Quad core i5 or i7 for gaming?

[dkd0nuts]

Debating whether or not to get the core i5 for 1999 or i7 for 200 more.. Will I see a difference in gaming between the two processors? It seems like everyone is getting the i7 to future proof but is there really that big of a difference in the two CPUs ?

 

[hcho3]

With i7, you will see about 30% performance boost.

 

[prne10]

With i7, you will see about 30% performance boost.

How do you get this figure?

 

[TMRaven]

30% boost in video encodes, but likely will preform the same for games.

 

[prne10]

30% boost in video encodes, but likely will preform the same for games.

Where are you guys getting this "30%" from?

 

[Hellhammer]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/12

i7 is little faster but not much. Not worth it IMO

 

[TMRaven]

30% is the performance boost you get when all 8virtual cores are used.

 

[prne10]

30% is the performance boost you get when all 8virtual cores are used.

Okay, but how did you arrive at 30%?

 

[TMRaven]

benchmarks.

 

[dkd0nuts]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/12

i7 is little faster but not much. Not worth it IMO

Doesn't this show the i5 being faster? To be honest the only game I'm gonna be playing is Starcraft 2 but it's wierd that the i5 is getting more fps than the i7

 

[Fallenman]

Doesn't this show the i5 being faster? To be honest the only game I'm gonna be playing is Starcraft 2 but it's wierd that the i5 is getting more fps than the i7

My understanding is that with gaming, the bottleneck is the GPU, not the CPU. I don't know why the i5 would perform "better", but the general consensus is that at a certain point, the GPU caps the performance, regardless of whether you're running an i5 or i7.

 

[dkd0nuts]

My understanding is that with gaming, the bottleneck is the GPU, not the CPU. I don't know why the i5 would perform "better", but the general consensus is that at a certain point, the GPU caps the performance, regardless of whether you're running an i5 or i7.

That makes sense. What areas would see the most improvement with the i7 in comparison to the i5 is it only tasks like video encoding where there would be a noticeable difference?

 

[prne10]

benchmarks.

Links brosky?

 

[MythicFrost]

That makes sense. What areas would see the most improvement with the i7 in comparison to the i5 is it only tasks like video encoding where there would be a noticeable difference?

The i7 has HT and is worth the extra $200 IMO. Will it provide much difference in gaming? Probably not. You'll want the 5750 GPU over the 5670 I think though.