How long can I expect my generation CPU to be relevant?

FL630 · 15 Aug 2017 at 14:59

Hi,

The CPU market seems to be going a bit crazy now with releases every other month it feels. I'm rocking an i7-4790K and it seems to work fine for me, for now.

To the CPU gurus and folk who've been at this a lot longer than me, how long can I expect the 4790K to be relevant as a CPU?

I spend most of my time gaming these days, but I still spend some time doing photoshop and Illustrator, though not as much as I used to when I built the PC.

I always have a constant upgrade itch, but will there be any tangible benefit to an upgraded CPU since the 4790K was released?

Thanks!

voidshatter · 15 Aug 2017 at 15:42

No idea about Illustrator, but for Photoshop it depends on what kind of time-consuming operations you do. For example, batch decoding RAW files by ACR would utilise multi-thread performance, while layer alignment would rely on single-thread performance. For me, most of my workflow in Photoshop would rely on single-thread performance. Why don't you do some profiling with task manager and see whether you can benefit from getting more cores?

The 4790K may struggle for multi-thread tasks, but for most games where single-thread performance is still important, your 4790K is still great and faster than non-Threadripper Ryzens.

I'd say wait for the 8700K and see how the numbers come out, then decide between it and Ryzen.

David Bisset · 15 Aug 2017 at 15:49

We can't tell for sure how long it will remain relevant, and your workload will ultimately matter most of all, but it could easily be fine for many years yet. Depending what you're doing with them etc 2500k's are still great CPUs and there is no reason to suspect the 4790k won't last as well. *If* massively multi-threaded workloads become much more normal or if there is a transformative tech of some kind that comes along then it may age faster, though it's worth remembering that in the latter case the same would apply to all CPUs that are created before that tech so upgrading wouldn't help avoid it.

DragonQ · 15 Aug 2017 at 16:02

The only way it won't last is if you suddenly need way more cores, because those are now available. Much faster single thread performance isn't available so not worth upgrading just for that.

jigger · 15 Aug 2017 at 20:32

As long as you're happy with the performance sit tight.

james_2k · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:08

i wouldn't have upgraded from my 4770k if i didn't happen to kill it by mistake.

FL630 · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:14

Thanks for the replies. I think, as an "enthusiast", I'm always thinking of what the next upgrade is. I'm re-casing soon, probably switching motherboard size so naturally I started looking at new CPU's, hence the thread.

I no longer do "heavy duty" graphic work, just the odd light RAW photo edit and perhaps batch process. I really don't think I'm stressing my CPU on a daily basis. However, if a GPU is kept regularly up to date to cope with improving gaming titles, I assume that a CPU will eventually bottleneck the system? I don't feel my 4790k does, but at some point it will.

Hopefully a few more years out of it, but I guess at some point it'll have to be upgraded. Perhaps I should bother overclocking it first

james_2k · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:17

defo, wouldn't bother for ages based on that workload. do like my quad channel bandwidth, but its kinda like a spoiler on a corsa, just for show

mistersprinkles · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:27

The most stress I put on my PC is playing a game on my main monitor while I watch a movie on the other, so my 4790K is fine for me for some time to come. I ran a 2600K from 2011 to 2016 and I plan to run this 4790K until 2019 or 2020 unless it becomes overly obsolete on me.

CaptainRAVE · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:30

I am rocking a 4770k at 4.4ghz. It still has a bit of life, although I do often see it at 70-80% in some games now at 1440p with my 1080ti. I might look to upgrade next year.

tris179 · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:40

I am still on a 1366 X5650 and it does more than what I need, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to upgrade though

mistersprinkles · 15 Aug 2017 at 22:14

FL630 said:
Thanks for the replies. I think, as an "enthusiast", I'm always thinking of what the next upgrade is. I'm re-casing soon, probably switching motherboard size so naturally I started looking at new CPU's, hence the thread.

I no longer do "heavy duty" graphic work, just the odd light RAW photo edit and perhaps batch process. I really don't think I'm stressing my CPU on a daily basis. However, if a GPU is kept regularly up to date to cope with improving gaming titles, I assume that a CPU will eventually bottleneck the system? I don't feel my 4790k does, but at some point it will.

Hopefully a few more years out of it, but I guess at some point it'll have to be upgraded. Perhaps I should bother overclocking it first

If you're going to get a new board you might as well get a new platform. Stick with what you've got. Re-casing is a waste of money. I've gone through that phase. Don't bother.

Z97 boards are hard to come by these days anyways.

DragonQ · 15 Aug 2017 at 22:27

tris179 said:
I am still on a 1366 X5650 and it does more than what I need, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to upgrade though

I know what you mean. 99% GPU usage and constant frame rates in Overwatch, no need to upgrade at all. Devs just need to make games well.

FL630 · 15 Aug 2017 at 22:30

mistersprinkles said:
If you're going to get a new board you might as well get a new platform. Stick with what you've got. Re-casing is a waste of money. I've gone through that phase. Don't bother.

Z97 boards are hard to come by these days anyways.

Re-casing is my favorite part of this hobby! Especially with a custom hardline loop, it's great to be creative with new cases. I've found a few new Z97 boards which will suit. I'm on ITX right now so I can just shove that in any old case I feel like, then fill the dead space up with reservoirs and other w/c goodies.

I'll perhaps run a few CPU usage monitors whilst I run my PC, see what sort of loads I get.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 15 Aug 2017 at 22:53

FL630 said:
Thanks for the replies. I think, as an "enthusiast", I'm always thinking of what the next upgrade is. I'm re-casing soon, probably switching motherboard size so naturally I started looking at new CPU's, hence the thread.

I no longer do "heavy duty" graphic work, just the odd light RAW photo edit and perhaps batch process. I really don't think I'm stressing my CPU on a daily basis. However, if a GPU is kept regularly up to date to cope with improving gaming titles, I assume that a CPU will eventually bottleneck the system? I don't feel my 4790k does, but at some point it will.

Hopefully a few more years out of it, but I guess at some point it'll have to be upgraded. Perhaps I should bother overclocking it first

Your CPU is fine - many professionals actually use a laptop on a day to day basis,and if anything making sure you have enough RAM and fast enough drives will matter as much as a new shiny CPU for image editing.

Edit!!

I am only on an older generation Xeon E3 1230 V2/Core i7 3770 and I am generally fine with PS and LR,TBH. I probably spend more of my time tweaking an image then the intensive processing parts anyway.

Safetytrousers · 15 Aug 2017 at 23:13

voidshatter said:
The 4790K may struggle for multi-thread tasks, but for most games where single-thread performance is still important, your 4790K is still great and faster than non-Threadripper Ryzens.

Safetytrousers · 15 Aug 2017 at 23:16

voidshatter said:
The 4790K may struggle for multi-thread tasks, but for most games where single-thread performance is still important, your 4790K is still great and faster than non-Threadripper Ryzens.

The first thing I noticed when I moved from my 4790K to my Ryzen 1700 is how smooth GTAV was compared to before. I didn't previously think it wasn't smooth, but Ryzen made it actually smooth. An fps number is not the whole story.
Ryzen win.
I feel I sold my 4790K at the right time.

gavinh87 · 15 Aug 2017 at 23:25

Safetytrousers said:
The first thing I noticed when I moved from my 4790K (golden overclocking example) to my Ryzen 1700 is how smooth GTAV was compared to before. I didn't previously think it wasn't smooth, but Ryzen made it actually smooth.
Ryzen win.

Something that fails to get brought up in almost every discussion around here. Higher averages are nice but if its tanking to low 20's its going to feel noticeably worse.

chongker · 15 Aug 2017 at 23:51

IMO, it's not worth replacing a 4790k just yet, GPUs have been advancing much more quickly and are a more worthwhile investment on the whole (unless you've already got something like a 1080Ti and have an itch to upgrade further).

Kelt · 16 Aug 2017 at 01:11

tris179 said:
I am still on a 1366 X5650 and it does more than what I need, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to upgrade though

DragonQ said:
I know what you mean. 99% GPU usage and constant frame rates in Overwatch, no need to upgrade at all. Devs just need to make games well.

Same here. Still haven't played a game that even remotely stresses my X5650 @ 4.4.