I5 processor vs i7?

[jbarrows]

Hey everyone, just have a random question that id lke to throw out there that im curious about, is an i5 processor better for gaming than an i7? because thats what everyone is telling me, but im thinking soon the i5 wont be able to run as smooth with the upcoming games that are coming out holiday season. So would it be worth it to spend the extra money for an i7?

 

[HEXiT]

there not actually better cpu's just better value. as theres no noticeable difference in game performance when you get to 2500k or a 3570k and test it against the 3930k with the same single gfx car setup. adding more cards may show a slight improvement with the more pci lanes offered on the i7 but its not a huge amount..
when the 780 and 790 arrive next year you may start to see a difference but its still debatable whether it will warrant the increase in price as it may only be in the area of 3-5% on a dual card setup.
maybe there will be a jump when you get to 3 and 4 cards... but again debatable as gpu's dont seem to scale very well when more than 2 are used regardless of pci-e bandwidth and lane allocation.

i see a lot of people saying they got there 3930ks and gtx 680's 2 for this or that reason but not for gaming... excuses come up regularly are, i got the 680 because i couldn't afford a quadro.
yeah rite a quadro for the same price is much more versatile than a gtx 680 just not for games.
or
oh its for work!...
but if that was the case then they would have gotten 2 gtx 570's to get more performance for less money so thats a cop out 2.
they got em because they didnt do there research or didnt believe it when told of people who knew that there would be little to no real benefit in gaming.

1 guy a i know wasted 3 grand on pre built 3930k, gtx 680, 16gig+ setup and claimed it was for uni, and mechanical engineering... yet he spends most of his time playing bf3 or future soldier... sad i know... but some people dont listen and dont take good advice so have to learn by hard lessons... and his will come when he cant get a mechanical engineering job because he failed his exams and has to pay back his loans.

moto of the story. when your told theres no appreciable difference by sum1 who knows better than you. take what he says on board and then go look yourself...

 

[Supernova1138]

The only real differences between i5 and i7 on desktop is hyperthreading, slightly larger L3 cache, and slightly higher stock clock speeds. None of these factors make any real difference in gaming. Virtually no games can use more than 4 threads, and the few that do don't see any really significant gain with an i7. The extra L3 cache also doesn't benefit games. As for the higher clock speeds, if you have the k model CPUs, you just have to slightly bump up the multiplier on the i5, and you match the i7 in gaming.

The i7s are really meant for productivity software that is programmed to make effective use of more than 4 threads. Most games still only use 2 threads, very, very few titles can use more than 4 threads. This state of affairs is likely to continue until the next console generation at least. As such, there isn't much point in spending the extra $100 for an i7 over an i5 if all you're doing is gaming. That $100 would be better spent on a better graphics card if you want better gaming performance, or an SSD if you want a snappier, more responsive system.

 

[jbarrows]

you guys really made it clear on what processor i will be getting on my rig soon, i really appreciate it! and yeah this desktop will mainly be used for gaming...i have an ltrabook that will be doing most of the work(college student in 1 1/2 months)

 

[casualcolors]

there not actually better cpu's just better value. as theres no noticeable difference in game performance when you get to 2500k or a 3570k and test it against the 3930k with the same single gfx car setup. adding more cards may show a slight improvement with the more pci lanes offered on the i7 but its not a huge amount..
when the 780 and 790 arrive next year you may start to see a difference but its still debatable whether it will warrant the increase in price as it may only be in the area of 3-5% on a dual card setup.
maybe there will be a jump when you get to 3 and 4 cards... but again debatable as gpu's dont seem to scale very well when more than 2 are used regardless of pci-e bandwidth and lane allocation.

i see a lot of people saying they got there 3930ks and gtx 680's 2 for this or that reason but not for gaming... excuses come up regularly are, i got the 680 because i couldn't afford a quadro.
yeah rite a quadro for the same price is much more versatile than a gtx 680 just not for games.
or
oh its for work!...
but if that was the case then they would have gotten 2 gtx 570's to get more performance for less money so thats a cop out 2.
they got em because they didnt do there research or didnt believe it when told of people who knew that there would be little to no real benefit in gaming.

1 guy a i know wasted 3 grand on pre built 3930k, gtx 680, 16gig+ setup and claimed it was for uni, and mechanical engineering... yet he spends most of his time playing bf3 or future soldier... sad i know... but some people dont listen and dont take good advice so have to learn by hard lessons... and his will come when he cant get a mechanical engineering job because he failed his exams and has to pay back his loans.

moto of the story. when your told theres no appreciable difference by sum1 who knows better than you. take what he says on board and then go look yourself...

This post should be stickied and be required reading on the forum.

 

[arisgoku2]

An i5 is very sufficient for gaming, any extra bucks should be spend on the gpu. If you are in the video, image editing, or designing, architectural and/or engineering design then an i7 is the only way to go