Question about Different CPU's

[DanBonehill]

Hi guys, So this is my first post on here. Just a quick background so at some point I am looking to build a PC for heavy gaming. I'm a complete noob really when it comes to CPU's and GPU's as there seems to be so many. I've read a few forums on here and just had a few questions of my own.

So I've read an article on AMD's new(ish) 8 core CPU's FX-9590 4.7Ghz-5.0Ghz and some people are comparing that to various I5 or I7 Intel Quad Cores. I've come across an Intel 8 Core the Xeon® 8-Core E5-2687W and just wondered is this a good or bad CPU or why its not really been mentioned much at all.

I've also seen anIntel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor Extreme i7-3970X What are people thoughts on this?

Is 6/8 Cores really needed for gaming, I mean if I build a PC I want it to last me a while and be "future proof" if thats at all possible in this day and age.

I know I've asked quite a few questions there and I will probably still have more once I've had a few responses but just thought I'd get people opinions. I'm no fan boy, I've seen a few fanboy posts on here in other articles. I'm more familiar with Intel CPU's than AMD if I'm honest but that wont sway me much.

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[Jaxem]

There are very few games that use more than 2 threads, so an 8 core processor doesn't really have any advantage in that case. The Xeons are server CPU's optimized for number crunching, and the AMD 9000 series are just really expensive factory overclocked chips. right now a fast i5 is the best thing for gaming. Four cores and four threads which should be future proof for games for a long time, the one downside is they are a bit spendy, so if you're on a budget then a 6 or 8 core AMD might be what you need, an FX-6300 can be had for around $120 right now, and will game for the most part just as well as an intel, since gaming relies mostly on your GPU. In CPU heavy games you will get a few FPS less though with an AMD, but not anything major.

 

[DanBonehill]

Thanks for your reply, again this is probably a basic question but what are threads?
So a 4 core processor will do be basically, theres no real need to get a 6 or 8 core at this point. I've heard a lot about the I5 Intel, but what about the I7, what are the differences between those?

GPU wise I'm sticking with Nividia. I'm toying with either a Titan or 2 x GTX 780's, again going with the future proofing(ish) idea. I've heard that 2 x GTX780's outperform a Titan but in the UK it sees that a single Titan is quite a bit cheaper actually.

 

[Jaxem]

A single Titan is pretty darn future proof at this point. But a thread is a pipeline that a cpu can run a process through, the more threads, the more the cpu can do at once. At this point, most games take 2 threads, and very few use even 3 or 4. An i5 is a quad core processor, that can process one thread per core, an i7 is similar, but is setup to process 2 threads per core (8 threads), but this doesn't make it perform twice as well. The i7 is geared mostly at creative professionals where the software can make use of so many threads.