Gamers - quad core/hex core dilemma

[SPBHM]

The only posts that are really worthwhile throughout this entire thread are those made by people with the understanding that nobody should be buying CPUs based on how well they perform solely with today's games. All these recommendations for the i5 seem, to me, absolutely ridiculous given what we know about next-generation console specifications. How shortsighted to simply say, "Go with a 4670k (as general advice) —most games hardly even use that nowadays".

for the future you are ignoring DX12, which should make the CPU load more comparable to consoles and less of a critical factor, and at the end of the day the consoles CPU have 1.6GHz with way lower IPC than sandy bridge cores, so the fact that it have 8 cores is not such a huge problem.

people recommend i5s because they perform well in current games and cost around 1/3 of a six core CPU, so it's ridiculous to even compare,

when games do require 6 cores to run well, perhaps we will have $200 six core CPUs (from Intel)!?

the i5s are a very logical recommendation for gaming, the 4930K+ not, in terms of price vs performance, they only make sense if you are using for other things, or are building a high end PC with a huge budget to spend with things like GTX 780 SLI and so on...

but this topic didn't start well anyway because comparing 4 to 6 cores makes no sense without specifying per core performance, price and other aspects...

if 6 cores are $600 and 4 cores $200-250 and have the same or higher performance per core, and current games are mostly heavily loading 4 cores, it's not so hard to understand.

 

[jj109]

This same argument came up around two years ago when I was contemplating what video card to buy. Almost everybody seemed to think 2 GB of VRAM would be sufficient, even overkill for games of that time. I ended up buying a 4 GB because I don't like to replace hardware every year. Do you know how happy I am now that I did that? Forget about playing at 2560x1440 with good looking textures in most games with anything less than 3 GB of VRAM. I feel sorry for people who paid in the ballpark of $750 for a 780 Ti card and they have to play at 1920x1080 even though they have a 2560x1440 because they start suffering horrible stuttering when maxing out graphics options.

If your only example is a broken game that's bloating VRAM by loading every texture multiple times, your argument needs work.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Does anyone care to speculate on the difference in single threaded performance between the 4960X and the 5960X. Is there any reason to believe that it will be any less of a non-event than the advance from the 3960X to 4960X?

Just compare a 3770 with a 4770.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I voted "hard to tell" because of the way the question is worded. No consideration of value is included in the question. It is like asking if you would prefer a Lexus or a Corolla. If you want and can afford the absolute best performance, get a hex core. However, if you want very good performance and the best value for the money, a quad core is the answer. Just from a practical standpoint, it doesn't make sense for designers to program games that won't run well on i5 and i7, because that is what most of the market is using. Granted there will be some games that push the envelope, and some that are poorly optimized, but overall I think a quad core will be more than adequate for the foreseeable future.

 

[guskline]

Question is simple. Do you feel torn between quad core and hex core CPUs for gaming, either now or in the near future, maybe a year from now?

With 3 rigs (3930k@4.6ghz; 3770k@4.5ghz and 8350@4.6Ghz) I should be covered for awhile

 

[NTMBK]

With 3 rigs (3930k@4.6ghz; 3770k@4.5ghz and 8350@4.6Ghz) I should be covered for awhile

Ah, but do you not feel the need to get an i7-5960X to fill that 16-thread niche?

 

[RussianSensation]

Does anyone care to speculate on the difference in single threaded performance between the 4960X and the 5960X. Is there any reason to believe that it will be any less of a non-event than the advance from the 3960X to 4960X?

No one will buy a 5960X solely for its single threaded performance. I bet overclocked, it will be faster in single threaded tasks than an overclocked 4960X. The "event" is that a gamer will be able to get 2 more cores on a new chipset with better features and not have to sacrifice single threaded performance - all that at probably the same price as the 4960X. Again, people who are not going to be overclocking and only want to play games - X99 CPUs are not for you.

To the type of user for whom Q6600 @3.4 ghz and Q9550 @ 3.8Ghz were appealing at the time over E8400-8600, a 5820K may make sense once again. Those people who bought higher clocked dual cores and dismissed early quads will skip X99 just like last time. It is too early to speculate since we do not have DDR4 prices, nor 5xxx overclocking but we know that 4790K's overclocking didn't live up to the hype based on reviews.

Those who have 4770k, 3930, or similar are most likely going to skip 4790K anyway and are now considering 5820-5960 or waiting until Skylake. 4790K comes out at an awkward time - it is not exciting from an architectural point of view, it will offer no substantial advantages in gaming over an overclocked 4770k and it does nothing to bring prices down or the number of cores up. For most people even with overclocked i7 2600K, 4790K is a pass.

A lot of users on X58 platform who are looking to upgrade but who will keep their system for 4-5 years will not choose a 4790K @ 4.8gHz over a 5820 @ 4.2ghz.

 

[Ylurien]

I'm definitely holding out for a 5820 to see what it brings to the table in terms of temps (overlocked and not) and price most importantly, and then IPC and overclockability. But living in Arizona with its 115-degree summers skews my priorities a bit.

 

[ronniedavisk2_9]

Quad Core. Hexacore CPUs are just too expensive atm. It would be better to invest the extra money into a better GPU.

 

[moonbogg]

Ah, but do you not feel the need to get an i7-5960X to fill that 16-thread niche?

Why not? He'd be able to play BF4 twice at same time with himself on same rig = win.

 

[guskline]

Ah, but do you not feel the need to get an i7-5960X to fill that 16-thread niche?

Funny! :thumbsup: I think I'll sit on the sidelines for awhile.