(iMac 5K) Core i5 4690 vs Core i7 4790K

Joshuan said:

Hello everyone,

I am looking for your help and advice concerning this. I am planning to order an iMac 5K with the R9 M295X, but I'm undecided about the CPU. I have read many comparisons, reviews and benchmarks in this site and others but they always compare the iMac 5K with the i7 CPU and the M295X to the i5 CPU with the M290X. However that's not my concern as I do wish to get the best GPU possible.

My question basically is if the i7 CPU is worth it? It's a reasonable price leap from the i5 to the i7 and I'm wondering if that translates into real world performance or it's not worth the upgrade. I will not be doing professional video editing and I'm mostly wondering if there is a real difference in performance in situations such as modern gaming and standard computing.

Also, will the i5 make the fans less noisy as they might work less or they will work just the same with the i7 due to most heat being generated by the GPU?

Thanks in advance!

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I think it's the GPU you have opted for that will cause the fans to spin up. As for the performance difference, I think the i7 will runs things faster, its just weather you will notice it enough to warrant spending the extra money. I question weather the CPU upgrades are worth it.

I bought the 5K i7 with the M290X base video. I have zero regrets. I don't game and I don't do professional video editing.

I have installed the VMware Fusion and on times run my windows apps that I need to and that was the reason that I chose the i7. But remember, it's also a 4ghz over a 3.5, so the processor in normal non threaded app sense faster.

There are times that I didn't think about that I am really glad I have the i7. Like I wanted to put some music onto my Android phone (as I can't justify the $1000 iPhone). My music conversion app blazed through the conversion of 500 songs to MP3.

I've had no issues with running multiple apps at once either. But for me it's that I don't know what computing power I will need in the future, and the cost to buy a bit more power now over replacing everything in 3-4 years just seemed to make sense to me.

Look at the dual core processors performance vs how the newer quad cores perform. These are processors that the core speed isn't what is holding them back but the multi core computing that is needed now.

Joshuan said:

Yes that is my concern as well. Benchmarks do place this i7 as a much better CPU, from my understanding one of the best processors out there, but I'm wondering if that only applies to highly demanding computing such as professional video editing or if there may be benefit in other work or gaming.

I'm also thinking about the longevity of the computer and it's potential resale value in a few years. Really not sure what to do.

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Professional video editing and audio production will heavily make use of the i7's hyper threading capabilities, and so will running several virtual machines.

Since you're spending so much for a better GPU already, you might as well as throw in a bit more for the i7.