Best CPU for gaming?

[smeek14]

So I currently run a i7 4790 and I would like to upgrade. I am looking for a CPU that would give me the best possible gaming performance and last me many years. My budget is under 800 dollars. I am looking to buy the new i9 10900k unless you guys know of a more powerful option for gaming within my budget.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, smeek14 said:

I am looking to buy the new i9 10900k unless you guys know of a more powerful option

you can't get higher performance than the 10900k, as much of a waste of money as it is. No guarantee that it will last you many years either.

[Jurrunio]

10900k, the hopefully last hurrah of 14nm. Dont recommend tbh. Besides Nvidia's next gen comes late this year so you might as well rebuild at that time.

[smeek14]

2 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

you can't get higher performance than the 10900k, as much of a waste of money as it is. No guarantee that it will last you many years either.

My current CPU is still good after 6 years.

[5x5]

The 10900K, but that is really not recommended. It's basically the last dying gasp of Intel's 14nm process. I'd suggest waiting for Zen 3 in September.

[smeek14]

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

10900k, the hopefully last hurrah of 14nm. Dont recommend tbh. Besides Nvidia's next gen comes late this year so you might as well rebuild at that time.

I got a RTX 2080 ti, I only upgrade every other generation.

[5x5]

Just now, smeek14 said:

My current CPU is still good after 6 years.

We can't predict the future. It's very possible that 5nm products in 2022-2023 just pull so far ahead that the 10900K becomes useless.

[smeek14]

Just now, 5x5 said:

The 10900K, but that is really not recommended. It's basically the last dying gasp of Intel's 14nm process. I'd suggest waiting for Zen 3 in September.

Is that AMD? Will it most likely provide better gaming performance?

[5x5]

Just now, smeek14 said:

Is that AMD? Will it most likely provide better gaming performance?

From what insider information I have - very much yes. Zen 3 is expected to bring at least 15% more IPC, the current goal is 20% more IPC over what current Intel/AMD CPUs offer.

[smeek14]

1 minute ago, Lord Vile said:

Unless you're using a 2080Ti to play esports games at 1080p anything over a 3700X is wasted money. At 1440p you become GPU bottlenecked for the most part.

I do 4k gaming. I want to keep this CPU for 4 years, 8 if possible. Sometimes my current i7 4790 bottlenecks. Is there a cheaper alternative you recommend?

[5x5]

Just now, smeek14 said:

I do 4k gaming. I want to keep this CPU for 4 years, 8 if possible. Sometimes my current i7 4790 bottlenecks. Is there a cheaper alternative you recommend?

The 10600K or 3700X. Personally, I'd get the 3700X since AM4 still has 1 more CPU generation coming whereas LGA1200 will not be compatible with Intel's next uArch redesign (there will be one more Skylake refresh on it but it wont really improve anything from current insider info)

[smeek14]

2 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

If you’re at 4K you could get any 6 or 8 core CPU from the last 2 gend and you’d be fine. 4K means your GPU will always be the limiting factor and there will be no difference between the best gaming CPU and a mid tier one. 

If I get a higher end processor will it last longer though?

 

I like to keep my tech for a really long time.

[5x5]

10 minutes ago, smeek14 said:

If I get a higher end processor will it last longer though?

 

I like to keep my tech for a really long time.

Possible but impossible to say. Again, there's no way to know whether Zen 4/*Something* Lake just makes everything before it irrelevant.

[smeek14]

13 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Possible but impossible to say. Again, there's no way to know whether Zen 4/*Something* Lake just makes everything before it irrelevant.

True. I heard that happened in the 2000s with the Pentium 4.

[5x5]

1 minute ago, smeek14 said:

True. I heard that happened in the 2000s with the Pentium 4.

Not only then. It also happened later with Core 2 and Sandy Bridge. And recently with Zen 1 and Kaby Lake (though i7s were unaffected, everything lower became a lot worse value when Zen launched). It's very possible that in 2 years, AMD or Intel launch an incredible new design that leaves current i9/Ryzen 9 models in the dust. That's why high end parts are not recommended and people buy mid range stuff such as i5 or Ryzen 5. In your case, Ryzen 7's price has come down so that would make a lot of sense if buying now.

[5x5]

1 minute ago, Lord Vile said:

To be fair sandy bridge to many lake was just increments. You didn’t really have to upgrade on intel until 8th Gen hit.

True but I don't think Intel will repeat that same mistake again

[5x5]

5 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

To be fair they make most of their money from prebuilt, laptop and enterprise I doubt they cared about people not upgrading.

Yeah but they also made money from pre-built and laptop users upgrading for the much needed performance (I mean, when your laptop is barely running Chrome, ever MHz counts (looking at the horrid 4000U models)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, smeek14 said:

If I get a higher end processor will it last longer though?

 

I like to keep my tech for a really long time.

Yes but you can always upgrade the cpu when it starts to struggle. A 3700X and B550 board (Due on the 16th) would be the best option. You can stick a R9 49xx in there later on.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

If you want an R9 in it I’d go X570

For what reason ?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Better power delivery. Wouldn’t really want a 3950X on a £80-100 board especially if they go for an even high core count. 

That isn't true at all, because boards like the MSI X570 Gaming Edge wifi and X570-A Pro exist. The chipset doesn't determine how good/bad the VRM is.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to CPUs, Motherboards and Memory

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Obviously you wouldn’t get the MSI boards they’re well known to be horrendous. In general the X570 boards have better power delivery than B boards. 

Maybe well known to you or me, but the op might not have been aware of that. Anyway I was suggesting he waits for B550 so kind of irrelevant. There are some good boards in that lineup.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

If you’re only putting in a R5 that’s not too bad but if you put a R7 or R9 and OC it you can draw a lot of power 

The B450 Tomahawk can handle a stock 3900X/3950X so you are wrong on that. And manual overclocking on Ryzen isn't worth it anyway. Also not sure why you are dismissing B550 boards when they are not even out yet. 

 

 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Did you miss the OC part in my post? 

Did you miss the part where I said overclocking on Ryzen is pointless ? What even is your point ? You are carrying on with a stupid argument over a B450 board that I didn't even suggest in the first place. 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Depends what you’re doing. If you have a R9 chip you will want to overclock because the only justification of that part is multithreaded workloads. 
 

B450 and B550 are the same class of board. The VRM is likely to be similar or identical the biggest change will be for PCIE 4. 

Go read up on Overclocking on Ryzen and you will see that the general consensus is it is not worth doing. The cpu can be left to boost on it's own.

 

No B450 and B550 are not the same class of board, far from it. Again you should go and do your research before making false comments.