Fastest single threaded CPU?

[John Connor]

Sounds about right.

 

[coercitiv]

Skylake is not Kabylake. Microsoft specifically said Kaby will not run on anything less than Windows 10.

Windows 7 running on Kaby Lake - Pentium G4560 with dGPU.

In the attention of the OP: this is not a guarantee your install process and OS usage in the following years will be 100% trouble free.

 

[superstition]

Windows 7 running on Kaby Lake - Pentium G4560 with dGPU.

1) How well is it running? Are all features fully-working — including special DRM like what is required for 4K BluRay?

2) How well will it run in the future?

I've seen plenty of Hackintosh systems that people think are stable but really aren't. And, they are often frozen or lagging in updates. Even more fun is when a seemingly innocuous update breaks the system.

 

[coercitiv]

1) How well is it running? Are all features fully-working — including special DRM like what is required for 4K BluRay?

2) How well will it run in the future?

The OP is planning a system build specifically aimed at playing a 2003 game on a 2009 OS. Let's not pretend we have a goal of making the system future proof at software level. Judging by the speed you typed your reply, did you even watch the video?

I've seen plenty of Hackintosh systems that people think are stable but really aren't. And, they are often frozen or lagging in updates. Even more fun is when a seemingly innocuous update breaks the system.

Apples and oranges.

 

[superstition]

The OP is planning a system build specifically aimed at playing a 2003 game on a 2009 OS.

Kaby isn't needed in the first place for that.

Apples and oranges

No. Unsupported = unsupported.

 

[John Connor]

Here's another video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yXD8BpJMsI

But he left a variable there with the OC.

 

[LTC8K6]

All it means is that WIn7 will not receive updates for KL.

This will likely not cause problems for quite a while.

IIRC, XP still runs fine on Skylake, and XP hasn't been updated.

 

[John Connor]

That's a more reasonable explanation.

Be honest with you, and since FS is my main game I'd use XP, but the MOBO drivers and non existent.

 

[superstition]

All it means is that WIn7 will not receive updates for KL.

This will likely not cause problems for quite a while.

It's causing problems now:

For the Intel’s 6th Generation of processors, Skylake, they introduced Speed Shift (v1). This was a feature that, at a high level, gave control of the voltage/frequency curve from the operating system to the processor. Using a series of internal metrics, such as instruction analysis and frequency, the CPU would automatically adjust the voltage and frequency of the processor as required. This afforded two major benefits: one, with the CPU in control it has access to many more points on the curve compared to the OS which is limited to specific P-states on the processor.

The second benefit is the speed of transition. A processor that can ramp up to a high frequency quickly and then drop down as needed can get through instructions quicker but also save power. Imagine driving a car, and having to wait 60 seconds to change a gear – it’s that sort of analogy.

What Speed Shift v2 does in the Kaby Lake family, compared to v1 in Skylake, is manage those transitions to higher frequency faster. Before Speed Shift, transitions from idle to peak turbo were on the order of 100 milliseconds, and Speed Shift v1 took that to 30 milliseconds (with a good base established within 15). Speed Shift v2 means that peak performance from idle now happens in 10-15 milliseconds total. This means that interactions with the OS, such as touch, or actions that rely on low latency, can occur within a couple of frames on a 60 Hz display.

There is one caveat however – Speed Shift currently only works in Windows 10.

And Linux, reportedly, but that's beside the point.

 

[LTC8K6]

Who cares if it only works in Win 10, though?

How is that a problem?

And why do I need Speed Shift on a desktop?

 

[coercitiv]

And why do I need Speed Shift on a desktop?

Cherry on top: SpeedShift can be enabled in Win 7 using Throttlestop 8.20 or higher.

 

[VirtualLarry]

And why do I need Speed Shift on a desktop?

Exactly. And I believe that ShintaiDK tested it with his NUC, versus the latency and power consumption of just running with High Performance power plan, and it was a few watts at most difference.

 

[DrMrLordX]

WRT OP's RAM question:

Generally I would recommend the DDR4-3200 (or better) with the lowest CAS/CL in your budget. I did see some nice Patriot DDR4-3400 on sale for $99 for a 2x8GB kit, but it was backordered and wouldn't ship any sooner than 4 weeks.

What's your RAM budget anyway?

 

[John Connor]

RAM budget would be no more than $150 if that lower. 8GB would suit me fine though.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Let's talk options:

2x8GB:
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/9rDzK8/gskill-memory-f43200c14d16gvr

There is a TridentZ kit with identical specs for $10 more, and you may get more OC headroom with that if you care to mess with RAM overclocking. I do not like the heatspreaders on either Trident Z or Ripjaws V but what can you do? Regardless, 14-14-14-34 timings are excellent, and you might be able to get lower with some tinkering. I can't find you a better kit for the money than that, at least not based on XMP timings/clockspeed.

There was a Galax HOF DDR4-3600 kit that was only $129 (again with the huge heatspreaders) but it's backordered, and the timings aren't really that great anyway (CAS/CL17, bleh).

I tried finding 2x4GB kits with a combination of clockspeed and timings in their default OC profile that could match the above kit, and I couldn't find any. I suspect that's due to high-end 2x4GB kits using Samsung E-die, though I could be very wrong. In any case the above kit should have performance on Skylake/Kabylake similar to:

DDR4-3466 CAS/CL15
DDR4-3733 CAS/CL16
DDR4-4000 CAS/CL17
DDR4-4266 CAS/CL18

Compare the above kit to what you see here:

http://pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#Z=16384002&X=9438,15260&sort=a10&t=14&page=1

(note that on a few kits, CAS/CL is misreported, showing the SPD setting instead of the XMP/overclock setting)

Now take a look at a smattering of 2x4GB kits, price range $100-$150:

http://pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#Z=8192002&X=9438,15260&sort=a4&t=14&page=1

See that? Generally inferior combinations of timings+clockspeed and vastly inferior price per GB. Note that (again) some of the CAS/CL numbers are mis-reported due to PCPartspicker reporting the SPD timings rather than the XMP timings (you can confirm this by following links to product pages).

Right now the memory market seems to be focusing on 2x8GB kits, so I see little reason to buy 2x4GB within your stated RAM budget.

 

[ninaholic37]

Am I only one who was hoping John Connor really meant single threaded CPU, like the Sempron 150? That would be an interesting conversation. heehee

 

[Dasa2]

Am I only one who was hoping John Connor really meant single threaded CPU, like the Sempron 150? That would be an interesting conversation. heehee

overclocked pentium m with a 478 adapter and some bh-5 would win that hands down

does the karbylake limitations extend to z270 mb with win7 or just the cpu i wonder

Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core $239.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C14D-16GVK $138.40

ASRock Z270 Pro4 $120
or if you want to push the ram oc as far as possible
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII IMPACT Z170 Mini ITX $192
ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero Z270 $230

 

[superstition]

And why do I need Speed Shift on a desktop?

Who does anyone need chipset drivers? Why does anyone need 4K optical drive support? Why does anyone need anything?

Arguments can be made for all sorts of odd configurations, like Hackintosh machines with no sound or sleep mode. It all depends on what the user is satisfied with. I set up a Lenovo S10 Hackintosh for a friend and she likes it even though its sleep mode is erratic.

Using unsupported configurations is up to each person but they shouldn't be under the illusion that unsupported is the same as supported.

I still haven't seen any strong argument that shows why someone wanting to play an old game in an old OS needs Kaby. The single thread performance boost is very minor.

 

[John Connor]

So would a 4790K have the best single threaded speed in Windows 7 then? I was thinking about experimenting with Kaby Lake, but I'm not going to dick around with that. I don't have money to blow.

 

[Dasa2]

no 6600k\6700k skylake would be best for you it works fine with win7 and its support for ddr4 can provide a large boost to your cpu performance in fs2004

 

[LTC8K6]

Fastest single thread for W7 for under $250 will be the i5-6600, 6600K, or the i3-6320, all at 3.9ghz.

The 6600 is what I'd go with. The 6600K would need a cooler, and a Z board to make use of overclocking.
The 6320 if you need to save money and keep the single thread clock speed.

https://ark.intel.com/compare/90733,88191,88188

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?CompareItemList=-1|19-117-621^19-117-621,19-117-561^19-117-561,19-117-562^19-117-562

 

[DrMrLordX]

6600k + good RAM

 

[John Connor]

Thanks. I'll just get the 6600k then. That was my original plan, but I didn't think it had fast single core ability. Thus I asked here. I do have a cooler, a Evo 212. I could probably do some minor overclocking on air? I really don't want water cooling and all this crap.

 

[DrMrLordX]

EVO should be alright. You might be able to stretch your legs a bit if you disable 2 cores and use a higher-speed OC profile.

You won't hit 5 GHz like the Kabylake people, but I'll bet you could hit 4.6-4.8 GHz.

 

[Dasa2]

focusing on the ram speed is more important than trying to get the last little bit out of the cpu anyway
I managed to get a 38% increase out of arma3 by overclocking 6700k\ram. Only 9% of that was from overclocking the cpu to 4.7ghz the rest was tweaking the ram up to 3866c16
unfortunately you may not be able to get the ram much over 3200mhz on a budget mb