schnmich said:
First off, thanks for answering!
I have a few questions. Given the new software from Nvidia/Mantle will we see games being fully threaded in say 9-12months time?
Gaming aside, I do a lot of design work on dual monitors, would an i7 be better at helping me handle the multiple files, multiple open programs, etc?
I've always had Nvidia's, but I've heard ATI's drivers are often faulty/incompatible and not readily fixed. Will these R7-R9's be a drastic increase to what's available?
Side question: When would be a good time to purchase these core components?
Thanks again!
1) mantle has nothing to do with multithreading, and nothing nvidia is putting out will help either. Mantle is a basecode programming thing meant to replace directx and give radeon gpus in the 7xxx family and later a significant boost in performance. Its similar to the programming codes the new console makers are using to program for the radeon gpus/apus in the new xb1 and ps4.
~ its the 8 cored AMD APUs in the heart of the new gaming consoles which will spur on more titles to be truly multithreaded.
2) an i7 will help, a little. understand programs have to be multithreaded AND written specifically to take advantage of hyperthreading. Its not the same thing as an actual extra core, it's just advanced scheduling which allows a core which doesn't have a full workload in a cycle add on a little something else. There was a time, when intel actually claimed hyperthreaded cpus were dual cored, but as anyone can see the gains from hyperthreading are minimal at best. In an ideal situation with an ideal program it can show a 30% gain in performance (very rare, i think i've only seen that in generic benches, not in actual real world programs). Generally speaking though, when it comes down to it, hyperthreading can hurt performance by as much as 5% and help it by as much as 25%...
-There is a reason why an actual 8 cored AMD cpu with 40% slower cores can pace an hyperthreaded i7 in multithreaded titles. Its because hyperthreading doesn't come close to a full core's performance.
-The short answer is, i don't see the point to an i7... unless you're getting an extreme edition one with 6 actual cores. And even then you're paying a heavy premium for only modest gains in multithreaded performance.
3) I owned an nvidia 9800gs for a while, the driver support was so good i was a little worried about going back to a radeon especially with the horror stories out there. The CGN architecture is quite mature now, and the driver support has been excellent. My 7770 has been as reliable as the 9800gs. I wouldn't argue with the assertion that radeons have had poor driver support for a bit. they still have issues with business drivers, and they haven't finished their work on the frame pacing issues in xfire. But in a single card configuration with a gaming graphics card running games they're about as dependable as nvidia.
4) when the price is right? as i said, i would wait to see what the new radeon gpus do to the price of the market before getting the gpu. I'm not telling you to get one of the new radeons, only to wait and see what it does to the price of everything else. I highly suspect the gpu you're looking at will come down in price when it comes out.