Not sure whether to upgrade cpu or stick with intel i3 4130 for gaming rig

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poloGTI

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Ive been thinking for a while about upgrading my cpu from the intel i3 4130 to perhaps a 4670k and try my hand at overclocking.
Im just wondering what kind of performance increase i can expect say if i was to buy the 4670k and overclock it.
My specs are.

. Intel i3 4130
. corsair ax 860i
. msi z87 g45
. corsair 8gb dominator platinum DDR3 1866MHz
. noctua c12p se14
. 128 ssd
. 1tb hdd
. sapphire r290x tri-x

if the increase will be well worth it then i will go for this, what are peoples thoughts?
also what would be a stable overclock i see people going to 4.6ghz


 
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geofelt

geofelt

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It mostly depends on the games you play.
Most can't use more than two cores.
Usually, faster cores are better than more cores.
A 4670 can usually be overclocked to 4.0, possibly more with a good chip.
The 4790k chips are hewer and have the same retail price so I would look for one of those first.
And... take the time to verify that your motherboard can support the cpu and what bios level you need.

Here is a back handed way to estimate your potential:
a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You could also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

 
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Pc6777

Pc6777

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geofelt

geofelt

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What are triple aa titles?
That is a new term to me.
There are some new games that will not run on 2 threads. But, a i3 actually runs them because hyperthreading gives 4 total threads.

I have heard some say that 8 cores will be required for future games.
I think that is FUD perpetuated by AMD.
Game developers want the largest possible market for their games.
No game developer will willingly undertake the extra cost to make their game multi core enabled and also require many cores to run.
They would not sell many games.
Most games today only use one or two cores.
Here is a set of tests on the effect of many cores on FPS:
http://www.dsogaming.com/editorial/report-despite-claims-most-pc-games-are-still-unable-to-take-advantage-of-more-than-4-cpu-cores/
The conclusion is that PC games are unable to take advantage of more than 4 cores.
There are a few exceptions, FSX is one.
It is more important that the cores be fast.
AMD hates that because their cores are much less efficient than intel's. Perhaps 30% slower per clock.
That is also a motivation for mantle, a technology that improves the efficiency of graphics drivers.
Mantle is most important for slow chips, but is irrelevant for $200 class intel cpu's.
Just because you see activity on windows task manager across all cores, do not assume your job is using all those threads.
What you are seeing is windows spreading the activity across all available threads.
Then there is "Amdahl's law" which limits how many threads can be useful, depending on the speed of the main thread.
 
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Pc6777

Pc6777

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some triple aa titles that use 4 or more cores are- watch dogs, ac unity, far cry 4, gta 5(when It comes out), crisis series, battlefield series(maybe not 1 and 2), newer cods, just to name a few... a lot of games use 4 ore more core, far cry 4 even requires 4 cores or a dual core with hyperthreading to even start!! and yes i3 will run them but an i5 or amd 8 core with 4 or 8 real corers will run them much better

 
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