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i7 860 upgrade - 4670k or 4770k?

adrichardson81

adrichardson81

adrichardson81

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Joined
6 Dec 2007
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Hi all.

Time's come to upgrade my trusty i7 860. It's mostly used for gaming and photo editing (Elements with Nik Software plugins, Lightroom and DXO), with a bit of video conversion (handbrake). It's not that the 860 is particularly struggling in games, but I'd like to have more grunt for photo work and could really do with sata 3 and usb 3.

Am I likely to notice a difference between the 4770k and the 4670k for my workload? I'll be overclocking, naturally :D
 
If you use tasks that can utilise 8 threads, the 4770k will of course give better performance. In those kinds of tasks, I wouldn't say the 4670k would be a significant enough boost over an 860 (which has HT whereas the 4670k doesn't) and so the 4770k is a more logical upgrade for you.
 
Any program that uses hyperthreading like handbrake will benefit.

Standard photo editing doesn't tend to benefit, but some plugins do.

You can check on task manager, any process that uses over 50% on your i7 860 is using hyperthreading.

Normally a program that can fully utilise hyperthreading will give you 15-25% performance increase.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=836

Only you can decide if the extra cost is worth it. I did with my i7 2600k.
 
i think 4770k is the only option for your workload.

Clock for clock the latest chips are 25% faster but you also have to factor in that 4.5GHz is the common overclock speed vs the 3.8 you run the 860 at. That would be 20% faster in itself.

If you have the budget then it seems a worthwhile upgrade.

As an aside i'm currently in the market for an i7 860 http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18510221

Let me know if you do decide to upgrade. Cheers.
 
I recently moved from my sig rig to an i5 3570k and it isn't a noticeably big performance improvement in general use, but it is faster, especially when overclocked.

I had my i7 860 at 4.2ghz HT on and it was plenty quick enough, however I don't do much encoding/video editing etc.

For your uses I would get a 4770k, at stock clocks against your 3.8ghz i7 860 I would expect the haswell chip to be around 25% quicker at least.

I loved my i7 860, shame it ran incredibly hot even under water :|
 
Thanks guys - looks like I'll be biting the bullet and buying a 4770k.

@DavieJG - probably won't be jumping until the C2 stepping comes out (not going to risk USB3 issues), but drop me a pm in July if you're still interested.
 
Is hyperthreading generally considered good for gaming these days then? Or Is it only used in video editing etc. When I got my 860 I turned it off because it wasnt needed...
 
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