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

[FL630]

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!

 

[FL630]

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

 

[FL630]

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.