Is the i7/hyperthreading relevant to gaming now?

[Antoni]

Hello, I have not read about CPUs for a few years now since I made my computer. Back in 2012 people used to say most games did not utilise hyperthreading and that an i5 was the most you'd generally need for gaming. Have things changed now, are there considerable advantages to buying an i7 for a gaming PC? I would also like to ask if matching a higher end graphics card with an i5 is fine or if it makes an unbalanced build?

 

[MWP0004]

This is a debate that could go on for quite some time. I built a new machine this month and did quite a bit of research on this topic. I eventually came to the conclusion that since I would not be doing any editing, streaming, or intense multitasking, that an i7 was overkill for me, and went with an i5.

So it all depends on your specific needs.

 

[13thmonkey]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/multi-core-cpu-scaling-directx-11,review-33682.html

It depends.

 

[Antoni]

Sounds like the same sort of ideology as 4 years ago still. I would not be doing any intensive video editing, photoshopping, or anything like this. I am interested in it just for gaming.

 

[Ak74Egy]

Just a short time ago, very few games utilized the i7, nevertheless the i5 is still the way to go when gaming, and I think it will stay this way for quiet some time

 

[MWP0004]

Sounds like the same sort of ideology as 4 years ago still. I would not be doing any intensive video editing, photoshopping, or anything like this. I am interested in it just for gaming.

In my opinion, then, get the i5 and use the money saved on the CPU elsewhere in your build.

 

[13thmonkey]

I5 + better GPU >> I7 + weak GPU

 

[Antoni]

Is there any type of unbalancing with say an i5-6600k and a 1080?

 

[Ak74Egy]

Is there any type of unbalancing with say an i5-6600k and a 1080?

that is the perfect combo at the moment, along with the i5 4690k and the 1080

 

[Antoni]

Thanks guys.

 

[13thmonkey]

i5 and 1080 is good for 1440p and up, but for 1080p, i5 and 1070 is the way to go

 

[James Mason]

i7+HT = no benefit
i3+HT = quadcore games being playable on only "2 cores"

 

[jaguarskx]

i7+HT = no benefit
i3+HT = quadcore games being playable on only "2 cores"

Yeah, I think when Dragon Age 3: Inquisition came out there were CPU benchmarks that showed a dual core Intel Pentium CPU was unable to launch the game. However, a dual core i3 CPU with Hyper Threading was able to play the game.

So... HT certainly does have an impact in games when the game requires the CPU to process 4 threads (streams of instructions) simultaneously.