need suggestions for futureproof gaming

[dosmastr]

money is a concern.

I'm replacing my e2180 with a haswell. I chose haswell because of the lower power usage than other options (if I keep this system as long as the last one the energy savings over that time will amount to something)

at this point I play mostly starcraft 2, shogun 2 total war, and supcom (well I play more but those are the most taxing)

I have a microcenter nearby. so I could grab an entry level i3-4130 for 110bucks (5 dollar bridge toll )

I could probably stick with that for a while and upgrade to a quad core when it looked more like the games needed it. in the benchmarks I have seen It looks like the clock speed advantage of the i3's is more of an asset than having two more REAL cores.

currently to grab an i5, the lowest they have is a 4570 total cost a hair under 175bucks... 65 bucks extra is a lot... but I'm having issues finding any benchmarks that specifically target dual core 4 thread vs 4 core 4 thread. Help here would be appreciated. From what I have seen, the gain in performance isn't worth it.

buy the i3 and pickup a quad in a couple years when its cheaper and probably in an obsolete socket or bite the bullet and get the i5 now?

I don't know how low intel tends to go before just discontinuing processors but I know I could sell my i3 on ebay when it was time to trade up.

other specs:
motherboard is an asrock pro4
8gb 2133mhz ram
Radeon 7790 1gb

currently running the e2180 and 3gb of ram.... which appears to be the bottleneck for pretty much everything.


furthermore, I grabbed an m500 SSD but aside from windows loading in half the time, I don't really notice load times of games being changed much, maybe down 20%...
HD Tune shows the first 20% of the ssd at 150mbps transfer rate, After that, I am guessing it gets to the free space on the drive and pops up to about 215 and sits there until the end of the drive. Reports burst rate at 150 too... wondering if my old sata controller is a bottleneck... trying iometer now.

 

[nwo]

For a $65 difference, I'd say just bite the bullet and get the i5 now. There are already plenty of games which are optimized for 4+ threads. Having real cores over virtual cores is always going to yield a significant performance difference, especically in gaming.

Even though the haswell i3s are a big jump from previous i3s in terms of gaming performance, I would still not hesitate to invest the extra $$ in order to get an unlocked i5 over an i3. Why not get an i5 3570k for $179 and OC it?

What did you put on the SSD? If you want to optimize load times in general, without having to put everything on the SSD, you should look into grabbing a smaller SSD and using Intel's SRT.

I'd say an i3 is a good match for the video card you have now, but if you want a future proof CPU, definitely go with an unlocked i5, regardless of whether it's sandy, ivy, or haswell. The latter is obviously going to be the most future proof since each generation of i5s yields around a 5-10% performance increase at the same clock speed, but then you have to also factor in the price difference and ask yourself if it is worth it.

I'd say i5 3570k is the best bang for the buck right now @ $179.

 

[dosmastr]

ya know it really is a shame they don't still make dual cpu boards anymore... grab a pair of g3220's and get 4 real cores for 120bucks lol

 

[dosmastr]

I'm not sure how high level SRT is but could I give it just a partition? I splurged on a m500 480gb.


was really hoping the kaveri launch would shake things up and move some prices... well since the 7850 compares to an i3 in many cases... I doubt anything will change....

 

[blastingcap]

For a $65 difference, I'd say just bite the bullet and get the i5 now. There are already plenty of games which are optimized for 4+ threads. Having real cores over virtual cores is always going to yield a significant performance difference, especically in gaming.

Even though the haswell i3s are a big jump from previous i3s in terms of gaming performance, I would still not hesitate to invest the extra $$ in order to get an unlocked i5 over an i3. Why not get an i5 3570k for $179 and OC it?

What did you put on the SSD? If you want to optimize load times in general, without having to put everything on the SSD, you should look into grabbing a smaller SSD and using Intel's SRT.

I'd say an i3 is a good match for the video card you have now, but if you want a future proof CPU, definitely go with an unlocked i5, regardless of whether it's sandy, ivy, or haswell. The latter is obviously going to be the most future proof since each generation of i5s yields around a 5-10% performance increase at the same clock speed, but then you have to also factor in the price difference and ask yourself if it is worth it.

I'd say i5 3570k is the best bang for the buck right now @ $179.

I agree with the above

 

[alawadhi3000]

Either upgrade to an i5 or if you can't afford it go AMD (FX-6300).
Just don't go i3, with two cores and newer AAA games requiring four threads I don't feel it will last as much as a quad core.

 

[Silverforce11]

Dont ever get dual core for gaming, even last year it was a bad idea. 2014 onwards, no way.

 

[DigDog]

i also agree with NWO.

 

[nwo]

ya know it really is a shame they don't still make dual cpu boards anymore... grab a pair of g3220's and get 4 real cores for 120bucks lol

Not all dual cores are created equal. Those dual CPU socket boards aren't cheap either. You would probably have to spend more on the board than a "regular" quad core CPU/mobo combo.

It sucks that you splurged all that $$$ into an SSD. You could have gotten the benefit of SRT for a fraction of the cost (although it wouldn't be possible to use it on your current rig), and you wouldn't even have to think twice about getting an i5 quad core.

If you did put your applications on the SSD, the reason why they aren't loading much faster could be because you have your SSD in your old s775 motherboard (correct me if I am wrong). Which means your current motherboard most likely has SATA 150 or SATA II interface, either of which would be a bottleneck for your m500 SSD.

But what's done is done. You'll just have to suck it up and invest an extra 50 bucks or so into an i5. Your wallet will thank you later

 

[v8envy]

Also consider total cost of system. You're going to need a new motherboard, at a minimum (possibly ram, PSU -- yours are getting up there in age). So the extra $80 for an i5 over an i3 becomes a smaller % of your total outlay compared to the amount of hardware the increment buys. IMO it's a worthwhile move to get the 3570k compared to a clock locked i3.

Also, the AMD 6300 is definitely a contender. Microcenter has a bundle deal right now for this and a 'free' board for $110, IIRC. That's an unbeatable value compared to an i3 and a new board ($60 at a minimum) will run you.

IMO, i5 3570k OR 6300 with a 'free' bundle board should be your choices, not the i3.

 

[Termie]

...

but I'm having issues finding any benchmarks that specifically target dual core 4 thread vs 4 core 4 thread. Help here would be appreciated. From what I have seen, the gain in performance isn't worth it.

buy the i3 and pickup a quad in a couple years when its cheaper and probably in an obsolete socket or bite the bullet and get the i5 now?

...

These benchmarks should help on the Intel dual vs. quad question: www.techbuyersguru.com/CPUgaming.php

Others have stated that an FX-6300 series is preferable to the i3. This recent test calls that into question: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-4340-4330-4130_5.html#sect0

 

[Lil Frier]

Definitely check out Micro Center's bundles. Do you already know what you plan to pair a CPU with for a motherboard? For example, they're offering the i3-4340 for $30 more than the i3-4130 you're looking at, but they're also offering $30 off a board with the purchase of the 4340, making it financially neutral to get the 200-MHz upgrade.

Similarly, if you're considering stretch for the i5-4570, it doesn't have the bundle discount. However, the i5-4670K DOES have the discount of $30. given that the 4670K is $40 over the 4570 in price, you're only paying another $10 for the 200-MHz increase, plus the future option of overclocking, if you so desire.

 

[Erenhardt]

Not trolling. If you want futureproof - get the console. As shown by the history, once you buy it, you can forget about upgrading for at least 5 years.

If you talk about pc gaming futureproofing... well, some say that Chuck Norris managed to build futureproof PC once... but it wans't roundhouse kick proof

 

[Lil Frier]

I think the whole "future-proofing" argument is pretty silly on both sides. On the one hand, we all know you can't REALLY 'future-proof" something, because new stuff will always come out to replace it. However, you can easily find a machine that will give you what you need for the next 3-5 years pretty easily, and only the video card will REALLY need replaced shortly after that time.

 

[Spjut]

I'd too recommend an i5 over an i3, even if it means you have to stick with a worse GPU for some time

But one just can't be "future proof". Take a look at the history.
The Q6600 definitely aged better than the E8400 for modern games, but by the time it really was shown, superior and much cheaper CPUs were available
The GTX 290 and HD 4870x2 certainly aged better than the mid-range cards, but they still can't play Crysis 3 and CoD Ghosts due to DX11 only, whereas weaker DX11 cards can

 

[Lil Frier]

That's exactly what I'm talking about, to an extent. You're obviously not going to have hardware survive forever. It's more about not having your hardware overwhelmed with games in 1-2 years. I doubt many would complain that their 2008 GPU isn't running a 2013 game anyway.

Only consoles are going to get you past 5 years, but they're also going to leave you paying more for games, while having to also pay for online...everything, really.

 

[coffeejunkee]

i3 4130 = 110
i5 4670K = 200
resell i3 = -65
total cost = 245

i5 4670K = 200
total cost = 200

You just saved $45, go out and buy yourself a beer. To really futureproof you'd want an i7 because of its 8 threads, but the games you play don't really benefit from them. For those games it's not so much the 4 cores that help but the posibility to overclock. Unless you only play singleplayer, in that case you could get by with an i3. Things change if you don't mind buying a second hand 4670K later on.

 

[lakedude]

The best way to future proof IMHO is to buy a system that is a good value for the money now, rather than buy a system that is expensive and overkill now. Put the money you save toward a better system that you purchase in the future with the better technology that is almost certain to be available in the future.

This is my advice as long as Moore's law is still more or less in place.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

my suggestion is to forget whatever idea you have of the meaning of "futureproof", and to never use that word again