Question / Help Intel i5 vs i7 for PC Gaming AND Streaming

TroubleKlef

New Member
I'm about to enter the world of PC gaming and I've been researching the parts for my build. My question is whether or not an i5 4690k will be sufficient enough to run games at 1920x1080p Ultra with 60fps+ while streaming at 1280x720p 60fps.

I realize that games utilize very little CPU power but I am not sure if an i5 is capable of running a video game AND streaming a 720p60fps broadcast as well. Also I would prefer the i5 to have headroom for other applications. I don't want to worry about maxing my CPU later down the line.

Thank you.
 
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Krazy

Town drunk
Well, the 4790k is an i7 first of all. Second of all, games using very little CPU isn't really true these days. Just look at all the open world games coming out, and things like BF4.

If you really are serious about playing games at max quality and streaming at something like 720p60fps, you want to AT LEAST invest in an i7. I say "at least" because if you're really serious about it, you build a second PC dedicated to doing just the encoding.

edit: totally unrelated note, but I had no idea the 4790k was even a thing, so I read up on it before I replied. Man, I actually kind of want to upgrade my CPU now instead of waiting for Skylake, I'm seriously impressed by that thing from what I read.
 

TroubleKlef

New Member
Woops sorry, I had the 4790k tab open cause I was comparing prices xD

So I don't have the funds to buy two different PCs so I will be going with the i7 4790k. What are the bottlenecks that I will be looking at? Lowering the stream to 720p30?
 
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Krazy

Town drunk
More than likely you just won't be able to run your game at completely maxed out graphics. It also greatly depends on the game. Stream resolution will have a much greater performance impact than framerate, by the way.
 

Goldio

Member
I always think that 720/60 is better looking than 1080/30 but that's just my opinion. Smoothness looks really nice depending on the game. Also dropping settings in games to high or very high is something worth doing if it makes an impact on stream. Modern games on even medium look amazing and getting to pump them out at 60fps is worth it usually.
 
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