As you can see, I'm currently using an i5 3450 (I know). When i bought it a couple of years ago I never intented to overclock or anything and it hasn't let me down. I have however started seeing it bottleneck my GTX 970 in games where more CPU power is needed (especially scenes where there are a lot of people). I'm currently running a Z77 extreme 4 from ASRock. Needless to say, I'm looking to get a new MB and CPU. I'm looking for an i7 that I can overclock. I think I have narrowed it down to either an X99 MB and the i7-5820k or a Z79 motherboard with the i7-4790k. The move to X99 is tempting, I like the MSI X99 SLI PLUS but I'm not sure I will be getting any DDR4 right now. I will also be adding a second GTX 970 and probably move to watercooling too in the near future. I only use this systemfor gaming at 1440p and other usual stuff, no encoding or editing. I would also like to keep my PSU, hoping that it would be enough for an i7 and 970 GTX SLI.
If you are gaming only, just stick with your DDR3 and grab a decent Z97 board, 4790K, and a good cooler. You only need 6C/12T over 4/8 if you are using "work" applications or video encoding/live streaming. Even if newer games are using more threads, the 4790 should last you quite a while, at least enough to outlast your 970 SLI. I'll say a 750W unit is slightly pushing it when you are both max CPU and GPU usage. But that shouldn't happen all that often, at least outside of synthetic environments. You should however, start saving for a larger unit if you have a large amount of accessories (HDDs, SSDs, sound card, etc.) or overclock your system to pretty high clocks and/or switch to 2 more power hungry cards.
Yeah, unless you have a specific reason to go X99 or money to burn, a 4790K will suit you very nicely. You'll see some pleasant gains across the board. I came from a 3570K, the extra performance is nice indeed.
Yeah, pretty much decided on getting the 4790k. Now just gotta find a good MSI motherboard that will overclock it nicely
If I was you, I would clearly get the 4790k since it's better in gaming actually and you don't have to spend so much on worthless DDR4... The only reason I would look at a 5820k would be out of curiosity to have a 6-Core and an enthusiast motherboard... nothing else really, for gaming. I had quite a few that got themselves i7 920 back when I bought mine...and they only got them for gaming, didn't really get ANYTHING over someone who got i5 750, not to mention i7 860/870, only they didn't need DDR4, just 3x DDR3 sticks and are stuck on 6GB cause 12 were too expensive, I have 8 now, bought during the time they were cheaper ( costed me half as much as the 4 initially bought ). But for now, I don't have cash to a simple upgrade to a i5 with k + mobo, not to mention the costs for that 5820, mobo ... and DDR4... So I'm probably stuck till the new generation with 750+970 GTX super bottleneck and only if I seriously save money I would get something new in '15...
This time is a waste of money, expect a little more and buy the Intel Broadwell. Or wait a little longer and buy the Intel Skylake Skylake is better
I just built a rig for a friend using a 4790k and the MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard. I really liked the layout of the motherboard.
I'm using the MSI Z97 Gaming 5. No frills, but a quality board regardless. The new MSI BIOS is quite good, I think.
Broadwell desktop variants will only be landing during or after summer. Waiting for anything after that is useless because it'll be the exact same reason to wait for whatever comes after Skylake, and then the thing after that... Broadwell so far doesn't look like it'll matter too much for desktop users however, as the main feature is the die shrink, reduced power consumption, and improved iGPU.
I might go for the MSI Z97 gaming 5 or 7. I also found a bundle deal here: http://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/datorkomponenter/202409-msi_z97_mpower__intel_core_i7-4790k The MPower is more expensive as a MB than the Gaming 5 but as a bundle looks like a good deal.