Is an i7 4790k over kill for what I want to do

[MangoIce]

Hi!

so what I'm aiming to do is play video games, do homework and light CAD.

I'm looking for ways to decrease the costs of my build and I feel that the processor as I mentioned is overkill.

 

[neilhart]

Hi!

so what I'm aiming to do is play video games, do homework and light CAD.

I'm looking for ways to decrease the costs of my build and I feel that the processor as I mentioned is overkill.

Well the GPU is where you will make a difference along with an SSD system drive. The CPU today is more ego for most of us as we are setting at idle 99% of the time.

Good modding,
neil

 

[mucksavage]

Yeah, unless what you are doing can take advantage of the multi-threading in an i7 (like rendering, photoshop, etc) then it's a waste.

 

[WhiskyTangoFoxtrot]

Look at the recommended specs for the games you play. They probably don't need an i7.
What cad package are you going to use? Cad on mac has always been kinda lame but then we got AutoCAD. But AutoCAD will run on a 2 Ghz 64 bit chip with Intel HD 4000 graphics, don't know how well though.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo.../System-requirements-for-AutoCAD-for-Mac.html

For games you just need enough gpu, for AutoCAD you may have more restrictions on gpu choice (assuming your cad of choice is AutoCAD)

 

[MangoIce]

well I'm going to use:

ZBrush
Photoshop/Illustrator
Creo Parametric 2.0 (in my windows partition)
maybe AutoCAD

 

[WhiskyTangoFoxtrot]

The pattern here is what performance do you want or need and what hardware will get you there.

From the zbrush site http://pixologic.com/zbrush/system/

NOTE ABOUT GRAPHICS CARDS: ZBrush is software rendered, meaning that ZBrush itself is doing the rendering rather than the GPU. Your choice of GPU will not matter so long as it supports the recommended monitor resolution.

For that the gpu doesn't matter. For Photoshop it will matter some, it needs an OpenGL 2 card. Lucky you the HD 4600 is OpenGL 4 ready, it won't be the best OpenGL gpu but it should work.

If zbrush is written really well then the i7 would be good. I don't know if it is. Usually I tell people they won't notice the difference between an i5 and an i7 and to put the money to a better gpu but with this zbrush software render thing going on it may be worth it to get the i7. Subject to further investigation. Hit up some forums for your software of choice to see what people (actual users of it, not me) say about performance on systems of different specs and build accordingly within your budget. The other thing you can do is build with i7 and integrated gpu now and later on a different paycheck add a real gpu if performance is lacking because you find you are actually pushing the software hard.