This summer I'll be starting a job and normally have around $135 to spend each week. I was looking at buying a new CPU and Motherboard to replace my AMD FX8350.

I was going to buy the i7 6700k, but then I saw they have a 7700k. The difference is only $20 so I was wondering if there is any major performance gain from the 7700k?

If you're not ready to buy right this second, then you might as well wait for Intel's next couple releases, due out over the course of the next few months.  Depending on your budget you might want to look at the upcoming X series of chips.  If you're not planning on spending a lot then it would be wise to wait for the "Coffee Lake" 8 series of chips to see what they have to offer.  Intel is saying these chips will be up to 30% faster than Kaby Lake but this may only be due to an increase in core count from 4 to 6 at the top end of the product lineup.  If there are no architectural enhancements for Coffee Lake *or* you don't plan on overclocking, chances are Kaby Lake (7 series e.g. 7700k) chips will end up being your best bet.  

Hope that all makes sense.

It would most likely be a few (4-5) weeks before I bought anything, and I was going with the 7700k because I am tired of getting 20 frames at LAX and I just wanted to go all out. If the X series of chips come out I'll take a look at those aswell.

With high enough settings you can still see 20 FPS (or lower) in the most demanding scenarios, even with a "golden sample" 7700k like I own which runs at 5.2GHz.  At least, in FSX (SE) this is true.  I haven't tried P3D v4 yet as I haven't been able to purchase it due to an extended period of unemployment which is, thankfully, ending next week.  Users are reporting better FPS with P3D v4 so a 7700k in the 5GHz range may well be enough for just about anything you can throw at it.

i have some close friends/pilots that are running the 7700k at stock 4.2 ghz with a 1080gtx and are pretty happy with the results ..

On 6/18/2017 at 10:11 PM, rtodepart said:

i have some close friends/pilots that are running the 7700k at stock 4.2 ghz with a 1080gtx and are pretty happy with the results ..

Hmm... I'm planning a new build and I really wonder if I really need to OC, at least for for DCS World where even my ancient Q9650 system gives me decent FPS. Of course X-plane and P3D may be a different story (had enough of FSX).

I think I'll go the extra mile for 7700k, it will last for a while.