Intel Core i7-5820K or i7-6700K?

TheF34RChannel

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I have asked the exact same thing on another forum because I like to get as much input as possible.

I currently have a 2600K, 16GB 1866MHz, GTX 770 4GB.

For an upcoming new build I want to choose one of these; what's your opinion? I'd like it to be a futureproof build (let's say 3 years solid with GPU upgrades).

I've looked over at CPU Monkey and the results make sense with the differences in cores and speeds, making me non the wiser. The Skylake CPU appeals to me because of its 95W vs the 140W for the Haswell-E CPU, but in the end I choose performance for gaming.

It will be used for gaming, I don't do benchmarking.
 
If your just going to be gaming stick with the 6700k, you would even be fine with the 2600k and you can always OC it.
 
Considering Skylake isn't out yet, no one could give the best answer.
Personally I'd stick with Skylake anyways despite it not being released in this situation. Why? It's cheaper. Though Intel is supposedly rumored to be releasing the next gen after Skylake towards end of year.. Why so close together? Well simply put, Intel has delayed a few chips due to yielding issues. Personally I'd stick with the 2600k. Don't think it's worth upgrading until Cannonlake which will be based off 10nm.
 
Thanks guys! Yeah the heaviest load will be gaming. I too have considered Cannonlake but the thing is that before I know it, I'm always waiting for the best next thing. Also, I have the funds now for a new build, which doesn't come around on a yearly basis, but I don't want it to be a waste either of course! However, if I don't upgrade the money will likely go elsewhere, you know how life goes. Not a good reason to upgrade at all, I know.

I've watched TTL's review on YouTube on the 5820K and it was meagre (the CPU, not the review lol). On par but slightly faster out of the box solutions are the i7-4830K and i7-4860X LGA2011 CPUs - which here cost a hefty 619 and 1129 euro, respectively, with similar motherboard prices.

For the few data out there currently on the i7-6700K, I looked at CPU monkey to give me an indication.
 
Even if you did have the money to build an x99 system, you would honestly be better off investing that into a better GPU if you absolutely must.

The money may go elsewhere, however it wouldnt make a difference. You would be out of pocket either way so why not lose less?

Keep in mind, with the 5820k you will need to OC it and until DX12 becomes standard and games are capable of using all of the power the 5820k has to offer.
 
Even if you did have the money to build an x99 system, you would honestly be better off investing that into a better GPU if you absolutely must.

The money may go elsewhere, however it wouldnt make a difference. You would be out of pocket either way so why not lose less?

Keep in mind, with the 5820k you will need to OC it and until DX12 becomes standard and games are capable of using all of the power the 5820k has to offer.

Investing in a better GPU is becoming more appealing by the second. Even with my current CPU at stock speed? I have been looking at the GTX 980Ti and 970s, which are all absurdly high priced here (800+ Euro for the former, 400 Euro for the latter). I already did plan on upgrading to Pascal if it'll be any good, and had the hope that the 770 4GB would hold me over until then, although I'm running into scenarios where I have to tune down several settings for smooth gameplay.

I wish I had a much older/slower CPU; there's a decent deal on the Intel Core i7-4790K with an Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula :) - would be more of a sidegrade rather than an upgrade for me.
 
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I would highly recommend you at least try and OC that 2600k to around 4.4Ghz.

At the moment though, there really isnt a good upgrade path for you, so if at all possible you should wait until the next gen cards arrive, by then more games will have support for DX12 so you wouldnt have to worry about the CPU as much and you would be able to get a GPU that will have a sizable performance jump.

The 2600k is an amazing chip. Mine is still easily running 4.8Ghz 24/7 stable after so many years. Used to be able to do 5Ghz at decent volts, but unfortunately not anymore. 4.4Ghz is easily achievable. So give it a shot and put that extra that you paid to use. You may even have some fun doing it.
 
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I would highly recommend you at least try and OC that 2600k to around 4.4Ghz.

At the moment though, there really isnt a good upgrade path for you, so if at all possible you should wait until the next gen cards arrive, by then more games will have support for DX12 so you wouldnt have to worry about the CPU as much and you would be able to get a GPU that will have a sizable performance jump.

The 2600k is an amazing chip. Mine is still easily running 4.8Ghz 24/7 stable after so many years. Used to be able to do 5Ghz at decent volts, but unfortunately not anymore. 4.4Ghz is easily achievable. So give it a shot and put that extra that you paid to use. You may even have some fun doing it.

I edited my previous post because somehow I stopped typing when getting into GPUs and just pressed 'send'. Weird that! So I've added the GTXs talk.

Yeah I definitely hear you about there not being a good upgrade path for me right now. Perhaps it's time to OC that K now - after all it's the reason I bought it and put a Corsair H80 on it, a shame I couldn't be bothered before - basically because I just didn't need to OC it to play to be honest.

What did you have before your Haswell-E CPU and why did you upgrade to it?

I am considering a PSU upgrade though; this one is like a leaf blower under load, it's just old (think I bought it in 2009?) lol
And I'm getting a SSD when Win10 gets here. Finally.
 
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I built mine with the 5930k mainly for work and the occasional gaming session, however I ended up getting me a notebook instead for convenience and eventually I just stopped using my desktop altogether. So I pretty much just wasted my own money on the desktop. Then just left it to gather dust :lol:

I was previously on the 2600k just like you, just OC'd.

You could always get an SSD right now, after all its not going to make a massive difference and Sata SSDs arent exactly old news just yet.

What PSU do you have? Have you given it a nice clean?
 
I built mine with the 5930k mainly for work and the occasional gaming session, however I ended up getting me a notebook instead for convenience and eventually I just stopped using my desktop altogether. So I pretty much just wasted my own money on the desktop. Then just left it to gather dust :lol:

I was previously on the 2600k just like you, just OC'd.

You could always get an SSD right now, after all its not going to make a massive difference and Sata SSDs arent exactly old news just yet.

What PSU do you have? Have you given it a nice clean?


Ha ha oh man that's tough! You should send it to me ;) (that was too obvious!).

Oh yeah I will get a SSD regardless, just waiting for Win10 to use it and maybe be lucky with a price drop.

Tt Toughpower 750W. Yeah I clean it regularly and well too! Goes for the whole system. I think it's just old and stressed.
 
Definitely switch out the PSU then. A quality one from Seasonic is quite affordable and would last you for a long time, best of all it wont put your precious components in harms way. Wouldn't sound like a leaf blower either :D
 
Definitely switch out the PSU then. A quality one from Seasonic is quite affordable and would last you for a long time, best of all it wont put your precious components in harms way. Wouldn't sound like a leaf blower either :D

I was leaning towards a Corsair 1000-1200W PSU to be honest, something that I can take to a next build and not easily fully stressed.

Maybe I'll pick up an Asus 980/970 Strix to hold me over too, might need to hold out on Pascal for a bit then but alas. Would've preferred the 6GB on the 980Ti but the price don't warrant the relatively short upgrade.

Posts merged - Please do not double post

Corsair AX860i (€ 224,90) or Corsair HXi Series HX1000i (€ 217,90) :)
 
First lets get something straight so that it is easier for people to help you out.

What are your desired system specs? I.E what GPU, how many etc etc.

If you dont care too much about efficiency, then by all means just go for the higher wattage one so that you dont ever have to worry about running out of headroom.

The HXi is a great range and would be fine, however if you have a lot of money to spend and are happy to pay for the not so useful features, then go for the AXi series, as they do have some subtle improvements.
 
I did make a mess of it alright, so here goes (assuming you're referring to the PSU):

Single GPU Asus GTX 980/970 Strix -> Pascal/Volta (which specs are anyone's guess), but keeping the option open to add another in a future build.

I would like the PSU to be a bit overkill as to not fully utilize it; I prfer it to be able to take of everything without breakin a sweat rather than pushing it.

Remaining system specs are still up for debate, but thus far I haven't found any reason to upgrade the CPU and motherboard other than to statisfy the upgrade itch. So assume I'm keeping what I've got (see user profile) and will upgrade once there's something to upgrade to.

Please define "the not so useful features" on the AXi one?
 
I think it would be best if you were to look that up, as I am not familiar with all of them.

Either way, if you dont really care for the efficiency and just want headroom, I would say from the 2 in your post the HX1000i, great PSU have used that unit many times and never once had a DOA unit or a return as of yet. Though the AX860i would be fine even for dual GPU's, but who knows what will happen :)

Please dont take it the wrong way, the reason I requested your desired specs was because PSUs operate at different efficiencies depending on the amount of load respective to their rated wattage. Sorry if the post seemed rude or anything, must have been carried over.
 
I think it would be best if you were to look that up, as I am not familiar with all of them.

Either way, if you dont really care for the efficiency and just want headroom, I would say from the 2 in your post the HX1000i, great PSU have used that unit many times and never once had a DOA unit or a return as of yet. Though the AX860i would be fine even for dual GPU's, but who knows what will happen :)

Please dont take it the wrong way, the reason I requested your desired specs was because PSUs operate at different efficiencies depending on the amount of load respective to their rated wattage. Sorry if the post seemed rude or anything, must have been carried over.

No worries; you weren't rude at all! There is something to be said for efficiency, as you mentioned. I have also looked at my GPU upgrade behaviour I always keep SLI options open but in the end, when I need more graphics power, I just buy a new and better GPU. And that probably won't change, making the AXi the better fit with enough overhead - whilst still keeping SLI options open even, especially with GPUs becoming more power efficient as well along with the rest of the components.

Now all that remains is deciding upon the CPU, well the advice across the board is the same: keep my current CPU and OC it if need be. And, the masses do advice upon getting a Maxwell GPU (I can always get one, try and keep the money I had for the build, and invest in Pascal in 1+ year or hold out some more). Which model would fit me best bang for buck-wise is still up for debate.

Apart from looking at second hand cards here is what they cost new in Euros:

ASUS STRIX GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 : € 401,90
ASUS STRIX-GTX980-DC2OC-4GD5 : € 648,90
ASUS MATRIX-GTX980-P-4GD5 : € 569,00 (vs. € 738,90 elsewhere?!)
 
Honestly if you are open to buying an AMD card, it would be perfect I.E 290(x) or even wait until AMD release their 3xx lineup which is pretty close.

There isnt much point in getting a 980 right now since you will be upgrading so soon. Otherwise the 970 would be the next best option or even a GTX 780 or 780ti if you can find one for cheap.
 
Honestly if you are open to buying an AMD card, it would be perfect I.E 290(x) or even wait until AMD release their 3xx lineup which is pretty close.

There isnt much point in getting a 980 right now since you will be upgrading so soon. Otherwise the 970 would be the next best option or even a GTX 780 or 780ti if you can find one for cheap.

I'm not much for AMD cards, to be honest, as I quite like the additional Nvidia Gameworks features etc.

I'd like to order something today and I decided on getting the Asus GTX970 Strix alright, also thanks to your last comment, and get some red individually sleeved cables for the PSU.
 
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