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

[Rroff]

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.

Had a conversation very similar with someone about another game who has just upgraded to a 1700X - the smoothness in games they are seeing is more to do with the fact they just reinstalled their OS and currently have half the clutter going on in the background than about the actual CPU :| which I demonstrated with my gaming PC (4820K) which is running pretty lean and I shut most stuff off if gaming. Fair enough if people have a different approach and the additional cores, etc. helps to reduce the background activity and so on but the comparison might not seem as black and white as it seems.

 

[nfsdanz]

I'm running an i5 4690k at 4.4ghz and whilst the frame rate is generally pretty good in GTA 5, it doesn't ever feel 100% smooth to me. I've heard there is a frame time issue with the i5 in some games - not so much with the i7 (i think digital foundry has covered it?)...If i was sitting on a i7 4790k I would wait for icelake in 2018/19. But for me, coffee lake is certainly tempting.

 

[Rroff]

I'm running an i5 4690k at 4.4ghz and whilst the frame rate is generally pretty good in GTA 5, it doesn't ever feel 100% smooth to me. I've heard there is a frame time issue with the i5 in some games - not so much with the i7 (i think digital foundry has covered it?)...If i was sitting on a i7 4790k I would wait for icelake in 2018/19. But for me, coffee lake is certainly tempting.

HT on and off on an i7 can makes quite a difference to smoothness in GTA V in my experience - as above if you are someone with a lot of software running on their PC and have no intention of shutting stuff down for gaming, etc. then additional cores can make a lot of difference to smoothness in the game.

 

[GTiPUG]

Do you actually see any negative effects of your 4790k or just an itch to upgrade? My 4790k performs beautifully still, but I have the same itch...

 

[GinG]

Still rocking an AMD 8350 here had for around 5 years I think. Whilst it works and allows me to play BF1 on Ultra the gaming experience is a long way off being as smooth as I like.

The 8350 historically is fairly weak on single thread performance anyway but I have other priorities... Sorry the wife has other priorities for where the money is spent currently.

I feel that the next step will be a ryzen build which the way Cpus have been going will be a much longer upgrade path of another 5+ with just GPU improvements.

The 8350 was always meant to be a temporary solution and I went against advice of the Intel... Just because AMD. If I had gone with the recommendations I would not even be contemplating an upgrade as I would have had a better performing chip in the heart of things.

 

[subbytna]

I've still got my Sandybridge-E 3930k and it takes everything I throw at it. So what if I'm a few seconds later than other CPU's to finish some number crunching, people these days have so little patience as they have access to everything on their phones in an instant, they lose the knack of having patience

None of this time is money rubbish either....

 

[Aneskimo]

I'm currently sat here thinking about my i7 4770k and evga 780sc. Is the cpu going to out do the gpu? I'm at 1080p but may jump to 1440p if there isn't much life left in that setup!

 

[Dirk Diggler]

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.

I can relate to this, and I think this explains why you want to "upgrade". The only reason you need to switch CPU's is if you can't source a motherboard with the form factor to suit your new case, but it sounds like you already have the boards required?

I want to tell you that it's OK!

I've dismantled custom loops a month after building them, because truth be told I enjoy the challenge of a new build more than I enjoy gaming on or using the end result. I was constantly looking for a reason to upgrade, but there's usually no need unless a new high end GPU is imminent.

I now have two systems on the go, one for tinkering and generally cooking up new ideas (external rads is currently my thing) and another for daily use so that I'm not without a PC. The big issue I've had recently was trying to decide which should be my second system, the 5930k or 6700k. I've bought 2 microATX motherboards so that I can change my mind as often as I like because my current case is a Parvum S2.0. I then bought an Enthoo Luxe so that I can switch to a larger form factor if I do decide to upgrade the CPU and microATX motherboards aren't available (like Threadripper).

I'm now looking forward to slotting the 5930k/Fatal1ty X99M into the Enthoo and experimenting with the extra space for water cooling components... And the tinkering goes on and on.

 

[DragonQ]

The only reason you need to switch CPU's is if you can't source a motherboard with the form factor to suit your new case?

I very nearly caved and upgraded my girlfriend's entire PC when her motherboard died. Sourcing an LGA 1156 motherboard was hell even 1.5 years ago! Fortunately even H77 boards let you run an i5-2500K at 3.7 GHz which was sufficient for 1080p60.

 

[sockky]

I'm hoping my 4770k will last me another 2 years if I can push it. We shall see though, CPU tech is pretty exciting at the moment.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

GTA V is a funny one. When I upgraded from windows 7 to windows 10 it became much smoother, so for some of you upgrading your cpu's it might have more to do with a fresh install. (I'm on [email protected])

I see no reason to upgrade still, there's nothing it can't handle.

 

[passifid]

I'm currently sat here thinking about my i7 4770k and evga 780sc. Is the cpu going to out do the gpu? I'm at 1080p but may jump to 1440p if there isn't much life left in that setup!

Wait until there is no life or re image quality sacrifices then upgrade only the GPU. I'm sitting on 4k with a 4770k and a 1080ti and I see 85% max usage at stock frequency (lost the silicon lottery hard CBA with pushing high voltages for 4.1).

 

[dafadau]

I'm still super pleased with my 4690X - bit of a mental purchase at the time, but it's still smashing it 4 years later. I'm almost exclusively a gamer these days.

 

[Aneskimo]

Wait until there is no life or re image quality sacrifices then upgrade only the GPU. I'm sitting on 4k with a 4770k and a 1080ti and I see 85% max usage at stock frequency (lost the silicon lottery hard CBA with pushing high voltages for 4.1).

Cheers for the advice mate