i5, and i7
- Thread starter Yabba
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For most games, yes. You might see an improvement in games that are multithreaded and designed to use as many cores as possible, but most games don't see much of an, if any, improvement. The i7 will probably help with background processes and any multithreaded applications like video editors or image processing.
You won't get much of a boost out of most games. I'd get an i5 and use the extra money on a better graphics card.
Even supposedly processor-heavy games run fine on my i5 2500k.
Even supposedly processor-heavy games run fine on my i5 2500k.
The HyperThreading the i7 offers over the i5 is mostly for mathematical programs and encoding/decoding large material. If it's simply games that are often not even optimized to use over 2-4 cores, then just get an i5.
I don't actually know of any games that use hyperthreading, in fact games are only just starting to use more than two cores, so there'll be no benefit to getting an i7 over an i5 if you're mainly gaming. Get an i5 and put the money you saved towards a better graphics card or something.
Get the i5 (k models are super easy to overclock down the road). IDT any games would make use of the HT from the i7.
Save the money with the i5 and put it towards the GPU. For gaming atm GPU is pretty much everything. (As long as the cpu and mobo aren't junk)
Save the money with the i5 and put it towards the GPU. For gaming atm GPU is pretty much everything. (As long as the cpu and mobo aren't junk)
What they said. Get the i5, overclock it down the road if you need to, and use that money towards a better GPU if this is a gaming rig. If you're going to be editing HD video or have applications minimized in the background while you do intensive stuff, get the i7. But it's really only if you plan on doing truly intensive floating-point and algorithm calculations, other wise it's just an e-penis enhancement.
On the other hand, if you have the patience I would wait until October/November, when the next-gen systems come out and Intel/AMD roll out their new platforms. The bar should move quite a bit by then, and even if you aren't getting the cutting edge at that point an i7 will probably cost what an i5 costs now. This is a move I'm recommending in my guide-in-progress.
On the other hand, if you have the patience I would wait until October/November, when the next-gen systems come out and Intel/AMD roll out their new platforms. The bar should move quite a bit by then, and even if you aren't getting the cutting edge at that point an i7 will probably cost what an i5 costs now. This is a move I'm recommending in my guide-in-progress.