Skylake i3: Should I even bother getting more?

[bystander36]

You all missed that i was using Mantle.
There is no way that the Core i3 6300 in DX-11 with the GTX960 will have less stutter than the HD7950 @ 1GHz with Mantle.

That's not necessarily true. Mantle requires the dev's to handle every possibility themselves, and they may not have properly prepared for i3's or the mix of GPU/CPU you have. It would be worth testing without Mantle and see if there is a difference.

 

[AtenRa]

That's not necessarily true. Mantle requires the dev's to handle every possibility themselves, and they may not have properly prepared for i3's or the mix of GPU/CPU you have. It would be worth testing without Mantle and see if there is a difference.

That is not how Mantle works. BF4 today is very optimized for Mantle and it will make any low level CPU perform way better than in DX-11 mode.

Simple, the Core i3 lacks the necessary thread count for that game.

 

[bystander36]

That is not how Mantle works. BF4 today is very optimized for Mantle and it will make any low level CPU perform way better than in DX-11 mode.

Simple, the Core i3 lacks the necessary thread count for that game.

Yes, it probably has improved greatly, but that does not mean there are not some setups they failed to account for. You should test it. If nothing else than to prove you are right.

If you still have the setup, just test it.

 

[chucky2]

Ok, thank you All for your comments, and AtenRa most especially for your benchmark examples.

I'll just go i5. Another question: With a 7950, will it really matter which i5 I get, or will they all be about the same (ie am I video card capped at 1440p anyways?)