i7 or i5

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

Okay, so I've posted about this alot, but someone keeps choosing a "best answer" and that stops the thread. I would like to get as many opinions as i can.

At the moment I have
CPU- i5 4670k
Cooler- H60
Ram- 16 gigs of 1866mhz vengeance ram
Gpu- 760gtx 2gb
Mobo- z87mx-u3h
Psu- corsair cx750m

I'm constantly hearing about how all the new high power games (which I like to play) are all being optimized (and will be even more optimized) for 4+ cores such as bf4. Apparently thid is because AMD now is running the console systems. As a result it is only sensible that developers will build for these multicores and such. I only recently became bought the i5 but the future proof-ness of the i7 is tempting me to buy that and simply try to resell my i5. I want to avoid doing a major upgrade in the future. So my question is, should I just go all out now and buy the i7, ssd, etc or should I just sit with what I have? I'm playing at 1080p, but I may upgrade later. I'd like to get as many opinions as I can. Thanks everyone.

sosofm · Dec 28, 2013

Its verry good what you have. If you want a faster boot you can buy an SSD and install the OS on SSD.

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

I can see you have the i7. When you bought that, I'm assuming u got it because of the greater power over an i5. Basically, is it worth it to buy the i7 and hope someone will want the i5? Is the future proofing worth it

whitecat · Dec 28, 2013

PS 4 and the new XBox are of the kind :8 cores at 1.6GHz and Radeon HD 7790 ,8GB RAM .So if you had 4 cores running at double speed but 2x less cores , would make. no difference . .

mc962 · Dec 28, 2013

With a little more searching you will find posts on this forum countering the idea that you need an i7 for future games. Im not going to find it for you, but the basic summary is something along the lines of: games arent often written to take advantage of hyperthreading and that the hardware in consoles is a very underpowered version (so yes, there is an 8 core cpu in new consoles, but it isnt as fast as what you would find in a desktop such as you 4670k). So no, getting an i7 probably isnt worth it unless you have some other use for hyperthreading such as video editing

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

Battlefield 4 is apparently set to use as many cores as possible. As AMD dominates consoles, (they are 8 cores, weak, but 8 none the less) the extra threads of the i7 would allow me to keep it longer than the i5?

fyi, when I play games, (especially bf4) I'm running Skype, steam, origin, and sometimes Spotify...

sosofm · Dec 28, 2013

@xxvolwarexx i have I7 because at that time when i maked my PC i had the money and i was a little stupid. In gaming is not much better than I5.

EvgaLover · Dec 28, 2013

if you're not streaming then go for i5. I7 is good for streaming because you have the hyperthreadning

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

Will I be able to hold on to the i5 for a few years? I'm want to hold of on upgrading anything (except the gpu) for at LEAST a year

Tradesman1 · Dec 28, 2013

Side note - If you have an active thread that you opened and someone selects a Best Answer, let a Moderator know, could be someone gaming the system - and it is your thread, should be up to you to decide if your question is answered

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

I just see the i7 as a longer lasting option. When I look at people who are JUST looking to upgrade after a long time, its from a i7.

sosofm · Dec 28, 2013

For 1-2 years your gaming PC is verry good. You don't need any upgrade in the near future , except maybe your video card.

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

An i7 4770k would have more gaming life in assuming, correct?

mc962 · Dec 28, 2013

It wouldnt have less life. But both 4670k and 4770k are great processors. I just don't think that the $70 cost difference is worth it as I don't think you will see as big a benefit as you are expecting.

If you are fine with spending an extra $70 on the processor instead of putting it towards something like a gpu, then it's your money. But if you are on a tighter budget then I would recommend spending that money on something other than the cpu, the 4670k is more than enough for most gaming uses.

See this forum post, it looks interesting:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/366813-28-hyperthreading-gaming

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

Okay, I think I'm mostly convinced that the i5 is better for MY uses. I only have 2 questions 1- people all over seem to say the i5 is the best for gaming, yet they buy an i7 (PC part picker, oc.net, tomshardware, etc)... 2- if I want to increase gaming performance, should I upgrade CPU (I'm slowly believing that the i5 is fine) add another 760 for sli, or just sell my gpu and buy a more powerful one?

mc962 · Dec 28, 2013

Go for the gpu upgrades, that's usually what will give you the best performance. People probably buy the i7 because they either want to feel more comfortable with their purchase and, most importantly they have the money to do so; or they are doing something else cpu intensive that benefits from hyperthreading like video editing.

While there are games that really chew up the cpu, they are also big with the gpu. The 4670k is a great cpu and, as decided above, is perfect for your needs. I would probably recommend sli if you already have a 760, but some might prefer just getting a card upgrade. If you havent built it yet then I would go for a single card upgrade now (so do something like gtx 770 now instead of 760) so that you will have a good sli option later. However, gtx 760 sli is still a decently powered option should you choose that

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

@mc962 Well I have already built this bad boy. What I'm picking up is games (even the ones that utilize tons of cores like battlefield 4) will be totally fine on the i5 4670k. I won't need to upgrade to i7 4770k because i5 will handle future games perfectly fine. So the real options I guess are add another 760 or a better single card. In terms of gaming, loudness, upgrade paths, and money, is having Sli for my 760s better than buying 1 770 or MAYBE a 780? And as I should have mentioned before, I DO have the money for an i7 or a higher end card.

whitecat · Dec 28, 2013

xxvolwarexx :

if i had your rig i would be pleased with it .if you upgrade to i7 4770k ,you ll get a gain of about 10% in games , now played . tha path of sli can get you in trouble with some games unplayable because of driver issues - drops of FPS to 3-4 frames. GTX 770 will give you a boost of 25% ,measured in FPS .

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

So the only really decent options are upgrade CPU (which I doubt I'll do) or buy a totally different card/better card to actually notice any real increase in games?

whitecat · Dec 28, 2013

770 is 25% faster than 760
780 is 48% faster than 760 , measured in FPS

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

@whitecat thanks for that btw. So is it worth while to go from a 760 to a 770? and I'm still torn between the i7 and the i5. I understand the i5 is good enough, but I don't want something that is just "good enough". I want to be able to be safe and sound with a CPU for a few years. Will I REALLY be okay with the new and future games on my i5, or is there some truth to the i7 securing me for a decent amount ot time

whitecat · Dec 28, 2013

xxvolwarexx :

as i mentioned above PS 4 and the new XBox are with 8 cores but clocked at about 1.6 GHz .i think the games will be written to match that .So , you wont need any upgrade of the cpu , since you have 4 cores but clocked at 3.4/3.8GHz.

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

BUT the weight of the CPU load is distributed onto the extra threads. If you look at some of the bf4 benchmarks, you see that the i7 gets more frames than the i5 with equal gpus. And in benchmarks, I see that the AMD fx 8350 is about equal to the i5 (but does slightly better in multicore optimized apps) but then the i7, with it's hyperthreading tears both CPUs apart (benchmark wise). So now I'm really confused xD

I also hear that because the i7 is technically 4 logical cores and the hyper threading only simulates extra cores, that AMD is actually better.

xxvolwarexx · Dec 28, 2013

Thanks for the help everyone! I think I'm just going to stick with what I have now until mainstream ddr4 and skylake (2015ish)

i7 or i5

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