How much does the cpu effect gaming?

[itchytoo]

Does the cpu actually effect gaming that much? I want to get the i7 3770k soon. I will be playing games at the maximum settings at 1080p. I will also be getting a gtx 670. How much will the cpu effect the games? Will I still be fine with a i7 3570k? I want to be playing at 50 fps+. I will be overclocking.

 

[birrdd123]

That i7 shouldnt have a problem with anything really. Many games dont use much CPU power to run. There are, however, some games that will use more CPU and bottleneck your graphics. In your case though, the 3770 wont bottleneck the 670, and you should be able to run pretty much anything at 50 FPS in 1080p.

 

[amuffin]

3570k will be a higher performer than the 3770k, this is because hyperthreading can interfere in gaming!

 

[birrdd123]

But the 3770 shouldnt have any problem with any games. And applications that use hyperthreading should perform better.

 

[amuffin]

It would be a better option to get a 3570k, and put the extra $100 on something else, such as cooling.

 

[birrdd123]

^ great point, the i7 has large diminishing returns on price/performance after the i5s. and for straight gaming the 3570 will be great.

 

[InvalidError]

Does the cpu actually effect gaming that much?

If all you want is reasonably playable rates like 60FPS, most games are GPU-bound at high resolutions and will hit 60FPS on almost any modern CPU with stock clock. Even the "ancient" Core2Duo E8400 (3GHz) can still pull 60-80FPS in many modern games if given a good enough GPU for the resolution and details.

Overclocking on top-end CPUs is only required if you want to try breaking benchmark records or need the processing power for something else.

 

[vilenjan]

A phenom II at 4.0 +Ghz, or a Nehelem based quad core at 3.7+ Ghz will run pretty much anything there out there today. Any stock sandy bridge based quad core will do the same. There are a few games out there that will take more if throw at them (BF3) but even these will run fine on these cpus.

 

[absorber]

Don't bother with a 3770k, the i5 3570k should be able to handle every game with ease that I can think of, it couldn't possibly bottleneck a game.

 

[sunnk]

i7 processers doesnt performs well as i5 processers in gaming the i7 processers does performs better in photoshop and other applications.go for i5 save some money put it on good cooler such as cm 212+ evo and overclock it get more performance in gaming.

 

[birrdd123]

Like others said, even if you do get the i5, you wont have to overclock to get great performance. That processor should take you as far as your GPU will go, even in multiplayer BF3.

 

[sunnk]

so if no overclock then no heat sink @op if u overclock your cpu you will get more performance in gaming and other stuffs also.

 

[cuecuemore]

If you're not fine with a 3570k, then I don't know what to tell you-- that's kind of end of the line for gaming performance.

 

[sunnk]

btw its good processer for gaming without oc also but its k series one which means way better overclocking chips like amd be chips the k series overclcoks very well whenever you feel like you are getting some low performance overclock it and be happy.

 

[zukster]

What kind of games are you playing? MMO's generally take more CPU and GPU. I've been told that the 2500k will only get 35-45 FPS even when paired with a 680 on Guild Wars 2. Keep in mind though there was a bug in the beta that made the gpu almost useless and ran pretty much solely on CPU. And there were 100s of people on the screen.

 

[janvleispyp]

i5 3570k OC'ed is more than enough for gaming.

Use the extra $$$ to get a better 3Dcard / bigger SSD / lower latency RAM / better cooling.