is the xeon e3-1231 v3 good for gaming?

[Mkopiec]

hi,

thinking about upgrading my pc and wondering if the xeon e3-1231 will be good for gaming?

help will be much appreciated

[Aytex]

Yep, I would go z87 or z97 for the motherboard for when you go to the 4790k if you wanted to 

[Cereal5]

Yeah, actually its a great i7-4770 alternative. Kind of has a cult following but it really is a good chip. If you can get one for a good deal it's something I wouldn't pass up

[ARikozuM]

Anything stopping you from going i7-4790 (K or non-K)?

It's a good CPU but if the game relies on clock speed rather than hyperthreading, you might feel the hurt.

[dizmo]

It was ok in the day but it's not exactly that great now. There are better options. I'd look for a 4770/k or something like that.

[Aereldor]

It's arguably the best value in the Haswell family, as you don't need a Z-series motherboard to get the most out of it. However, if you already have a Z-series motherboard, a 4790k is a much better option. Even without any overclocking, it's already the better CPU, but once you start pushing that clock speed, it's on an entirely different motherboard.

Update your BIOS before you upgrade. Some Z87 boards won't even post with Haswell Refresh CPUs without the necessary BIOS update.

[anybodykek]

the new e3 1231 v5 is gud, it's skylake, #1 BETS THUMREL PEFRUMANS 

[TheKDub]

2 hours ago, Mkopiec said:

hi,

thinking about upgrading my pc and wondering if the xeon e3-1231 will be good for gaming?

help will be much appreciated

 

Not the absolute best, but it'll be a pretty decent choice, and should be able to last a few years easily.

[aisle9]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

It was ok in the day but it's not exactly that great now. There are better options. I'd look for a 4770/k or something like that.

It's going to attain X5650 status in a couple of years, perhaps better because there are tons of Haswell boards that can support it, in contrast to the smaller number of stupid-expensive LGA1366 boards out there for the X5650. Once those 1231s in server use start to be decommissioned and flood the market at $80-120, they'll be ripe for the picking for builders who either snap up surviving H81M boards for $40 or bust out the Z97 board they held on to for no apparent reason.

 

The hiccup could be if DDR3 becomes so scarce or so hopelessly obsolete that the benefits of the Xeon are just completely wiped out. That said, DDR2 has been gone for years by this point, but tons of it is still out there, and it's in use to this day. I don't expect DDR3 to hold the 1231V3 back.

 

TL;DR, the Xeon E3 1231V3 has a second life coming as a readily available editor/gamer on the dirt cheap. A 1231V3 paired with a used 1060 or 480 could be a formidable gamer for several years.