Hey guys,

basically in the next few weeks i'm going to be upgrading my PC with a GTX 970 and a new CPU. However I don't know whether to go with an FX - 9590 or an i7 4790k.

To my understanding the FX chip is 4.7ghz and has 8 cores however the i7 only has 4 cores at 4ghz. However the i7 seems to beat the FX in any stats i've looked at?

I'm just confused and would love some help in choosing a CPU.

Hey guys,

basically in the next few weeks i'm going to be upgrading my PC with a GTX 970 and a new CPU. However I don't know whether to go with an FX - 9590 or an i7 4790k.

To my understanding the FX chip is 4.7ghz and has 8 cores however the i7 only has 4 cores at 4ghz. However the i7 seems to beat the FX in any stats i've looked at?

I'm just confused and would love some help in choosing a CPU.

​I suggest the i7. To start AMD measures their speeds differently so its not really 4.7. Unless you need more cores just get the i7, you can use turbo boost if you dont want to overclock. Plus intel makes higher quality products. I have an i7 4790K and I love it.

Edited May 7, 201510 yr by googleplex2010

Choosing between the two listed cpu's, I would recommend the I7. My question is do you plan to do video editing? If you have no plans for video editing I would choose the I5 4690 or the unlocked I5 4690k for overclocking. The difference between the i7 and i5 versus performance in gaming isn't worth the higher cost of the i7. The I7 should only be considered for video editing purposes where it will excel with rending times. Even then, if you will not be rendering all that often, the I5 does an excellent job. 

​I suggest the i7. To start AMD measures their speeds differently so its not really 4.7. Unless you need more cores just get the i7, you can use turbo boost if you dont want to overclock. Plus intel makes higher quality products. I have an i7 4790K and I love it.

​Ah thanks for clearing that up. It confused me how the i7 seemed to be less powerful but better.

Choosing between the two listed cpu's, I would recommend the I7. My question is do you plan to do video editing? If you have no plans for video editing I would choose the I5 4690 or the unlocked I5 4690k for overclocking. The difference between the i7 and i5 versus performance in gaming isn't worth the higher cost of the i7. The I7 should only be considered for video editing purposes where it will excel with rending times. Even then, if you will not be rendering all that often, the I5 does an excellent job. 

​Yes I will be rendering video. I'm looking to be doing rendering daily (15-30 min videos. I will take a look at the I5's if I can save some money (put the saving towards better cooling).

Thank you both for your advice it's really helped me out! Just one more question. If I was to go for an I7 or I5 with a GTX 970 would a Corsair CM750M power supply be adequate? 

​Ah thanks for clearing that up. It confused me how the i7 seemed to be less powerful but better.

​Yes I will be rendering video. I'm looking to be doing rendering daily (15-30 min videos. I will take a look at the I5's if I can save some money (put the saving towards better cooling).

Thank you both for your advice it's really helped me out! Just one more question. If I was to go for an I7 or I5 with a GTX 970 would a Corsair CM750M power supply be adequate? 

​More than likely yes, but if you want to be extra sure you can use pcpartpicker which will give you an estimated wattage your system will be needing.

​More than likely yes, but if you want to be extra sure you can use pcpartpicker which will give you an estimated wattage your system will be needing.

​Thanks, I will take a look now. I'm trying to reuse as much of my current PC as possible.

A 500 watt power supply would be sufficient. The card calls for a 500 watt unit. The card will only pull ~145 watts. The other wattage is for the cpu, fans, etc. Toms hardware is an excellent site to check for power consumption. If you check power consumption at the wall, the watts will be around 300-350 watts. The 970's are very energy efficient along with Intel's Cpu's. You can't use a smaller psu because it's bad to run a psu at 100% capacity all the time. Its important they stay above 20% load capacity, where they are not being checked for efficiency. This is the reason it is important to pick the right size psu for the application instead of getting a 1200 watt psu and calling it good. I would recommend a 500-650 watt psu. The 650 allows for the option to do an sli 970's setup later.

As for your plans to do video rendering the I7 excels at the task. You should look up stats for render times to help make a decision if your time is more valuable or the price difference is worth it to you. Daily video rendering I would choose the I7.

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by DoubleHelix
I noticed he asked about a 750 watt psu, not 500 watt

I have an FX-8350 clocked at 4.8Ghz. AMD has a better performance-per-dollar ratio. I've heard that the release of DX12 will allow game to take better advantage of multiple cores when gaming. Old generation games only utilize a fraction of the cores. Intel has better single core performance due to hyperthreading, so that is why older games perform better. Now that DX12 will change that, AMD processors will perform better in games. They are great for overclocking, and much cheaper. I have had mine for a while and I am thoroughly impressed. Next year AMD is rumored to release their new "Zen" architecture which will be a different manufacturing process.

A 500 watt power supply would be sufficient. The card calls for a 500 watt unit. The card will only pull ~145 watts. The other wattage is for the cpu, fans, etc. Toms hardware is an excellent site to check for power consumption. If you check power consumption at the wall, the watts will be around 300-350 watts. The 970's are very energy efficient along with Intel's Cpu's. You can't use a smaller psu because it's bad to run a psu at 100% capacity all the time. Its important they stay above 20% load capacity, where they are not being checked for efficiency. This is the reason it is important to pick the right size psu for the application instead of getting a 1200 watt psu and calling it good. I would recommend a 500-650 watt psu. The 650 allows for the option to do an sli 970's setup later.

As for your plans to do video rendering the I7 excels at the task. You should look up stats for render times to help make a decision if your time is more valuable or the price difference is worth it to you. Daily video rendering I would choose the I7.

​After looking at some benchmarks I think I will go with the I7 and also it's good to know that I've got room to expand with my current PSU. Thanks you've really helped me out!