Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.9 4 BX80646I54690K

Top positive review

Great CPU for overclocking - check out these specs for the new gaming rig we built! Wow!

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015

Hi guys I normally don't write too many reviews for lack of time, but felt compelled to share about this hardware and the system my son and I built after seeing the result! This review was written on 02/21/2015...

We bought the MSI Z 97 gaming motherboard to be the foundation of a new gaming platform for my son using an older Antec full tower case to house it all in. Anyone thinking of building a new system should consider the components listed below. After building the computer and turning on the hardware overclocking feature on the motherboard (OC Genie), loading all the drivers and updating using the MSI updating software, the system is stable, hasn't crashed once, and runs games at blazing speeds. My son says he is getting 100 fps plus from every game he has, while running them at max graphics settings, including a popular new title called "Evolve", where the graphics are just stunning. Some games he is getting over 200fps, wow. I went in and looked at Windows performance module, the 3.5 GHZ CPU we put on the motherboard is overclocked by the hardware to 3.95 GHZ with no stability issues. I have watched him play some of his newer games and the system just makes them look gorgeous, amazing processing power!

Be sure to hook up dedicated 4-pin power from your power supply to the corresponding audio power jumper on the motherboard, lights up red when you start the system and looks really cool, supplies dedicated power to the rear audio jacks. One thing to note in the motherboard installation book it does not tell you which position to set the DIP switch to enable powered audio rear jacks until four pages later than where it tells/shows you which jumper to plug in dedicated power, that info should be on same page in manual.

Remember the graphics card listed below recommends a minimum 750 watt power supply due to the high wattage of the card. I replace my older 500W power supply just to be safe. This is a huge graphics card so make sure you have a full size case to start your build. Another thing make sure you don't have any power cables in the way of the graphics card fans at startup, double check, the fans most be running. At initial startup we had a power cable that that got in the way of one of the fans, but we caught it right away and re-routed it so the fan would spin.

Please note this motherboard does not have any IDE bus ports to support legacy drives, so all your drives must be SATA bus (the modern current bus) to run.

On the motherboard there is a handy jumper connector for the front case wires that comes with the motherboard, you just plug the wires into the connector where labeled and then plug the connector into the jumper set on the motherboard, thank you MSI. Also this was the first computer I have built with a Solid State Drive and the data read/write speeds are indeed impressive. We splurged and bought the keyboard listed below, what can I say I never seen such a cool looking and well built keyboard, the colors and feel of the keys is impressive. This was a great project for me and my son, and the result was a screaming fast new computer which he loves, and was allot cheaper than buying complete from a regular vendor! Total cost was around 1400.00 if I remember right. stcroix_man2002@yahoo.com

- MSI ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97
- Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7TE500BW)
- Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz LGA 1150 BX80646I54690K (Core multiplier is UNLOCKED for overclocking!)
includes nice fan that seems to be cooling the CPU fine looking at the operating temps in the BIOS
- MSI Computer Corp. AMD Radeon R9 290 Gaming OC 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express Video Card R9 290 GAMING 4G
- AMD Radeon Memory R9 Gamer Series Memory 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) R938G2401U1K
- new Corsair 750 Watt Power Supply (new modular style - came with all the power cords needed for the new system and graphics card)
- new HP 16x DVD/CD RW Drive (I had to get a new one with new style power connector and SATA bus (all my old optical drives were IDE bus)
- Razer Black Widow Chroma click Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 3.5 Grams for mounting the fan on the CPU

5 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

J. Gilbert

I'd recommend this CPU to anyone looking to build a mid-range ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2014

This is not so much a review of the CPU itself as it is a review of the included CPU cooler. For the record, the CPU is exactly what I expected. I'd recommend this CPU to anyone looking to build a mid-range gaming system with some overclocking headroom. If I could, I'd give the CPU itself 5 stars and the cooler 1 star, but I have averaged them.

My big issue is the craptacular included heat sink and fan. (Yes, craptacular is a technical term.) This is my first computer build from scratch in about a decade, so I was surprised when an Intel cooler was insufficient to run comfortably at stock clocks.

First of all, installing the heat sink is difficult to get right. Pushing the tabs through the motherboard holes and twisting the post just right took me 4 tries to get right. If you do use the included heat sink make sure you get it right as they are easy to put in wrong and not have adequate mating between the heat sink and the CPU.

Second, the pre-applied thermal paste is very poor. It's too dry to spread properly. When I removed it to put on a better heat sink it had not spread properly to cover the entire CPU. I suggest you clean off the thermal paste and use a better paste.

And finally, the results of my brief testing:

Gaming was fine, temperature wise, but games don't fully stress the CPU. I ran Prime 95 in torture test mode with all the fans (case and CPU) cranked up to full speed. Then, I replaced the stock cooler with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo and did the same thing again.

Stock cooler:
Idle about 36-45 C depending on ambient
Under load about 88-92 C. This is too close for comfort to the 100C max the CPU is designed to handle.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo:
Idle about 32-36 C
Under load about 45-52 C

This is in no way rigorous testing, but I think the approximately 40C temperature difference is well worth the added cost of the Hyper 212 Evo. Not to mention the Hyper 212 Evo is not exactly the best cooler available, it's still in the budget range as coolers go. I can also leave the fans running slower than flat out and still not exceed 60C. The whole computer is almost quiet enough to be unnoticeable even with Prime 95 running.

Also, even though the official clock is 3.5 GHz stock, with the Hyper 212 Evo installed, it's cool enough to run on turbo at about 3.7 GHz with all four cores active with Prime 95. I haven't applied any overclocking yet, but I'm still getting an extra 200MHz.

At the time of purchase, this version was slightly less expensive than the i5-4690k without the heat sink, so I bought this, but if you're considering this (or probably any other "k" CPU from Intel) plan on a different heat sink.

13 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Amazon Customer

Great CPU for overclocking - check out these specs for the new gaming rig we built! Wow!

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

5 people found this helpful

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Julia and Erik

Who says you need an i7 when you can overclock?

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

I'm a power user, but I'm certainly not a hardcore tech junkie. I'm going to put this in terms that are easy to understand and approachable for people who are more casual than engineers.

The Good: Came in a neat and frustration-free package. Like every Intel chip ever, it's made with a precision that defies belief. Heavy and solid feeling, with no visible manufacturing defects or lines. The i5-4690 is basically a second-gen architecture as of the time of this writing, using the most current of techniques, so it strikes a nice balance. Anecdotally, it performs better than the i7 series in some regards though it doesn't compete in terms of raw power under the hood. It handles overclocking very well; I'm currently OC'd at about 30% over stock, and while I've been able to push it to 4.7 or 4.8 ghz, that's when it starts to come off the rails for me a bit. It's been very stable at 4.6ghz for me and my water-cooled system with 3 radiators keeps it at a balmy 40c under full load. PerformanceTest rated this under load's CPU Mark as slightly better than an i7-3720, though well below the 5820K, with a total result of 9658.

The Bad: Not so much a bad as a limitation, over 4.6 ghz this CPU is prone to load errors and starts crashing unexpectedly.

Improvements: Way outside of my baliwick, so no improvements to mention.

TL;DR: A bit better than an i7 in a select few fields, though not as powerful overall; still, it overclocks like a champ and the price is well worth bumping down from the i7 for anything less than the most demanding of performance hunters, and it's very OC friendly.

One person found this helpful

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Steven

Best performance for the price

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

Amazingly fast and powerful. Best performance for the price. As a first time builder, I got this processor for a gaming oriented PC. Like many other first time builders, I was doubtful of the i5 4690k and was keen on getting the more powerful i7 4790k. In the end, I settled for the i5 as it was the best and highly recommended over the i7 for gaming purposes. I am very happy that I made this choice as this processor is not only more than enough for gaming but is also very capable at multi-tasking. I was also looking to overclock and this is just a brutally powerful overclocker and handles temperatures well. Pair this with a powerful graphics card and you have a beast gaming PC to handle any game thrown at it.

If you're looking to build a gaming PC, you should definitely choose this processor. I highly recommend getting an aftermarket cooler either air or liquid cooling for overclocking. Overall, the i5 4690k is not to be underestimated and overlooked. Enjoy.

My PC Specs:
Intel i5-4690k
MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard
Corsair H105 Liquid Cooler
AMD R9 290 4GB
Kingston HyperX Beast 8gb
Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD
Western Digital Blue 1TB HDD
Corsair ax 760

Helpful

Mays88

Phhh.... Even after 2 years it is still kicking ass.

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

This CPU is maybe one one the best mid-range CPU to date, even after 2 years. Goodbye, rare i3-4170. I will miss you...

For gaming? Jest what it say's, 4 cores, 4 threads, default clock at 3.5GHz and boost all the way up to 4.1GHz, all 4 cores by some overclocking.
Even without the overclocking it can run the modern games well. Even pair up with the high end GPU's today's and you have a amazing setup.
But if you going to do that I will get a much more bigger PSU for wattage power and some cooling solutions too. It will get very hot under heavy load.

For work purposes?
Well, for like Microsoft PowerPoint or Word then it will run flawlessly. Light video editing? Runs very well. Light, medium and somewhat heavy applications for working should be fine.
But if you want to do an extreme programs like rendering photos at a very high resolution or compressing long videos then I will look foward to an Haswell i7... If you have a 1150 socket motherboard of course. Yea, you can do it with this processor but it's on the "minimum" requirements specs.

For the price it's alright... The average price price for these processors is 230 USD - 240 USD. Same as the i5 - 6600K for the new skylake processor that is similar as the 4690K. Which is the 6600K is a bit more faster the 4690K if you look up some benchmarks for the two CPU's.
But maybe the price will lower by the end of this year. Maybe...

-If you want to upgrade to an i5 and you have an 1150 socket motherboard, get this processor along with a good CPU heat-sink.
-Building a mid to high end gaming PC that is under 800 - 1,000 USD, get this processor along with a good CPU heat-sink.
-Have a work station that can support haswell's CPU's but the station have an i3 in it and want to upgrade but without spending too much money,
Get this CPU... And maybe a heat sink if you want to overclock.

There is still some life left for this little guy, thanks Intel!

4 people found this helpful

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This Guy

Great processor at a reasonable price.

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

ADVICE: For those unfamiliar with these heat sink fans, if you need to remove them after installation, you must twist each of the securing pins in a certain direction to release the lock. If you look closely on the top of each pin, it will show you which way to rotate them.

What can I say, its a processor. I haven't had a chance to overclock it yet, but I'm sure from all the reviews I've read that it'll perform marvelously. The only con worthy of note is that the thermal paste is pretty underwhelming and so is the heat sink. Would definitely recommend upgrading both if you decide to overclock.

About a week into this build and everything has worked without a hiccup thus far. Would suggest to friends.

My build:
Case: NZXT Noctic 450 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VX1L31K
Motherboard: MSI Z97A Gaming 6 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W7FE5HA
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690K http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KPRWB9G
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro (2 x 8gb) 2400MHz http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EUPV2RQ
Graphics: MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0GEXQ
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKDETOW
Solid State Drive: Samsung 500gb http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OBRE5UE
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Cherry Browns http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IYJD5CY

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Very happy | Game Comparisons w/ 750 ti vs A8 6500 + Temps while playing ArmA 3

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

Old Specs:
A8 6500 3.5 GHz
8 GB RAM
GTX 750 Ti
New:
i5 4690k (only thing that changed other than mobo)

I put it in my new motherboard and was slightly wary at how it sounded when I was pushing down the metal piece to keep it in place. It required a lot lot more force than expected.
ArmA 3 Before: 20 fps with ultra preset, with AA and blur/bloom junk and terrain low and view distance to 1000 about 30-40 fps.
ArmA 3 After: 30-40 FPS ultra, with with AA and blur junk turned off view distance at 2400 30-60 fps, with said before and terrain low 40-70 fps.
Dungeon Defenders before: 4 player split screen textures high post proc off (on Lab Assault) 12-25 fps
Dungeon Defenders after: 4 player split screen textures high post proc on (had no effect on fps but did before) (on Lab Assault) 40-62 fps (caps at 62)
Skyrim before: Ultra preset 30 fps
Skyrim after: Ultra preset 60 fps
Combat Arms before (bad/no multicore support so core 1 100%): 150-250
Combat Arms After (Some how distributed between 2 cores at 70% each O.o): 300-600 fps. Had to force the game to use core 3 and 4 because my mouse was lagging and stuttering all over...

ArmA 3 temps w/stock & NZXT 210 Elite: 59C for about 20 minutes of playing

Overall very satisfied with it. It was well worth the money. Will most likely overclock it when I get my heat sink.

One person found this helpful

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Christian Gillis

Handles gaming well even years after release

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

I recently built a new gaming machine, and decided to save myself the price of good DDR4 and opted to go with a haswell-based CPU, as to be able to continue using the DDR3 from my previous build. I'll list off my previous build's specs first, built in 2014 on a strict budget:
-AMD fx6300
-GTX 750ti
-8 GB corsair vengence
-750w Rosewill PSU
-970A MSI Board
-250 GB Samsung EVO ssd
This rig ran well for me for awhile, but I noticed on even less demanding titles I had to compromise in terms of settings.
So, this year with a slightly more beefy budget, I jumped to team blue, and don't plan on looking back unless ZEN can really blow me away.
Current rig:
-i5 4690K
-GTX 1060, 6GB Asus Turbo edition
-8GB DDR3
-z97 MSI motherboard
-250 GB Samsong EVO SSD
-1 TB Seagate drive for additional storage

Boy, to say I was blown away by the upgrade would be an understatement. The 4690K overclocks beautifully, and even at stock far outperforms my previous set-up. Doom on max settings runs buttery smooth, and while I'm aware that that's much more GPU dependent, the 4690K plays a big part in those playable framerates, for which I'm thankful. That being said, for most people I'd recommend the 6600K, this CPU's skylake counterpart. However if you're upgrading a haswell set-up, or simply wanna avoid the cost of DDR4, this CPU is the king of price/performence.

One person found this helpful

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c_sunday

Very nice processor!

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

I'm not going to spend too much time repeating what everyone else has. The processor is great. Coming from a laptop with 2.7Ghz Turbo, this this is amazingly fast. Even after accidentally touching part of the already applied thermal grease, I still get idle temps of 35 degrees C. Under full load it tops off at about 75 C with the stock cooler. The heatsink/fan in teh box is super easy to install.. you'll have to unwrap the fan wire from the clips, then you just rotate all the tabs to the right and click them into the board. No screwdriver needed. I have noticed if I leave the power management in windows to balanced, you will get better bursting out of this cpu if you are not overclocking. It indeed does clock to 3.85 in task manager, but under high performance mode it remains at a constant 3.65. Installation was easy and so far I have no had any problems. Until I get paid again I have been using integrated graphics. Minecraft works very well on fancy pushed as far as it will go. Warthunder gets 35 fps on medium, and Planetside2 gets good frames if it is set to potato quality. Would definitely recommend. You can't go wrong with Intel.

(Another side note, I installled mine in the Gigabyte GA-Z97M-DS3H motherboard with 2x 4GB Kingston Hyperx Fury ram, and had no issues at all.)

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J. Gilbert

I'd recommend this CPU to anyone looking to build a mid-range ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

13 people found this helpful

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Benjamin

More than enough!

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

It's been about a year since I've build my first computer (with the help of my buddy), and I figured it was time to review some of the parts that I had put into it. I did thorough research on what was compatible with each other and what would give me the most bang for my money, and I came across this build (which I have used daily since day 1):
Processor - I5-4690K
GPU -Geforce 960 GTX
MOBO - ASUS Sabertooth Mark II
Cooling - Corsair LED fans (for case), Noctua NH-U12
Tower - Phanteks Enthroo Pro Full Tower
Power Supply - XFX PS750W
Windows 8
Samsung 120GB SSD

I am a full time college student year around and a casual gamer..with that said, I needed a rig that could easily multitask multiple websites/programs for homework, and when it came to gaming, I played games like Rome: TW, World of Tanks, World of Warships, TF2, and even some newer, higher end games (especially Witcher 3) - I play everything on max settings possible, and this thing doesn't even hiccup whatsoever.

As for the processor part of the review, this thing is an absolute beast and has served my needs more than enough without any need for overclocking (which I know this is capable of). The ONLY thing I recommend is getting rid of the stock fan right away and replacing it with either a higher end air cooling (like what I have), or with some liquid cooling, otherwise you can expect this thing to get very, very hot (therefore significantly reducing it's actual lifespan, and possibly causing damage to other surrounding parts/systems).
Get this processor, you won't regret it.

One person found this helpful

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