

http://imgur.com/cfLFBdH

Thats with 100tabs between 3 browsers, 2 VMs running, a DB or two running, mail client, lots of windows open, teamviewer, etc on an i7 3770 with 32GB of RAM and a basic 128GB SSD + 3TB WD Green drive along with an Intel Pro/1000MT NIC.

I don't notice any slowdown, the machine is generally pretty lightning quick.

Unless you are encoding movies, or doing similarly high workloads, I think an i5 should be plenty.
 
zaniix said:
First 8gb of RAM is still enough for gaming. Most people seem to be going 16GB , 32GB is overkill unless you use your PC in a way that needs it. Do you run VMs, edit large video files or anything like that?


Personally I think you get more out of going up to 6700k than you do adding the extra RAM so go 16GB and get the I7
Click to expand...

I can't find the article, but bumping up to 16GB of RAM does reduce the r/w loads on the SSD. Personally, 16GB is the sweet spot for me for gaming. I use up 6GB of ram easily during normal workloads, but I'm a tab whore, and don't close nearly anything down most of the time.

Personally, if you have the money and since you already upgraded your videocard, 16GB + i7. Go big or go home
 
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Oh, you guys are killing me! That's exactly the push I needed. ;)

If I buy an i7/16Gb, I can get a 2x 8Gb kit and just upgrade to 32Gb later. Because, who knows when my home gaming computer (err, my "secondary" rig) will NEED to support some VM/100 tab/protein molecule crunching goodness...while I game at 60fps?

The cost would seem to be about equal between i7+16Gb or i5+32Gb. The first offers more performance AND expandability. The other does not.

Thanks.

Ken
 
5820K Haswell-E build.

Here's why:
1) You're not sitting well with going back to 4c anything. 6700K is still a 4 core chip, HT not-withstanding AND you get 6/12 on the 5820K versus 4/8 for the same price.
2) The Haswell-E route is not going to be appreciably more expensive than a 6700K Skylake build, especially with some of the X99 board deals i've seen floating around.
3) You would need to get DDR4 anyways going with Skylake.
4) As a sysadmin, you do have a need for professional-grade platform features.
 
cores or per core performance they both have benefit, Intel chips are faster, however if your apps benefit from the 6 cores you have even if running a bit slower, well again both have benefits.

IMO wait till next year if possible as then there will be nice high end stuff from both AMD and Intel to make the best possible choice.

i5 are plenty fast, 4790/6700 are solid choices, but hey I am no expert with Intel, I support AMD, hence why I am being patient and making due with my 955 that has aged well :)
 
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