How long will it be before an i7 is needed for gaming?

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Legolas8181

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Nov 18, 2013
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I am planning a PC build that will last at least 2 years before I have to change anything and am considering getting a GTX 980 over the 970 but should I also get an i7-4790K over an i5-4690K?
 
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Jacob McIntosh
If you have the money, a 980 and i7 would be the best bet, but I would recommend the i5-4690K and either a 970 or a 980. I don't foresee games utilizing hyperthreading within the next 2 years, and the i5 is an amazingly powerful chip to begin with. The 980 will offer a bit more performance in games, but the 970 is better price/performance. Again, it all depends on your budget. Any of the combinations is good, with the exception of an i7 with the 970, because you could get more performance for the same price with an i5 and the 980.
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Jacob McIntosh

Jacob McIntosh

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If you have the money, a 980 and i7 would be the best bet, but I would recommend the i5-4690K and either a 970 or a 980. I don't foresee games utilizing hyperthreading within the next 2 years, and the i5 is an amazingly powerful chip to begin with. The 980 will offer a bit more performance in games, but the 970 is better price/performance. Again, it all depends on your budget. Any of the combinations is good, with the exception of an i7 with the 970, because you could get more performance for the same price with an i5 and the 980.
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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You should probably update your profile (the one that appears when one hovers over your avatar, not your sig) which shows you as running an AMD rig... :)

However, your assertion that the i7-2600K will or has lasted longer than the corresponding Sandy Bridge i5-2500K is ludicrous. There is barely .1 GHz speed difference between the stock speed of the processors, both will overclock equally and the only notable difference is that the i7 permitted hyperhreading . And that only benefits applications and games that can exploit multi-tasking - of which there are precious few.


 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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I don't think there will ever be a time when an i7 is "needed" for gaming. Video cards are getting more powerful ever year. Gaming PCs are cheaper to build than they ever have been. That is a good thing for the companies that actually make the games. It doesn't benefit them to make the minimum requirements so high. They would lose out on a large percentage of sales if an i7 was required. Of course there will always be some exceptions, but for the most part, most games still only require a dual core cpu to run effectively. An i3 is still plenty strong enough for most games despite what many people believe.

 
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VenBaja

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When the OP talks about i7's being "needed" for gaming, I believe he's just referring to increased core/thread count being required for games. Technology moves forward and people will always have to upgrade and buy new hardware. More cores/threads may or may not become the norm, but people will still have to upgrade components just as often as they always have. Companies that make and sell games are not worried about people having to upgrade components to play them, as history has shown that people will upgrade to whatever is required to play the latest, greatest offerings.



 
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gamerk316

gamerk316

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There's a few, and it's becoming a bit more common, especially in Frostbite 3 and Cryengine 3 engine games. Those games do see a benefit from HTT. Is it worth spending more then about $20 on? No. But worth considering.
 
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gamerk316

gamerk316

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Depends on workload. Anything that doesn't need shared access to the ALU could theoretically gain 100% scaling with HTT. Like with CMT on AMD FX chips, its the shared resources which are the bottleneck; no need to share, and HTT can get perfect scaling.

BF4 in particular is one title that sees a noticeable benefit with HTT. Based on 4 hours of testing, I think DA:I does as well. HTT is better then not having it at all.
 
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