Whats is the ideal core count for gaming these days?

[MekaStrix]

Hi,

 

So DX12 is out and has been out for a little while the way I understand it is that just because dx12 can utilise more cores doesn't mean you need more cores average fps between your normal quad core i7 will be similar to that of a 6 core i7? or does more cores really make a difference with dx12 and games in the future or are strong single threaded quad cores still the best for gaming machines?

 

 

[rn8686]

4 is fine, games dont really need more. 

[tlink]

its still at 4 really. after that the returns for more cores is so little that its not worth the money.

[MekaStrix]

1 minute ago, rn8686 said:

4 is fine, games dont really need more. 

I've heard battlefield 1 maxes out a quad core i7 to 100% I don't personally own the game yet but I wonder if that would be the case on my 8 core I plan on changing my 8 core to a 7700k as I don't get great single thread performance which is what I use mostly 

[joshfrog]

yeah 4 is best it then comes down to if you want hyperthreading or overclocking 

[rn8686]

2 minutes ago, MekaStrix said:

I've heard battlefield 1 maxes out a quad core i7 to 100% I don't personally own the game yet but I wonder if that would be the case on my 8 core I plan on changing my 8 core to a 7700k as I don't get great single thread performance which is what I use mostly 

It shouldn't be a problem, LTT made a video proving this: 

 

[MekaStrix]

Just now, tlink said:

its still at 4 really. after that the returns for more cores is so little that its not worth the money.

The way i've seen it is that the more cores you throw in a cpu the worse the single threaded performance gets the 6700k and 7700k aren't far behind the 6800k and 5820k in terms of multicore at stock once you start overclocking the  6800 and 5820k get a nice boost in multicore but oc doesn't have a massive effect on frame rate from my experience 

[MekaStrix]

3 minutes ago, rn8686 said:

It shouldn't be a problem, LTT made a video proving this: 

 

This is helpful thanks might have helped me make my mind up and get a 7700k and a Z270 strix motherboard and sell the 5960x

[Morgan MLGman]

10 minutes ago, MekaStrix said:

This is helpful thanks might have helped me make my mind up and get a 7700k and a Z270 strix motherboard and sell the 5960x

If you have the 5960X, don't sell it. It's a much better CPU than the 7700K.

[Dabombinable]

4 cores, 8 threads. 4 cores for games, 4 hyperthreads for all of the background tasks-meaning higher minimum FPS and lower frametimes.

[SeanAngelo]

27 minutes ago, MekaStrix said:

Hi,

 

So DX12 is out and has been out for a little while the way I understand it is that just because dx12 can utilise more cores doesn't mean you need more cores average fps between your normal quad core i7 will be similar to that of a 6 core i7? or does more cores really make a difference with dx12 and games in the future or are strong single threaded quad cores still the best for gaming machines?

 

 

4 cores is ideal nowadays.

[MarcoTexture]

4 cores + HT(if you plan to stream or do something else)

[MekaStrix]

9 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

If you have the 5960X, don't sell it. It's a much better CPU than the 7700K.

I can't run above 3ghz with it which seems a shame I use to run it at 4.5ghz with my old cooling setup 

[MekaStrix]

4 minutes ago, MarcoTexture said:

4 cores + HT(if you plan to stream or do something else)

doesn't resolution have something to do with which cpu will work best cause at 1080p the cpu is more important than running at 4k isn't it?

[tlink]

7 minutes ago, MekaStrix said:

doesn't resolution have something to do with which cpu will work best cause at 1080p the cpu is more important than running at 4k isn't it?

yea thats because 4k is more gpu intensive to render which leaves the cpu with more room to catch up to it.

[MekaStrix]

26 minutes ago, tlink said:

yea thats because 4k is more gpu intensive to render which leaves the cpu with more room to catch up to it.

ah so a faster cpu will still be useful for 4k but would mean more of a gpu bottleneck rather than a cpu bottleneck?

[tlink]

1 hour ago, MekaStrix said:

ah so a faster cpu will still be useful for 4k but would mean more of a gpu bottleneck rather than a cpu bottleneck?

well that entirely depends on the game. its not a clear cut case. for example rendering a game at 4k with only 1 AI will be way less cpu intensive than rendering at 4k with 200 AI's. and a game at 1080 p with 1 AI might use less cpu power than a game at 4k with 200 AI's. some games also are badly optimized so they mainly will benefit from a higher coreclock on the same architecture while other applications may bennefit more from more cores rather than higher clockspeeds. it all depends on how its programmed. 

[MorganO]

2 hours ago, MekaStrix said:

I can't run above 3ghz with it which seems a shame I use to run it at 4.5ghz with my old cooling setup 

Get better cooling then

[MekaStrix]

8 hours ago, KOMTechAndGaming said:

Get better cooling then

Already got the best I possibly can get without going custom loop and I don't want to go down the custom loop route again too much hassle over of the shelf cooling solutions

[MorganO]

4 minutes ago, MekaStrix said:

Already got the best I possibly can get without going custom loop and I don't want to go down the custom loop route again too much hassle over of the shelf cooling solutions

What cpu cooler do you have 

[MekaStrix]

1 minute ago, KOMTechAndGaming said:

What cpu cooler do you have 

h115i at current with ML140 fans but I have ordered an NZXT Kraken X62 to go with my S340 Elite when it arrives I might try it out on the 5960x it wasn't so much the heat that was annoying me but the noise that the cooler had to get up to, to control the temps of the 5960x the other reason I was considering changing to the 7700k was because I keep getting terrible frame rates in Cities Skylines which I play quite a bit and was told it was my CPU because apparently that game doesn't like anything above 6 cores and runs dominantly on 3 cores with high single thread performance or something wasn't really sure what the guy was on about but my friend has a 4790k and gets constant frame rates above 40fps with a 970 I'm running a GTX1080 and I drop down to 18fps when zoomed in that game

[Paradine Sage]

It's still four cores at the moment but expect it to jump up within the next five years or so.

 

The problem is that most legacy game engines are not designed for creating massively multi-threaded games. As games transition to newer engines that make programming a game that does scale with available cores much simpler, expect that to change and change rapidly.

 

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if most of the next gen AAA games can scale to however many cores are available with noticeable performance benefits from doing so. Then you have the increasing use of AI and life like games, all of which favor more cores as opposed to just a higher clock speed.

[Morgan Everett]

Six, because that's what I have.

 

Really, though, you need to think about not only performance today, which scales, and has scaled, with greater numbers of threads than people often realise, but tomorrow. 

[MekaStrix]

18 hours ago, Morgan Everett said:

Six, because that's what I have.

 

Really, though, you need to think about not only performance today, which scales, and has scaled, with greater numbers of threads than people often realise, but tomorrow. 

Kind of seems a waste though having a 5960x at the moment if later on I can get 8 cores cheaper but I don't think my 5960x is worth a lot anyway now so might just keep it

[Morgan Everett]

1 hour ago, MekaStrix said:

Kind of seems a waste though having a 5960x at the moment if later on I can get 8 cores cheaper but I don't think my 5960x is worth a lot anyway now so might just keep it

I'd just keep it, since it'll be good for awhile.