Question on TH Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart

[sliem]

I have this CPU: Core i3 -530
The article suggests to upgrade to a CPU three tiers (or more) higher.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

So what does it mean by three tiers?
Is it Core 2 Extreme QX6700
or is it this block:

Core i7-980, -970, -960
Core i7-870, -875K
Core i3-3225, -3240, -3220,-2100, -2105, -2120, -2125, -2130

?

Thanks.

 

[mi1ez]

The block. The tiers are the coloured stripes.

 

[twelve25]

That is what they mean, but to me there is no point going from an i5-530 to a newer i3. That's not going to be a significant upgrade and you are used to 4 cores, so who wants to step back down to 2? If you want a significant upgrade, you want a newer socket 1155 based i5 or if you don't want to swap our your Motherboard, get the i7-870, but the new i5's are the fastest gaming chips currently.

 

[gamerk316]

But for GAMING, the faster architecture makes up for the loss of two cores. Games are far more sensitive to clockspeed and IPC then to core count.

 

[Johnny828]

But for GAMING, the faster architecture makes up for the loss of two cores. Games are far more sensitive to clockspeed and IPC then to core count.

But gaming is also beginning to move to quad cores, and it'll be even more so when the new consoles come out, perhaps at the end of the year.

If you want to be more future proof than just 'able to play games that are out right now', get a quad core.

 

[twelve25]

But for GAMING, the faster architecture makes up for the loss of two cores. Games are far more sensitive to clockspeed and IPC then to core count.

It's kind of a moot point since I read the processor he has wrong. It's an i3-530, so we are talking 2 core to 2 core. Guess I need to learn how to read.

If we were taking socket 1156 i5 to socket 1155 i3, then I stand by my previous assessment which is totall irrelevant to the OPs question!

Still, why not go to i5 if you are buying parts? Just get it done and get the best for a mere $50 more.

 

[sliem]

Thanks for replies, guys.

 

[sliem]

Best answer selected by sliem.