I am in the process of upgrading my system.

I will be mostly playing games on a 1080p resolution with a GTX 1060 (6GB version) vga card.
The thing is... I plan on keeping my new PC for a long time (between 7 and 10 years). So I have no idea what the game requirements will be by then.

Do you guys recommend an i5 or an i7 cpu ? I know i7 supports hyper-threading but most games don't currently use that. However I am trying to get a future-proof cpu.

Also, is it true that Kaby Lake runs noticeably hotter than Skylake ?
i5 is more than enough for whatever games, unless you buy the very most expensive i7 at 1000$ the CPU alone you won't find a difference in fps
If you want to keep your PC for that long go for i7-6700, in DX12 and Vulkan even the threads of the i7 are used, and the future is mostly DX12 and Vulkan, personally I have an little bit old i5 4670k overclocked to 4.3Ghz, it will keep performing well for the next few years, my bet is maximum 3 years and then it will fall behind the latest titles.

I didn't mention the GTX1060 when talking about future because upgrading a GPU is far easier, selling it used and buying the latest one is much more simple than getting a new CPU / Board and maybe RAM
Get an i7 if you plan on keeping it that long.
Saying most games dont support it yet means it will become the norm in 1-2 years
Georges00 wroteGet an i7 if you plan on keeping it that long.
Saying most games dont support it yet means it will become the norm in 1-2 years
This is something people were saying for the last 10 years, but the days where i7 is really needed never came :)
Things changed, now PCs are like video game consoles, they rely on the GPU and Rams
7-10 years is a long time. Get an i7 if you can afford it.
vegetaleb wrote This is something people were saying for the last 10 years, but the days where i7 is really needed never came :)
Things changed, now PCs are like video game consoles, they rely on the GPU and Rams
No, PCs are still PCs. You still have operations that require extra processing power. It boils down to what you really want to do on your computer. If you only use it for light activities and gaming, a Corei5 is enough. Get the Corei7 if you do 3D rendering (Cinema4D, Maya, Max) or video rendering. Or even you're a power user that opens hundreds of files and apps at the same time.

But for the love of God, do not ever say a PC is like a video game console. Things like this can get you killed :)
MrClass wrote
vegetaleb wrote This is something people were saying for the last 10 years, but the days where i7 is really needed never came :)
Things changed, now PCs are like video game consoles, they rely on the GPU and Rams
No, PCs are still PCs. You still have operations that require extra processing power. It boils down to what you really want to do on your computer. If you only use it for light activities and gaming, a Corei5 is enough. Get the Corei7 if you do 3D rendering (Cinema4D, Maya, Max) or video rendering. Or even you're a power user that opens hundreds of files and apps at the same time.

But for the love of God, do not ever say a PC is like a video game console. Things like this can get you killed :)
He was asking in a video game point of view, of course 3D rendering for studios is completely different, but following his inquiry it's for a video game purpose
Don't plan on keeping the PC for 7 to 10 years, nothing can future proof for that long. But as others have said the best i7 is your best bet, the 6700k runs at 4.0GHZ and has a bigger L3 cache than any i5, it should hold out well for the next 4 years. There is nothing that can hold out 10 years, imagine right now you still using one of those 2006 intel pentium Ds... It's just junk, and it has been for the last 5 years at least.
10 years back we had Core2 family CPUs. I don't think they are usable nowadays. I'd say 7 years max. In enterprises computer assets lose value every year. By the 5th year, the asset value is zero.
user wroteDon't plan on keeping the PC for 7 to 10 years, nothing can future proof for that long. But as others have said the best i7 is your best bet, the 6700k runs at 4.0GHZ and has a bigger L3 cache than any i5, it should hold out well for the next 4 years. There is nothing that can hold out 10 years, imagine right now you still using one of those 2006 intel pentium Ds... It's just junk, and it has been for the last 5 years at least.
Technology has already taken huge leaps, the updates we're now seeing every year are considerably smaller and smaller every year. A 2016 i7 will still perform well in 2026.
Well, first of all, thanks for all the replies and opinions.
I have to agree with Salloum on this one. improvements are becoming less and less important. Even Intel had to abandon the "tic toc" pattern for a slower one.
Anyway I am not a heavy gamer and you would all be surprised to know I am still running a Core 2 Duo machine.
I will, however, go with the i7 instead of the i5 this time.
Well, there are talks of switching materials for the 7 nanometer(expected in 2021) so who knows. And also, it is not just about getting faster, it's also about supporting new things. CPUs did not natively support usb 3.1 until skylake(I think) the next generation will support optane ssd. And as more things and more protocols are invented, newer cpus will be made to support them.

Netflix came out saying something about not supporting 4k streaming except on Kabbylake cpus(not sure what that is about, I don't have netflix)
if you are on a budget, wait for AMD's next gen CPUs coming next month. there should be a quad core with SMT (i7 equivalent). for less than 200$
For reasonable price "future proofing" , nothing is future proofing but at least for the current state and couple of few years later , I always Recommend : i76700 + 1070 combination , if you watch some Joker Production Vidoes on Some a Titles an i7 seem to be more efficient for gaming, and do not belief the famous recommendation : for gaming always go for an i5 for the present and future status.