How good does a CPU have to be?

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nyxanna

nyxanna

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Apr 16, 2011
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Hi everyone,

I know a little bit about GPUs and which GPUs can run games well or not but I have no idea at all when it comes to CPus. I see some very expensive ones and some that are more affordable but I don't know the difference in performance and if the performance is even needed since most games require mostly GPU power.

1. I have a Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.07GHz. I bought it years ago. When I look on new CPUs I see that they're i5. What does it mean? Is my CPU good? Or much worse than the newer ones?

2. I want to buy a new CPU and like I said, I don't know how good it has to be. I'm looking at these ones.
a) Intel Core i5 4570 @ £157
b) Intel Core i5 4670 @ £184
c) Intel Core i7 4770K @ £259

Obviously I'd rather buy a cheaper one but I want to make sure that the CPU can run games at full details. Is that realistic? DA Inquisition is coming out in a year and I'd love to be able to run it at maximum details. I understand some people here don't know it. It's not possible yet to know what the system requirements will be but it'll be on consoles as well so it can't be that high.

Which CPU should I get? Are there other ones that I should be buying instead? Which one is the most future proof?
 
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Roland Of Gilead
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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Aug 8, 2008
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Well your I7 950 is a decent cpu, and with a little overclock will still be good for gaming, an driving most high end GPU's out there.

Those other chips are good chips, and yes they will be provide all one would need for gaming. But your own CPU isn't that far off. I wouldn't necessarily get a new Mobo/CPU to upgrade when what you have already is not that far behind. Now one of those chips would be a more appropriate upgrade for me with my 5 year old system. But for you, not really. Most I5/I7 Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge/ Haswell roughly perform within 10 % of each other, so the latest and greatest isn't always going to get a huge leap in performance.


edit: I7 top tier processors (they include more threads - hyper threading)
I5 midrange processors
I3 Entry level.

I7 is only top tier because of the Hyperthreading.
I5 performs the same (specialy in games) but has not hyperthreading. So in threaded apps he I7 will be slightly better, but not always.
I3 mostly dual cores, some with Hyperthreading, some not.
 
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cappo619

cappo619

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First gen i3/i5/i7 I skimped out and got an i5 750, this time around I am upgrading to an i7 4770k, even if I don't use it's full power, I will eventually.

I hear the i5 4670k is a top one for gaming.
 
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nyxanna

nyxanna

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I know that I need to check the socket but I knew already which mainboard I would have bought!

Just one question. If I decide to buy a cooler for this CPU and overclock it, will I be able to use it on the new CPU as well? Or do coolers depend on sockets as well?

Someone recommended me this cooler for the mainboard I was going to buy which was the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. It seems to be a 1150 socket, right?
The cooler is this one:
EKL Alpenföhn Himalaya
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpenf%C3%B6hn-Himalaya-Socket-1156-1155/dp/B005FYEH9Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

On this amazon page it says that it supports the sockets: 775/ 1156/ 1155/ 1366/ AM3(+)/ AM2(+)/ FM1
I don't see any 1150 there at all, so it won't work on this mainboard?
My CPU is the i7 950 and google tells me it works on a FCLGA1366 socket. I simply assume that it is supported by the cooler since it says 1366. Is it correct?
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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That cooler will work for your current motherboard/CPU. It appears to be a universal CPU cooler (working for both AMD and Intel CPUs), so I expect that the manufacturer simply has not updated the product description to include the new socket 1150.

-Wolf sends
 
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C

chriss000

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intel describe there chips thus;

i7 5 stars
i5 4 stars
i3 3 stars
pentium 2 stars
celeron 1 star.

your cpu will be acceptable for games for a good while yet.
It will be a when you just feel its not playing smooth enough for you.
 
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