I want to know what people think is the best processor currently for gaming within a price range of £300. I've looked around and found the i7 4790k and the i7 6700k to be some of the best. But today i found the i5 6600k which is a lot cheaper and seems to average around the same performance. I was wondering what you would recommend preferably intel processor for 1440p/1080p gaming. I will be pairing it with either a gtx 970 or 980 as well. Thanks, any recommendations help!
Best Processor For Gaming Currently?
- Thread starter JackBFC7
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Onefurrybanana
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- May 13, 2015
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I would take the 6600k since games don't use hyperthreading the i7's tend to be a waste of money for gaming.
- Aug 23, 2011
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i5 6600k at those settings "1080p and 1440p' is a great option, anything more than that gains you nothing worth the extra Cash, it will have no issues at all with SLI or even going a much higher Resolution.
Ecky
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- Feb 3, 2013
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An i7 can be significantly faster than an i5 in some situations, but what is "good enough" will vary from person to person. With the games I play, an i3 6100 would be plenty.
I'd argue that the i7 is a better buy, simply because CPUs depreciate in value and go obsolete so slowly these days that it's worth spending a little extra on something that's likely to be useful for a bare minimum of 4 years, possibly a lot longer. If you don't need the extra performance, it's not entirely money wasted, as that chip is likely to still hold significant value in a few years.
I don't think either i5 or i7 is a bad choice, but I'd go with Skylake over Haswell unless you already have DDR3 and a socket 1150 motherboard laying around.
I'd argue that the i7 is a better buy, simply because CPUs depreciate in value and go obsolete so slowly these days that it's worth spending a little extra on something that's likely to be useful for a bare minimum of 4 years, possibly a lot longer. If you don't need the extra performance, it's not entirely money wasted, as that chip is likely to still hold significant value in a few years.
I don't think either i5 or i7 is a bad choice, but I'd go with Skylake over Haswell unless you already have DDR3 and a socket 1150 motherboard laying around.
- May 27, 2010
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i7-4790k still wins out of the box performance I believe. After overclocking the 6700k and 4790k come quite close in terms of performance. i5-4690k or i5-6600k are the choice of gamers, that extra $100 can go straight into the GPU. But all you really need is a recent i5 and you can handle any single GPU quite easily.
If you are going for an extreme system with more than two GPUs, then you really should look into the X99 platform.
6600k and a 970 would make a good 1080p ultra system. Could also argue for an R9-390 or R9-390X.
If you are going for an extreme system with more than two GPUs, then you really should look into the X99 platform.
6600k and a 970 would make a good 1080p ultra system. Could also argue for an R9-390 or R9-390X.
- Aug 23, 2011
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Average yes it will. I'm running a I5-4690K @4.5ghz + 970 GTX and a i7 3930K @4.8ghz + 970 GTX and they both Average 60 FPS @1080p in Custom "High" Settings. There are some effects I turn off just because I find them annoying and distracting.
Ecky
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- Feb 3, 2013
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For a single 980? Should be fine.
GTX980 has a TDP of 165w, probably higher for factory overclocked parts
i5 6600K has a TDP of 91w
Rest of the system might add up to 50w
Total, you're still only at 300w under load, which a quality 500w unit should be able to supply for years. Mild overclocking isn't going to change the story much.
GTX980 has a TDP of 165w, probably higher for factory overclocked parts
i5 6600K has a TDP of 91w
Rest of the system might add up to 50w
Total, you're still only at 300w under load, which a quality 500w unit should be able to supply for years. Mild overclocking isn't going to change the story much.
- Aug 23, 2011
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That depends on the Power Supply, a good quality 500W will do you fine. If your running a cheap unit then that could be a issue as they tend to degrade faster. All power supply's weaken as they get older but cheap ones drop at a amazing rate if they manage to not blow at all. I have seen 3 year old cheap units output only 50% of their rating but still manage to work, these where not being used in a real taxing machine like you find in Gaming.
Ecky
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The i5 will probably be fine, especially since you're going with a single nVidia card - AMD's drivers are heavier on the CPU, and SLI/Crossfire is much heavier on the CPU, too. There's an argument to be made for an i7 since at that point, the cost difference is so small compared to the total cost of your build, but I think you'll be happy with the i5's performance.
With a Titan X or 980Ti you might want to start thinking about a larger PSU, especially if the one you have is old, but a newish, high quality 500w should be *enough* for either of those cards, though it won't have a lot of breathing room.
With a Titan X or 980Ti you might want to start thinking about a larger PSU, especially if the one you have is old, but a newish, high quality 500w should be *enough* for either of those cards, though it won't have a lot of breathing room.
st3v30
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- Nov 1, 2014
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Well in about 2-3 months new cards form NVIDIA will come out.Also DX12 is trying to find way into gaming market so that will help allot with CPU bottleneck,but no1 can tell how well will be DX12 adopted and for that we will need to wait year or two to see true fruits of DX12.
If you are not in hurry I advise you to wait for new GPU's to come out and then do the shopping.
If you are not in hurry I advise you to wait for new GPU's to come out and then do the shopping.
- May 27, 2010
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I wouldn't say most. You have to think about who those people are and why they are posting videos. They are the enthusiasts and they like PC hardware, so they will want the best. On top of that they are creating and editing videos, which is something the hyperthreading on the i7 is useful for. Allows for more multitasking so they can play/record/stream all at once.
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