[TBG] The Best Gaming CPUs: Pentium vs. Core i3 vs. Core i5 vs. Core i7

[wand3r3r]

An interesting comparison across the Intel CPU range.

http://www.techbuyersguru.com/haswellgaming.php

It's a great representation of the current CPUs. The differences that e.g. cores, cache, and hyperthreading make are interesting to see.

They compare these CPUs.
Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz 3MB (overclocked to 3.7GHz) - $69
Intel Core i3-4360 3.7GHz 4MB - $149
Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz 3MB (Turbo to 3.7GHz) - $240
Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz 4MB (Turbo to 3.7GHz, Hyperthreading disabled) - $330
Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz 4MB (Turbo to 3.7GHz) - $330
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz 4MB (Turbo to 4.2GHz) - $340

We considered using one of the fixed-clock models (the fastest is 3.5GHz), but instead went with the enthusiast-favorite G3258. Now, it’s well-documented that this chip can reach 4.5GHz, but given the existing symmetry in the Intel lineup, we decided to simply clock it to 3.7GHz and provide our readers a thorough clock-for-clock comparison of all four main Intel processor families.

Does it solidify your CPU choice? What do you think about the options and their results?

 

[ShintaiDK]

I never had to question my 4670

They do have a few flaws in their test BF4 simply cant be used for example. No way a stock 4690K should be faster than a stock 4770K without HT. (Or with for that matter.)

 

[know of fence]

In Reference to frames/$ system price chart I must say, that arguments and decisions based on price never take product cycles into account and thus completely miss the big picture.

The Pentium is a complete no-brainer BUY for anyone who is interested in overclocking, provided it will be upgraded to a Broadwell-K down the line. Haswells won't have much use or resell value, due to the botched TIM and because the existing platforms may be upgraded to Broadwell-K.

This of course is speculation, but so is every executive decision. You can't make good (purchase) decisions based solely on facts!

 

[frozentundra123456]

Too bad they didnt test some AMD cpus. I am not a fan of AMD for gaming, but I would not dismiss them in a test like this without at least doing the benchmarks.

Some of their results look really strange, especially the relatively good performance of the pentium at only 3.7 ghz. BF4 looks really strange as well. I thought it was pretty well accepted that hyperthreading was beneficial in that game, but they show it the other way.

 

[SithSolo1]

Glad I got that 4770k for $200 a while back, other wise I might be kicking myself for taking it over an i5 K.

 

[Burpo]

Too bad they didn't test Hex core(s) either..

 

[ShintaiDK]

BF4 looks really strange as well. I thought it was pretty well accepted that hyperthreading was beneficial in that game, but they show it the other way.

BF4 cant be used at all since its multiplayer. And its obvious they get different runs.

Also wasnt there something with BF4 being reduced to 4 threads? But again, its still an utter coding disaster with memory leaks etc. So who knows.

 

[crashtech]

Wonder why such a pathetic overclock on the G3258. 3.7 when 4.0 is effortless.

Also, I saw in my nephew's gaming rig, built from spare parts with a G3258 and a GXT 770, that he was able to maintain very high frame rate in multiplayer, watching FRAPS showed very few dips below 60.

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

Wonder why such a pathetic overclock on the G3258. 3.7 when 4.0 is effortless.

Also, I saw in my nephew's gaming rig, built from spare parts with a G3258 and a GXT 770, that he was able to maintain very high frame rate in multiplayer, watching FRAPS showed very few dips below 60.

It appears they were trying to balance the playing field. I believe Tech Buyer's Guru clocked all the CPU's to 3.7 Ghz so the clock speed was identical -- thus making the performance boost of extra cores and hyperthreading more easily identified.

Personally I think their conclusion was dumb. They said skip the G3258 and get an i3 4158. I can't imagine why any gamer should buy a locked CPU.
People really need to step up for the 4690K or 4770K -- or settle for a G3258 to get started.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Have to disagree. According to this test, Toms Hardware pentium overclocking, an i3 4330 is consistently as fast or faster in gaming than the overclocked pentium (@4.4ghz), and shows much better frame time variance. Costs a bit more, but you dont need a Z motherboard. (I am not confident that Intel wont nerf overclocking on non-Z motherboards.)

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

Have to disagree. According to this test, Toms Hardware pentium overclocking, an i3 4330 is consistently as fast or faster in gaming than the overclocked pentium (@4.4ghz), and shows much better frame time variance. Costs a bit more, but you dont need a Z motherboard. (I am not confident that Intel wont nerf overclocking on non-Z motherboards.)

But it doesn't "cost a bit more" -- an i3 is double the price for a relatively marginal boost. At the end of the day, both of CPU's are still only dual cores...
Which is a bad idea if you are planning to play games on it a year or two from now.

The title of the article was "The Best Gaming CPU" -- and that just ain't going to be a locked i3.

If the buyer is going to pony up more than $69 (G3258) to buy a CPU, then the gamer really needs to at least buy an unlocked i5.

 

[frozentundra123456]

BF4 cant be used at all since its multiplayer. And its obvious they get different runs.

Also wasnt there something with BF4 being reduced to 4 threads? But again, its still an utter coding disaster with memory leaks etc. So who knows.

Agreed, BF4 is all over the place, with or without mantle. Havn't heard anything about the number of threads being reduced though. Seems like that would be the opposite of what AMD is trying to do with mantle and "moar cores".

Crysis 3 results are also strange in the link you cited. They show faster on 4690k than 4770k with HT off. About all I take from the article is that an overclocked pentium is good in some games, an i3 is good in more games, but for consistent performance you need an i5. All the data except crysis 3 seems pretty much gpu bound, so I still dont really accept their conclusion that hyperthreading is only beneficial in Crysis 3. They get in a not so subtle dig at the other testing site which I assume is Game.gpu, which seems to show a few percent benefit in hyperthreading in a fair amount of newer games, but I dont know why we should accept their conclusions any more than game.gpu.

 

[frozentundra123456]

But it doesn't "cost a bit more" -- an i3 is double the price for a relatively marginal boost. At the end of the day, both of CPU's are still only dual cores...
Which is a bad idea if you are planning to play games on it a year or two from now.

The title of the article was "The Best Gaming CPU" -- and that just ain't going to be a locked i3.

If the buyer is going to pony up more than $69 (G3258) to buy a CPU, then the gamer really needs to at least buy an unlocked i5.

The cheapest i3 on new egg is only 50.00 more than the pentium, and doesnt require a Z motherboard, so the difference is in fact less than that. Also less hassle (or fun, depending on how you look at it), but for sure not dependent on the silicon lottery to get a good overclocker. So personally, of the two, I would probably go with the i3.

The low end cpu choice is very difficult to decide between athlon x4, i3, FX6300, or overclocked pentium. Each chip has its strength, but significant weaknesses, so if at all possible just get an i5 which has both good single and multi threaded performance.

 

[richierich1212]

You don't need a Z-mobo for the G3258

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

The cheapest i3 on new egg is only 50.00 more than the pentium, and doesnt require a Z motherboard, so the difference is in fact less than that. Also less hassle (or fun, depending on how you look at it), but for sure not dependent on the silicon lottery to get a good overclocker. So personally, of the two, I would probably go with the i3.

But if the person is a gamer -- why wouldn't they buy a Z motherboard in the first place if they were going Intel? Why would anyone lock themselves out of overclocking if they are playing games?

But even that's not necessary. Apparently the $45 MSI H81-P33 with the latest bios can overclock the G3258.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-b81-cheap-overclocking,3888.html

I still think the Athlon X4 760k is a smarter buy with a cheap $50 motherboard than investing in any CPU with a locked multiplier. I've never found an AMD motherboard that couldn't overclock a Black Edition, even the cheapest boards can manage solid overclocks.

Buying a locked dual core seems like a really bad idea.

 

[frozentundra123456]

You don't need a Z-mobo for the G3258

I know that, but just call me paranoid. I would want a new build to last at least 2 or 3 years, and I would not be surprised at all if Intel came out with a bios update that borked overclocking on non-Z motherboards. I certainly would not be willing to take the risk that they will not, especially since I dont think they have come out with any kind of official statement supporting pentium overclocking on non-Z boards.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Actually, thanks to ECS, you might be able to grab a G3258 + Z97 board for a measly $100 soon without even having access to a Microcenter. Your mileage may vary, but ECS is claiming push-button support for 4.7 ghz. Those DIMM slots may make for poor memory overclocking. Oh well!

 

[crashtech]

Mobo manufacturers write the BIOS updates for their boards, not Intel. I think the reason Intel can turn a blind eye to low-end overclocking boards is that most of them don't have the current carrying capacity to OC a quad-core all that far. So while these low-end boards are stimulating G3258 sales and stealing some low-budget OCers away from AMD, Z97 sales won't be impacted much because they are still necessary to get good overclocks out of i5s and i7s.

 

[geokilla]

Why didn't they test SC2? Just load up a replay from a RedBull or something, first person POV, then track the FPS throughout the game form beginning to end. SC2 is crazy when it comes to CPU load.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Too bad they didn't test Hex core(s) either..

lol

like the Xeon X5660's? lol

 

[Erenhardt]

Why didn't they test SC2? Just load up a replay from a RedBull or something, first person POV, then track the FPS throughout the game form beginning to end. SC2 is crazy when it comes to CPU load.

You mean SimCity 2? Because that game uses a many threads as Starcraft 2 does...
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/08/18/how-many-cpu-cores-does-starcraft-2-use/2

 

[NTMBK]

Absolutely no measurement of frame time variance? Useless.

 

[Deders]

Interesting that my rig gets 158 average and 90 minimum in the Arkham Origins benchmark, right in between the i5 and i7 with the same settings!

 

[Gikaseixas]

Happy with my 4770K after seeing this, plus @ 4.6ghz its a beast of a cpu

 

[StrangerGuy]

Actually, thanks to ECS, you might be able to grab a G3258 + Z97 board for a measly $100 soon without even having access to a Microcenter. Your mileage may vary, but ECS is claiming push-button support for 4.7 ghz. Those DIMM slots may make for poor memory overclocking. Oh well!

Riiiiight. I believe it when people can actually get their hands on both in mass quantities.