Is a i7 actually needed for gaming?

[Tcrumpen]

Currently i have a 3rd gen i7; was top of the line when i got it. However my machine is starting to have little gremlins which is making me consider (finally) upgrading my machine to something more modern, I'd reuse a lot of stuff from my previous build (mainly SSDs, HDDs and GPU) therefore will be building my own machine

 

That being said part of me wants to get an i7 beacuse that's what i had before but when i look at the price. It's really high which got me thinking, is a i7 actually NEEDED for gaming anymore. If i'm not gaming i'm onyl watching netflix etc. i don't do VFX work anymore so i  know i don't need Ryzen

 

Games i will be playing

 

- SMITE

- Warframe

- Skyrim SE

- Dishoured

- Old RTS games which obviously could run on a phone at this point

 

I'm fairly sure none of these are CPU intensive like GTA is known to be

[LukeSavenije]

well, i5's are pretty good these days for gaming, I run a 8600k myself actually

 

but nothing beats the value of a ryzen 5 at the moment. 6 cores, 12 treads for just around 15-170 bucks. take a look into those I would say

[GoldenLag]

most of the time you can just get away with getting a new CPU as it is the most important component when it comes to gaming (usually). 

 

you might aswell just get an r5 2600, though i will recommend waiting untill after CES. we are expecting announcement/teaser during the event from both AMD and Nvidia. 

[Rupe]

Ryzen 2600 or for slightly higher frames/slightly higher price i5 8400

[Tcrumpen]

Just now, GoldenLag said:

most of the time you can just get away with getting a new CPU as it is the most important component when it comes to gaming (usually). 

 

you might aswell just get an r5 2600, though i will recommend waiting untill after CES. we are expecting announcement/teaser during the event from both AMD and Nvidia. 

I don't mind waiting, i do IT as a job so any of the gremlins that arise i can solve. I was informed that Ryzen is kinda not needed if you're not going to be taking advantage of the benefits of Ryzen. Plus i don't plan on overclocking as none of the games i run right now struggle in terms of FPS

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Tcrumpen said:

I don't mind waiting, i do IT as a job so any of the gremlins that arise i can solve. I was informed that Ryzen is kinda not needed if you're not going to be taking advantage of the benefits of Ryzen. Plus i don't plan on overclocking as none of the games i run right now struggle in terms of FPS

well, that's true, but if you work you're probebly familiar with the 14nm shortage at intel too... prices aren't going well for them, and that makes ryzen a way better value

[Tcrumpen]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

well, that's true, but if you work you're probebly familiar with the 14nm shortage at intel too... prices aren't going well for them, and that makes ryzen a way better value

That's a good point. Thinking about it this is gonna be fairly expensive as the parts i need to replace are the some of the most expensive ones really

 

Mobo, RAM, PSU, CPU and Cooler

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, Tcrumpen said:

That's a good point. Thinking about it this is gonna be fairly expensive as the parts i need to replace are the some of the most expensive ones really

 

Mobo, RAM, PSU, CPU and Cooler

I just want to show you something then (these are in games the same performence, keep that in mind)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$164.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 33 eSports ONE (Black/White) CPU Cooler	$32.20 @ Newegg
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$83.88 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$486.05
	Mail-in rebates	-$60.00
	Total	$426.05
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-04 06:30 EST-0500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-8500 3 GHz 6-Core Processor	$209.90 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 33 eSports ONE (Black/White) CPU Cooler	$32.20 @ Newegg
Motherboard	ASRock - Z390 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$118.98 @ Newegg Business
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$546.06
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$506.06
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-04 06:31 EST-0500

you see what I mean?

[GoldenLag]

5 minutes ago, Tcrumpen said:

I was informed that Ryzen is kinda not needed if you're not going to be taking advantage of the benefits of Ryzen.

it may not be needed, but its not like you are getting better hardware at any set pricepoint. so why buy anything else? (unless offcourse you are going for the best of the best)

[porina]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

well, that's true, but if you work you're probebly familiar with the 14nm shortage at intel too... prices aren't going well for them, and that makes ryzen a way better value

I'd argue prices are going great for Intel. They can sell what they have for more than they used to! It's only bad for people buying.

 

Back to OP's question, it is a bit over-simplistic, but decide how many cores you want, and how much clock potential you need.A Ryzen 2600 at stock will turbo to all 6 cores at 3.9 GHz as long as you upgrade cooling, so it is a lot of potential in itself for not a lot of money. You can overclock quite easily to around 4.2-ish but IMO not really worth the hit on power for the small clock gain. It wont quite give the highest of high frame rates that a similar Intel could, but unless you really want that, does it matter?

[Tcrumpen]

3 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

I just want to show you something then (these are in games the same performence, keep that in mind)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$164.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 33 eSports ONE (Black/White) CPU Cooler	$32.20 @ Newegg
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$83.88 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$486.05
	Mail-in rebates	-$60.00
	Total	$426.05
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-04 06:30 EST-0500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-8500 3 GHz 6-Core Processor	$209.90 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 33 eSports ONE (Black/White) CPU Cooler	$32.20 @ Newegg
Motherboard	ASRock - Z390 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$118.98 @ Newegg Business
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$546.06
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$506.06
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-04 06:31 EST-0500

you see what I mean?

That is quite a price difference, obviously account for conversion rates to (I'm UK)

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Tcrumpen said:

That is quite a price difference, obviously account for conversion rates to (I'm UK)

yep, and with the ces keynote wednesday, the prices might even drop more if it is any good

[Laputacake]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

yep, and with the ces keynote wednesday, the prices might even drop more if it is any good

Especially with the 3rd gen coming within the next few months and if the rumours are true then very little reason to go Intel.

[LukeSavenije]

4 minutes ago, Laputacake said:

Especially with the 3rd gen coming within the next few months and if the rumours are true then very little reason to go Intel.

that's why I refer to the keynote...

[Laputacake]

3 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

that's why I refer to the keynote...

I know but I was referring more to buying a 3rd gen instead of getting a 2nd gen at a discount.

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Laputacake said:

I know but I was referring more to buying a 3rd gen instead of getting a 2nd gen at a discount.

true, but I don't believe the rumors. and I'm hating my 8600k if they're true...

 

jk, i love my 8600k that I bought just before the shortage for the price 8400/8500's go for

[Thatguywiththetoasterpc]

29 minutes ago, Tcrumpen said:

Currently i have a 3rd gen i7; was top of the line when i got it. However my machine is starting to have little gremlins which is making me consider (finally) upgrading my machine to something more modern, I'd reuse a lot of stuff from my previous build (mainly SSDs, HDDs and GPU) therefore will be building my own machine

 

That being said part of me wants to get an i7 beacuse that's what i had before but when i look at the price. It's really high which got me thinking, is a i7 actually NEEDED for gaming anymore. If i'm not gaming i'm onyl watching netflix etc. i don't do VFX work anymore so i  know i don't need Ryzen

 

Games i will be playing

 

- SMITE

- Warframe

- Skyrim SE

- Dishoured

- Old RTS games which obviously could run on a phone at this point

 

I'm fairly sure none of these are CPU intensive like GTA is known to be

Too be honest sure you can get away with it for awhile longer. But you're probably already having sacrifice little things like AA(depending on the type) or render distance in skyrim or even lighting and shadows. So I'd probably upgrade when you get the chance but you don't have to race to it. Fortunately the consoles help make sure games don't get more graphically intense each year as to keep them running smoothly...

[Tcrumpen]

Just now, Thatguywiththetoasterpc said:

Too be honest sure you can get away with it for awhile longer. But you're probably already having sacrifice little things like AA(depending on the type) or render distance in skyrim or even lighting and shadows. So I'd probably upgrade when you get the chance but you don't have to race to it. Fortunately the consoles help make sure games don't get more graphically intense each year as to keep them running smoothly...

Yeah i'm not looking at upgrading right now. I can handle the little gemlins that come my way

[Princess Luna]

It depends on what you want to play and on your GPU/Monitor.

[Laputacake]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

true, but I don't believe the rumors. and I'm hating my 8600k if they're true...

 

jk, i love my 8600k that I bought just before the shortage for the price 8400/8500's go for

2

Are you saying we shouldn't all board the hype train and true it's doubtful they'll have a 16 core on AM4 but it's AMD so who knows. Can relate chugging along with an old 5820k cucked by my single channel ram.

[Laputacake]

1 minute ago, Tcrumpen said:

Yeah i'm not looking at upgrading right now. I can handle the little gemlins that come my way

Wait till the 9th and then you can see what your options look like better.

[Tcrumpen]

4 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

It depends on what you want to play and on your GPU/Monitor.

GPU = 1050 Ti

Monitor = Not actually a monitor but a TV. Due to lack of space in my flat i don't have room for a separate desk for my PC so i use my TV as a monitor

[kelvinhall05]

Go with an i7 if you have a big wallet and are purely gaming. Go with Ryzen for literally any other purpose or budget.

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

Go with an i7 if you have a big wallet and are purely gaming. Go with Ryzen for literally any other purpose or budget.

I would even choose to go 2600 with a better gaming performence, it would even cost as much or a bit more...

[porina]

The 1050Ti would probably limit you before the CPU does. So in that sense, I wouldn't rush to upgrade CPU unless needed for other reasons. A higher GPU might make more of a difference.