Is i5 4690k to I5 8600k worth an upgrade?

Question

Is it worth upgrading from an i5 4690k to an i5 8600k? I mainly play video games. I have a GTX 1070FTW card.

Answer 1

Here's some numbers for ya, start with some benchmarks:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-8600K+%40+3.60GHz&id=3100

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4690K+%40+3.50GHz



The 8600K's cores are 12% faster. If you run programs that can use 6 cores it'll be around 60% faster.

These are general benchmarks, if you want more accurate answers you need to find specific benchmark tests for the games you are looking at, there are tons out there, like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5KBoMdfqiU



If the upgrade gives you any benefit, it'll depend on the games you play. Personally I'd start by watching your GPU load as you play games. GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner can monitor your GPU, if your video card is near 100% then that is what your machine is waiting on and a CPU upgrade won't get you faster FPS.



If your video card is not near 100% while gaming, then it's probably waiting on the CPU.



I bet you'd get similar performance out of a i7 4790k though, and you'd save the money of upgrading your motherboard and RAM to something that supports 8th gen CPUs. So that's what I would probably do, but again, it depends on what the programs you run support.

Answer 2

No



Because



-95% of the games out there only need 4 cores



-The single core performance of your Core i5 4690k is almost as fast as the Core i5-8600k

Answer 3

Not really

Answer 4

yes

Answer 5

If you actually needed 6 cores for whatever you're doing with your PC, then you would see an even greater benefit from choosing the Core i7-8700k.



A few years ago there was no reason to buy an i7 for a gaming PC because PC games couldn't effectively use the Hyperthreading in the Core i7. This would show in benchmarks of some 2010-12 era games with the Core i5-2500k edging out the Core i7-2600k unless the Hyperthreading was turned off.



Now, there are a small handful of games out there like Overwatch, Watch Dogs 2, and BF1 that do make use of the Hyperthreading in the i7. Make no mistake though, These games that use the Hyperthreading in an i7 still run fine with a Core i5, and if 60fps is all you need then you don't need to go for the i7 unless you really wanted it..



If you're gaming on a 60hz monitor then you would see no benefits whatsoever. In some cases you might see a few more FPS with the 8600k but that would be when you're already over 60fps. Your Core i5-4690k still performs really well with games. If you did need more fps then an Overclock would be helpful.



The problem with Coffee Lake is it's IPC performance is the same as Skylake and Kaby Lake. Skylake only netted a 5% IPC increase over your Haswell based i5, which isnt much. If you clocked your CPU to match the 8600k, then you wouldn't see much difference at all.



The only case where it's usful to have the i7 is when you're gaming on a 144hz monitor. The higher single core performance comes in handy by helping push up the FPS. However when the GPU is only able to produce 60 or 70 fps because it's bottlenecked, then having a faster CPU isn't going to do you any good.



Intel is going to release an 8-core i7 CPU for the mainstream platform later next year. The 4690k is good enough for right now unless youre streaming or recording your gameplay. You could go big or go home by going with the Core i7-8700k but if you're gaming on a 60hz monitor then you would see practically no difference at all. Even then, overclocking your Core i5 would probably do enough to increase your framerates to a comfortable and noticeable level if youre gaming on a 144hz monitor.

Answer 6

In gaming not really. Plus you would have to upgrade the motherboard as well to support the cpu socket. That Can be a hassle and time consuming.

Answer 7

it does get you over 50% more cpu power, but if you do anything that will benefit is another story. Basically if you are streaming or heavy content creation it will make a difference, but for most current games it makes very little difference

Answer 8

the 8600k requires an entirely new mobo with entirely new DDR4 ram. I doubt you'd feel that you're getting your money's worth

Answer 9

save up and get an i7

Answer 10

Well lets have a look at the specs. An i5-4960k has 4 cores, 4 threads and a base clock of 3.5GHz. An i5-8600k has 6 cores, 6 threads and a base clock of 3.6 GHz. So yes, it would be worth the upgrade. With a 1070, most games will run very well. Personally, I would recommend an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X. It has 6 cores, 12 threads and a base clock of 3.6 GHz.