4th gen Haswell K-series
4th gen Haswell K-series
My CPU is still in great shape, but upgrading to an i7-4790K might help. The K-series can boost performance without needing overclocking.
What you invest here means losing access to newer systems that can easily replace these older chips.
A modern low-end chip could be 50-75% quicker than the i7-4790k. However, if you factor in the higher cost of upgrading your CPU, RAM, and motherboard, it doesn’t offer good value for just a bit more processing power. Of course, you’re not worried about any other parts failing tomorrow—your cooler won’t need an upgrade or your PSU won’t either—but still.
I had overclocked i7 4770k and I felt the age of the chip and upgraded 2y ago... So ill say it this way. If you're beginning to be unhappy with your i5 then upgrading to i7 you get maybe one extra year of life with your platform before it will start bothering you again so unless you can get the i7 for dirt cheap... don't bother. As was said above me, even modern i3 will annihilate the old i7 in performance. I would suggest saving your money for a whole platform upgrade and play with what you have right now.
The 4790K is going to be expensive, likely exceeding $120. A full 12100F+H610+16GB DDR4 setup could cost around $240, which rises to $290 with a premium B660 board. I don’t think it’s worth it, particularly if the user currently has only 8GB of RAM, since that would make the higher price reasonable. Also, the 12100F offers roughly double the performance of a standard 4790K.
All previous versions aren't compatible with Windows 11, which means sticking to DDR3 and similar older components might limit your performance. Everyone else agrees—if you're planning an upgrade, go all-in and replace everything. In just about eight years, nearly every part of a PC has seen major improvements.
Windows 11 now supports 6th and 7th generation Intel CPUs. Microsoft updated the specifications some time ago.
Isn't this only relevant for certain 6th and 7th generation processors in specific laptops? It doesn’t seem to affect the entire system.