Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Pros: Very fast, very efficient, best mainstream CPU Cons: Massive shortage, price If you're looking to build a computer right now, then the 6700k along with the Z170 chipset are the best mainstream components you can get right now. The 6700k is an excellent processor and outperforms its predecessors. Combined with a Z170 motherboard, this CPU can be overclocked to well over 4.5 GHz. If you're shopping around for CPUs, you probably have done the research and already know about the 6700k, so there's no need to reiterate the reviews. Intel's suggested price for the 6700k is $350, but you will not find anything near that price right now (December 2015) because there is a huge shortage in supply. I don't expect supply to catch up to demand until at least the end of January or beginning of February 2016. Don't pay too much for the CPU; even though it's the latest and greatest, it doesn't make sense to pay $400+ when you can get a Haswell-E for the same price. Just wait a few months for the supply to catch up again or if you want, wait until Q2 of 2016 for the Broadwell-E chips. I built an ITX machine with this and the Gigabyte Z170N Gaming 5 mobo, and it's been serving me well. It runs quiet and cool, and is very power efficient. It's just a secondary machine right now, but I'll probably convert it to a home media/streaming PC pretty soon. Note that this processor doesn't come with a stock heatsink so you need to get your own cooling solution. This isn't really a con, since a stock heatsink wouldn't be enough for it anyway. If you can get it for $350, then it's a great deal, shortage or not. It's hard to compare CPU prices nowadays since AMD processors have not been competitive for a long time. Intel can pretty much price these however they want, but the good thing is it's not overpriced by any means. For most builders, the 6700k is sufficient. If you're looking to build a high-end X99 system, then obviously this isn't the processor for you. Either get the 5930k or wait for the Broadwell-E in 2016. If you want a system purely for gaming, then this processor is a bit of an overkill - get the i5 6600k instead and spend the money on a nicer graphics card. Thoughts on whether or not to upgrade: If you're still using a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processor, then I think it's worth upgrading. You can check many benchmarks online, but you can expect a 30-40% improvement on some applications, and the power consumption improvement might be worth it. If you're using Haswell or Broadwell, then I don't think it's worth it. There is a very slight performance improvement, but I would save money and wait until Intel releases Kaby Lake processors sometime in 2016. If you're using anything older (like Core 2), then Skylake and Z170 is a worthy upgrade.