Core i7 Face-Off: which is the fastest gaming CPU?

EG:
This one's been a long time coming. Last year, we reviewed Intel's Skylake-based Core i7 6700K and lauded its brutally fast gaming performance, where its combination of architectural improvements plus higher levels of memory bandwidth translated into tangibly faster, smoother gameplay. But what we didn't have was access to the existing Core i7 5820K - older generation hardware, but six full cores as opposed to the 6700K's four. To this day we've always wondered which was fastest - and how the monstrous, $1000 octo-core i7 5960X compared. Now, we have answers.

[Psychotica]

I just upgraded to the i7-6700K a couple of weeks ago, works great..

[Yetter]

me too. Coupled with my 980ti, this PC sings

[livininsin]

Personally, I went with the i5-6600k, not that anyone's hardware choice is right or wrong at all, you do what pleases you right?

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

The i7-5820k/i7-5960x and the i5-6600k performed comparably vs the 6700k in games, pretty impressive really.

[IanTH]

What did you upgrade from? I've got an OCed i5 2500k and have been considering an upgrade to your proc as well. It seems I could probably eek another 10ish FPS out of my more demanding games (currently using a GTX 970). Do you feel like the upgrade was worth the cost? I'm also trying to figure out if waiting one more gen will provide more benefits - and seeing if AMD's Zen finally offers up good competition. Can only be a boon for value proposition if they can square off with Intel's high end chips.

[Psychotica]

I upgraded from an i5-2500K but never OC'd it since I only had the stock cooler. I did it mainly so I could meet the requirements for either the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. I have it paired with a GTX 980 Classified which is real close in performance to a 980Ti. The performance difference is noticeable but not jaw dropping. For example when playing GTA V I was always getting display issues which I think was caused by my cpu being a bottleneck to my video card. I don't see the issues at all now. If it wasn't for the VR stuff I probably would have waited until next year for the upgrade, so you might be wise to do the same.

[livininsin]

I think you would get far better results if you got a second GTX 970. A pair of 970s in sli is pretty close to a single 980ti and the second GTX 970 would set you back about $300-325ish.

Don't forget you will need to also buy a new motherboard and DDR4 ram if you upgrade to the 6700k, probably looking at about $600, maybe more depending on what you choose and you will still only have the one GTX 970 in the end...

edit: don't take it the wrong way, I also have a single GTX 970, it's a great card but I think the i5/970 sli combo at half the price is a far better option than the 6700k/970 combo

[IanTH]

Thanks for the input!

@livininsin Yea, I've definitely thought about the SLI 970 setup as well. I just realize at some point the CPU will be the bottlneck, but more importantly the new GPU architecture is on the horizon which promises to be a lot more powerful. Makes me think waiting to see some benchmarks for those cards to decide if buying a single powerful card (which is always recommended over SLI if possible) and selling the 970 might be a better way to go. But I've been back and forth on everything lol.

@Psychotica my nvidia control thing shows even the i5 2500k is considered VR ready, then again I'm not sure how soon I'll be jumping on that train either. Interested, but not $600-$800 interested lol. Gotta get a demo somewhere! My GearVR isn't a good enough representation to hinge that kind of investment on.

[weirdo]

6700k for gaming, 5820k/5960x for multi-media.

[ninsigma]

Have the 5820K. Works like a charm.

[Satou]

i5-6500
I'm all for low power parts, and it's only 65 watts
Waiting on a 16/14nm gpu in June to really complete the rig at low power. I'll just pick up the first that comes out with 4GB. GDDR5X or HBM doesn't matter to me, as I don't game extensively on PC.

[ONESHOTV2]

still running a i7 4790k but i will upgrade to the i7‑5960X some time in the future