Should I grab a 4 or 6 core i7?

Hey Im starting a new fresh build and obviously there is no such thing as "future proof" but I would like my build to be as close to "future proof" as possible. I understand that games are starting to take advantage of more cores, would it be wise to grab the i7 5820k or the 4790k keep in mind my build is pretty much only for gaming and some video editing nothing too crazy but I do want my CPU and MOBO Im going to drop a bunch of money on to last, how necessary is 6 cores on an intel CPU now for gaming and should I go the extra mile for it? I'd love to hear your input thanks!

Like you said, games are making use of more cores, but I'd still call a quad core i7 future proof since it has a much higher IPC than the AMD architecture that the current consoles are based on.

All of the Haswell-E parts are generally aimed at people that need the extra cores for more intensive tasks like rendering.

Most of the time you wouldn't see a difference in fps when using an quad core i5, quad core i7, or hexa core i7.

It is a redundant upgrade today as games rarely use more then 4 cores, but the extra cores more then likely could make your build last longer then if you used the 4790k for its usable life span.

Thanks for your input bro I think I'll save the extra money, btw sorry this may be a dumb question but can you explain what IPC is exactly? Ive built a few computers but I do not know much about the details : /

5820k would is better for video editing and rendering, but offers no advantage for gaming at the moment.

Are you planning on overclocking? iX-XXXXk is usually overkill if you don't want to OC.

Instructions per cycle. How many things it can do per clock cycle.

e.g. in single core tests, a 4GHz 4790K will perform better than a 4GHz 8350.

I most likely will be overclocking a bit since I plan on purchasing a decent cooler :)

Re-reading your first post, a 4 core might be better for your uses, a 4790K will do everything you want it to do, and the 5820K would do all of it and have some power sitting around doing nothing.

6 cores (hyperthreaded to 12) for gaming is still pretty much useless, unless it's a well optimized game like GTA V. But video editing and media work will most likely take advantage of the extra power and pull ahead.

Lol GTA V happens to be the game im most excited to play on my upcoming build do you think its worth it for that xD

Nah, if it's the only thing that you'd do that can take advantage of a few more cores, really not worth it.

The 4790K and the 5820K only have about a 1.5k difference in the Passmark score, and is actually slower in terms of clockspeed. At the same time the price difference isn't horrendous, so it might be fun to have that extra 4 cores. I mean, I've had a habit of playing a game while something encodes in the background with my FX-8320, just bind a few cores to just encoding and use the rest for games.

4790K is basicly all you realy gonne need for gaming.
5820k is nice if you wanne do, allot of productivity stuf next to gaming, and or multtiple VM´s or what not.

But in general, the 4790K out of the box, is basicly still a better cpu for gaming.

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LTT's latest video on the subject from about a month ago:

In their tests, 6 cores only got them a couple of FPS over 4 cores in testing some recent titles. The situation is probably going to be about the same for the foreseeable future.

How many years are we talking here?

Overclocking may shorten the lifespan of your CPU, depending on how intensely you use it and how good your cooler performs. What is your case & cooling solution?

Generally I'd say that 4 vs 6 core is neglectable for gaming. Better stash the money for a video card upgrade in the future. It depends on what you'll play, but GPU performance will probably be more valuable to you as a gamer.

Its hard to justify 4790k in terms of performance and pricing when it sits between the 4690K and 5820K based builds. Fyi 8320/70e is also very good for the price if per core IPC isn't that important.

Knocking a couple years off of a 8 to 10 year life span, is not that big of a deal. People will probably upgrade before they'll notice a difference. (Of course, that all depends on how high you overclock it. But still, IMO, this gets blown way out of proportion.)

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FYI its not going to be untill 2.5-3 years before we are likely to see a >4core on the intel mainstream platform, guaranteeing that 5820K remains relevant. Although if rumours are to be believed, skylake will have meaningfull IPC gains, but you can wait forever.

I think people who have 5820Ks will be satisfied for quiet a while, otherwise I would wait for skylake and go for that I5. Reason to wait is alleged IPC gains, but also that the chipset is getting PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes for m.2. sata and DMI3.0 (2x speed), which is nice.

Alternatively you could get an 8320e and an appropriate motherboard for around the price of an i5 4690K, it's not the best in terms of per core IPC, but overall it's pretty good, and in most games it' performs pretty much the same as the intel counterparts. It's probably not going to be relevant for as long, but it is soo much cheaper than the 5820k.. This is probably the most cost effective route to take now and in the long-run.

You see all these tech guys with 5820k on the hype train and 32gb ddr4 memory and 4 tb NAS that's because they don't game, they do editing and youtube videos. Buying a 5820k to game is like buying a monster truck to drive to your log cabin when all you need is a Jeep Cherokee. 4790k is more than enough and will last you the next 5 years at least.

Wait till intel dumps 6 cores into the mainstream after cannonlake in ~3years, which is probably whats going to happen imo. With all the IPC gains between now and then... But over 6 cores... Then you have to last another two years... And zen is coming too, I expect zen to make ground.

get the 4 core unless you are going to be a heavy video renderer. (like doing one or more a day.) and use the saved money for a faster GPU (CUDA or OpenCL will help with render times)