I5 or I7 for gaming?

zoxim951 · Sep 9, 2014

hello,
I need to make a decision about what CPU to take, right now i have i3 2100 which is garbage, but served me well.
my GPU is gtx 780 gigabyte, and RAM 8gig 1333mhz
now, i dont know if i should get the 4690 or 4790
if i get the 4690 ill get an ssd which i dont have, and the cpu will be great with my GPU.
but im thinking to get the I7 for futureproof.
i dont know which one, im thinking the I5 + 128gb ssd 840 evo
will the I7 will make a big difference?
P.S. im replacing my mobo so its not a different socket

thank you for your time and help, and sorry for bad english!

shaheer ahmad · Sep 9, 2014

oh man...ssd has no effect on gaming... go with a i7 one and choose"unlocked" cpu(4790k).
there is no such difference between i5 and i7 in gaming...

Karsten75 · Sep 9, 2014

The i7-4790 will not futureproof you any more than getting the i5-4690. DO that and get the SSD - but you will also need a new motherboard.

TheConsiderateIlliterate · Sep 9, 2014

I5 and the SSD. Once you go SSD you won't go back. The performance gains of the i7 over the i5 is pretty minimal in strictly gaming.

Powerbolt · Sep 9, 2014

shaheer ahmad :

SSD has an incredible effect on game load times. The i7, on the other hand, won't give much of an improvement over an i5 with respect to gaming.

Go with the i5/SSD combo. They'll be a great combination for your GTX 780.

logainofhades · Sep 9, 2014

Xeon 1231v3.

shaheer ahmad · Sep 9, 2014

Powerbolt :

sorry sir i was talking about fps.... combination of z97 chipset with i7 would also be great...but forgot about this i5 win

jitpublisher · Sep 9, 2014

The only difference in the i5 and the i7 is hyperthreading. The i7 is, the i5 is not. Hyperthreading won't help you for gaming. Hyperthreading will help with programs that can make use of it, like Photoshop, other design programs, or Video editing software.
If your main use is gaming, save some money and get the i5, if you do other productivity applications routinely, I would spend the extra and get an i7.

logainofhades · Sep 9, 2014

Hyperthreading helps in certain titles and that trend will continue.

Traciatim · Sep 9, 2014

logainofhades :

People have been saying stuff like that for over a decade now, we're still waiting for HT/MOAR COREZ! to be better. Why not just get what you know works now and by the time more cores or HT actually works properly for the money you pay for it you'd probably be ready for your next PC upgrade anyway.

logainofhades · Sep 9, 2014

Crysis 3, BF4, and Watch Dogs, are titles that do take advantage of hyperthreading. The trend is slow, but we are starting to finally see it. I normally recommend the Xeon 1231v3, because the price is $50 less than an i7 4770 for the same performance.

Littlesackninja · Sep 9, 2014

I have seen in curtain benchmarks that i7's SOMETIMES perform worse in SPECIFIC games, But as the above said get the i5.

jitpublisher · Sep 9, 2014

In some games, hyperthreading actually does have a small, negative impact. But, hey, if you have an i7 you can turn it off in the BIOS if you want. If you have an i5 though, you cant turn it on!

nikoli707 · Sep 9, 2014

if you have an i3-2100 just go get a boxed i5-2400 or similar. at 1080p high/ultra settings, there is virtually no gaming performance benefit after any quad core sandy bridge processor. you can probably find a still new in box i5-2400 for $140 +/-

we know you have an lga1155 socket, but your motherboard "might" accept an ivy bridge processor via a bios update. but without knowing your motherboard model, its hard to tell. in any case, i don't see the point in buying a new motherboard for haswell unless your going to get an unlocked processor/mobo combo and a decent cooler. otherwise just get a sandy bridge drop in i5 and either save your money or put the extra money toward a much larger ssd.

as far as the ssd, the crucial mx100 is better than the 840 evo, and almost always cheaper, so don't pay more for less.

4 core 4 thread benchmarks….
http://www.ocaholic.co.uk/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1158&page=6
4 core 8 thread benchmarks...
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1164&page=6
in arguably the most demanding game today, there is virtually no difference in a 3.3ghz 4c4t sandy bridge and a 4.5ghz 4c8t haswell.

Traciatim · Sep 9, 2014

logainofhades :

You mean like the watch dogs that performs exactly the same on an i5 and an i7?

http://www.techspot.com/review/827-watch-dogs-benchmarks/page5.html

Karsten75 · Sep 9, 2014

jitpublisher :

Actually, no. THat was true up to the Haswell Refresh, but with the Devil's Canyon CPUs, the i7 has a speed of about 400Mhz faster without overclock.

zoxim951 · Sep 9, 2014

thank you all guys!
i think ill go with the I5.
if the fps right now is above 60, and 3 titles like watch dogs and crysis 3 not worth getting an I7.
Ill get the 4690 and B85M-D2V and a 128GB SSD 840 EVO

thank you very much!

logainofhades · Sep 10, 2014

Traciatim :

No, where a 6 core i7 beats an i5 and an FX 8350. Watch dogs responds to more threads.

nikoli707 · Sep 10, 2014

a console port, especially an extremely poorly coded and bad quality game like watchdogs, is definitely not indicative of pc gaming in any way, shape, or form.

Traciatim · Sep 10, 2014

logainofhades :

The comment was on hyperthreading, not more physical cores.

If you notice the i3 is a 4 thread processor (2 cores, hyperthreading) and you see how the i5 destroys it with a 4 core 4 thread processor? More actual cores works better, hyperthreading doesn't. Your link just proves my point further.

logainofhades · Sep 10, 2014

Your forget the i5 has twice the cache, of an i3, as well, which can have quite an effect on gaming performance. Hence why the FM2/FM2+ chips suck compared to their FX counterparts. The i5 has a good lead over the i3 in lightly threaded games, like Skyrim as well. A game known to only use two cores.

jitpublisher · Sep 10, 2014

Karsten75 :

Thanks for that clarification, but I actually wasn't thinking about clock speed, just the architecture of the processors. I would assume that 2 processors, all else being equal and set to work under the same circumstances, the one with a faster clock speed would be, well you know, faster.

Traciatim · Sep 11, 2014

logainofhades :

More likely it isn't the cache but instead the turbo puts the i5 to 3.8Ghz instead of 3.3Ghz of the i3, which is about 15% faster already when under load. It also has 4 physical cores instead of 2 with hyperthreading so it can spread out the work slightly better since the HT doesn't really help the i3 in games just as this whole discussion has pointed to right from the start and yet you still refuse to just admit facts.

logainofhades · Sep 11, 2014

Traciatim :

You better tell THG that Hyperthreading doesn't help the i3.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-3.html

Budget Gamer's Pick

Intel's Haswell-based CPUs are very capable in games, though we're increasingly seeing dual-core Pentiums lagging behind in our favorite titles. Conversely, benchmark data makes it clear that the company's Hyper-Threading technology is effective in helping improve the performance of Core i3 CPUs in those same blockbusters.

Traciatim · Sep 12, 2014

logainofhades :

So list the titles that it helps in and how much it helps vs the increase in price.

I5 or I7 for gaming?

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