So about two years ago I really got into building/upgrading computers. I have built a gaming computer for myself and a less capable but still nice computer for my wife. She’s a gamer but usually plays less graphically intensive games than myself.
I did a TON of research back about 3 years ago when I built my rig. I’ve upgraded my graphics card and that’s where most of my research was focused. I currently have a GT980 and love it.
I’m really pysched up for “The Witcher 3” which looks VERY graphically intensive. I’m a little worried that my i5 2500k processor may be getting outdated as it’s listed as the MINIMUM required cpu to run this game.
Most of my research was focused towards graphics cards. I’ve been thinking about upgrading to an i7 series processor but I have three concerns base on what I’ve read online.
What if something better (i9 super duper processor) is scheduled to come out very soon? I don’t want to jump the gun.
I don’t want to mistakenly buy a processor just cause it has a higher number, but it turns out to be more of a lateral move than an upgrade.
I see some people say that while i7’s are a big improvement for most applications, the gaming world doesn’t really take advantage of the extra cpu threads so I wouldn’t see much benefit. Is this true?
There is always something new around the corner and if you want to play the waiting game, you’ll be waiting forever. If there is a specific feature in a new CPU that you need or want, then it makes sense to wait. Otherwise, do your homework and get the CPU that meets your needs today.
With that being said, Intel is scheduled to release its new microarchitecture called Skylake in the latter half of this year. I only mention this because this is the “tock” phase of their “tick-tock” manufacturing model, and with every tock comes a leap in performance. (The current Broadwell “tick” phase is more about shrinking the manufacturing process for better performance and energy efficiency.)
Good thinking. Higher clock numbers don’t always mean better performance and the laws of diminishing returns comes into play. First of all, if your pc is mainly for gaming, I would recommend Intel CPUs. They’re a bit more expensive but they are the standard for gaming rigs because of their efficiency and calculation speed per individual core.
True. If you’re not going to be doing any video transcoding or media processing on your pc, then an i5 series will be more than enough. Of course an i7 wouldn’t hurt you, but it’s just overkill for gaming, both in hyper-threading performance and price, especially when you consider that you can easily overclock some i5s to go beyond stock i7 speeds. You don’t need more than a quad-core to play games.
Very few (if any; I can’t really think of one) PC games are CPU limited. Most are GPU limited.
Witcher 3 did make a splash a few months ago with its fairly high-end sys requirements. I have no idea if the min and recommended CPU requirements are actually legit, though with your i5 2500 you’d be at least at min as you noted.
Honestly, I’d wait for the release (and performance reviews) and/or a demo to see how your rig would perform. You say GT980 - more details?
It used to be the case that games did not take advantage of multiple CPU cores. That’s gradually stopping. The difference between the i7 and the i5 series is that the former has hyperthreading whereas the latter does not.
Really, an overclocked i5-2500k should be good enough. It’s still a high-end CPU. Slap on an AIO fluid cooler and you’re done.
Ironically, my biggest concern is your choice of GPU. I’m assuming you meant GTX 980. While it’s currently the second-best GPU, if you are going to be gaming at 1440p or 4K, then it will be limited by the 4 GB VRAM and you may have to reduce graphical quality.
But like GameHat says, wait for the game to appear, read the reviews and articles, and make your purchases accordingly. I recommend hardocp.com as they concentrate on graphical quality and playability in games.
I have an i7-3770S and a Titan X and am not planning on making any more hardware purchases any time soon. Well, I would have the Titan X if it hadn’t broken within 24 hours - I’m awaiting the replacement card.
An I5-2500k, if fully overclocked, is still a top gaming processor. Most of the mainstream processors that have come out since use less power but don’t overclock as high as that generation, and thus aren’t really that much faster. So just make sure you are running your I5-2500k at over 4ghz (which should be easily possible with a good cooler) and you’ll be fine for a long time.
The way I do it is buy a motherboard for ~$75 and whatever processor is best for ~$150. Same with a video card, about $150. Those price points will get you good equipment a generation or two old for much less money than when they were new.
If you set yourself a price point then you can work on researching/comparing the processors at that price point.
Your GTX 980 won’t perform as well in CPU bound scenarios as it could, but you’ll otherwise be fine playing that game at max settings 60 FPS at 1080p.
The Witcher and the upcoming batman game are rumored to receive DX12 patches in the future, but even if they don’t the new API’s means a lot less CPU overhead for that API (and Open GL next means the same), so your CPU should last you for quite a while longer.