The gaming community is full of BS

[TheMechEngineer]

The truth hurts, and I've found over the recent months that the gaming community would easily be the worst computer engineers on the entire planet. There are just so many myths and downright unsubstantiated lies that have mislead countless people into buying poor-performing gaming computers and wasting money on overkill components that make bugger-all difference.

 

I have to vent about this, because as an engineer it has made me downright frustrated at all the BS in the PC gaming community.

DISCLAIMER: I am no computer engineer, in fact I'm not even an electrical engineer....but I have a tendency to notice BS.

 

Here in this rant, I just wanted to list and rant about some of the many myths out there that can be so misleading for anyone building their first gaming computer.

 

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MYTH #1: You need an 18-core processor to get the best framerate possible.

 

This is #1 because it pisses me off so much. If it's the job of the CPU to increase framerate, then what's the graphics card doing?

Here's a hands-on experiment to try: Start up the most resource-intense game you have, and play it with Task Manager running in the background. After a while, check out the CPU usage.

Shock horror!! The CPU is doing almost _nothing_. Damn right it's doing nothing. If this myth were real, you'd think the CPU would be pegged out at 100% usage, but this is nonsense.

When you buy a standalone graphics card, it's the GPU that does all the work. That's why it's a....y'know....standalone card with it's own memory, and all that.

 

Before some people start mouthing off and asking about running a GTX Titan X SLI setup with an Intel Celeron. YES there are limits to this argument. It would be stupid to do that.

But if you're getting an 18-core processor expecting to get higher framerates, you're badly mistaken.

 

For more information, check out these videos (and notice how the Core i5's perform just as well as the Core i7's in gaming performance):

 

Heavyweight vs Lightweight CPU Showdown - Intel i7 5960X and Pentium G3258

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJACZ5iStWw

 

Best CPU For Gaming - 6700K, 4790K or 5930K?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOh19-No2Nw

 

MYTH #2: Overclocking your CPU from 3.4GHz to 4.8GHz increases game performance substantially.

 

Overclocking does bugger-all to help game performance.

Of course, this is very similar to myth #1, so....refer to the above.

But I know from _experience_ that this is the case. I have a Core 2 Duo gaming rig that I overclocked from 3.0GHz to 4.0GHz, which is a decent 33% increase in speed.

Testing with FurMark revealed that overclocking had yielded precisely bugger-all performance in FPS. We're literally talking an average of 21fps initially vs. 21fps after overclocking. Where's the massive performance gains, eh?

So essentially you're using much more electricity, producing much more heat, spending much more money on water cooling and shit to gain precisely....nothing.

What a bargain.

 

MYTH #3: You need 16GB or 32GB of 2400MHz DDR3 or DDR4 to get the best gaming performance.

 

You see the pattern here? These jerkbutts seem to think that everything besides the graphics card seems to increase framerate performance.

When I first bought my main Core i5 4670K computer, I went for 8GB of 2400MHz Geil Evo Potenza dual-channel RAM. Eventually I blew even more money by upgrading to 16GB of 2133MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM.

Now, faster RAM can be better for overclocking (really, you still want to do that?). But if your processor is only running on a 1600MHz interface, like my Core i5 4670K, you're only transferring data to the RAM at 1600MHz.

All that extra performance and money yields precisely....nothing.

Extra capacity also does nothing for performance. Is a 512GB SSD faster than a 256GB SSD? Of course not, because we're merely talking about an increase in capacity. There is bugger-all difference.

 

Linus did a great video about RAM, and it shows some performance graphs that clearly show the bugger-all performance gains:

 

High Speed RAM - Is It Worth It? DDR3 1333MHz vs 2400MHz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgzA2C61z4

 

MYTH #4: You need a Z87, Z97 or Z170 motherboard for overclocking.

 

Rubbish. You can do decent overclocking on even some budget motherboards, provided that the overclocking settings are accessible in the BIOS.

These motherboards CAN still be worth buying because only the Z-Series chipsets support SLI/Crossfire, as well as many other features like expansion and better onboard audio, but some of the budget motherboards can be great deals for much less money.

Do yourself a favour and research everything before jumping in and going straight for a Z97 motherboard.

 

MYTH #5: Make sure that you buy a case with intakes and open grilles on every surface, to make sure that you have the most cooling possible.

 

You also get the most dust possible.

All you need is a case with enough inlets to allow decent cooling and expansion, with dust filters wherever possible to keep your computer's #1 enemy on the outside.

Don't waste your money on a gaming case with more holes in it than a barrel used by the Russian army for target practice.

 

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I feel like these are five decent myths to mention, but there's definitely more out there relating to stuff like power supplies, monitors, audio hardware....you name it and there's a myth about it.

 

This isn't a personal thing attacking the LinusTechTips forum or anyone in particular, so there's no need to get all cray about it.

 

I reckon there is simply a need to highlight some of the BS out there, and hopefully it will be helpful to those wanting to build their own gaming computer for the first time.

[Muz]

Never heard "The gaming community" say half this bullcrap.

[AlwaysFSX]

Myth #Allofthem

 

People in the gaming community think they know how everything under the hood of games works, and are self-proclaimed experts.

 

I think that about sums it all up.

[mansoor_]

I'm pretty sure linus had videos covering all of these topics years ago. 

[Bogica]

Just consult someone with half a brain and not some kid whos parents bought him an Nvidia Titan that's full of shit.
Also, your myth that overclocking doesn't increase performance. How about you take your core 2 duo, slap a GTX 980 on it and overclock it from 3.0 to 4.0 and see the difference in the framerate.
There are CPU intensive games and then there are not. I could probably buy a Nvidia GT 610, underclock my i5 to 1GHz and have the same framerate I have when it's on 4.5GHz, because the bottleneck is the shitty GPU.

[TheMechEngineer]

Never heard "The gaming community" say half this bullcrap.

 

Not always, in fact it's pretty rare here on the LTT forum.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

 

MYTH #1: You need an 18-core processor to get the best framerate possible.

 

 

MYTH #2: Overclocking your CPU from 3.4GHz to 4.8GHz increases game performance substantially.

 

 

MYTH #3: You need 16GB or 32GB of 2400MHz DDR3 or DDR4 to get the best gaming performance.

 

 

MYTH #4: You need a Z87, Z97 or Z170 motherboard for overclocking.

 

 

MYTH #5: Make sure that you buy a case with intakes and open grilles on every surface, to make sure that you have the most cooling possible.

 

pretty surer there's a video for all these things from linus, also first time hearing this claim, i know some people dont know but where exactly is this gaming community you gathered from ? 

[Muz]

Not always, in fact it's pretty rare here on the LTT forum.

Well, if I hear a peasant say any of these myths I'll be sure to link them to this thread.

[Marvzl1357]

Are you sure you're talking about the "gaming community" and not the "people who """"think"""" they know lots about computers because bigger numbers == better" community? coz I haven't heard half of the stuff you're ranting about. At least not on this forum.

 

What I've seen and remembered on this forum, largely occupied by gamers/tech enthusiasts, is "don't get an i7 extreme and an x99 deluxe board, an i5 is plenty sufficient, take that budget and invest it in a better gpu"

 

Edit: but yes, unfortunately there are many people who you CAN apply this rant to.

[Bogica]

Are you sure you're talking about the "gaming community" and not the "people who """"think"""" they know lots about computers because bigger numbers == better" community? coz I haven't heard half of the stuff you're ranting about. At least not on this forum.

 

What I've seen and remembered on this forum, largely occupied by gamers/tech enthusiasts, is "don't get an i7 extreme and an x99 deluxe board, an i5 is plenty sufficient, take that budget and invest it in a better gpu"

 

Edit: but yes, unfortunately there are many people who you CAN apply this rant to.

Exactly, the first question is if you will render or use professional software or stream, if the answer is no, get an i5 and invest in a better GPU for higher framerates. It's that simple!

[NeatSquidYT]

No offense, but the way you worded some of these made you sound like an arrogant prick, as well as some of the complete bs in there.

Such as the overclocking one. FurMark may not have utilised the extra clock speed, but something like GTA V would, where CPUs are used to their max.

[CydiaDash]

Only heard people say "myth" number four...

[harrynowl]

Last i checked furmark wasn't a game

[FunkyFeatures]

I hate it when someone has SLI graphics cards, locked processor and Z series motherboard, gets told to not get the Z series. Come on. Z series are the only ones supporting SLI!

 

Thanks for updating main thread m8

[Sakkura]

MYTH #2: Overclocking your CPU from 3.4GHz to 4.8GHz increases game performance substantially.

 

Overclocking does bugger-all to help game performance.

Of course, this is very similar to myth #1, so....refer to the above.

But I know from _experience_ that this is the case. I have a Core 2 Duo gaming rig that I overclocked from 3.0GHz to 4.0GHz, which is a decent 33% increase in speed.

Testing with FurMark revealed that overclocking had yielded precisely bugger-all performance in FPS. We're literally talking an average of 21fps initially vs. 21fps after overclocking. Where's the massive performance gains, eh?

So essentially you're using much more electricity, producing much more heat, spending much more money on water cooling and shit to gain precisely....nothing.

What a bargain.

 

MYTH #3: You need 16GB or 32GB of 2400MHz DDR3 or DDR4 to get the best gaming performance.

 

You see the pattern here? These jerkbutts seem to think that everything besides the graphics card seems to increase framerate performance.

When I first bought my main Core i5 4670K computer, I went for 8GB of 2400MHz Geil Evo Potenza dual-channel RAM. Eventually I blew even more money by upgrading to 16GB of 2133MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM.

Now, faster RAM can be better for overclocking (really, you still want to do that?). But if your processor is only running on a 1600MHz interface, like my Core i5 4670K, you're only transferring data to the RAM at 1600MHz.

All that extra performance and money yields precisely....nothing.

Extra capacity also does nothing for performance. Is a 512GB SSD faster than a 256GB SSD? Of course not, because we're merely talking about an increase in capacity. There is bugger-all difference.

 

Linus did a great video about RAM, and it shows some performance graphs that clearly show the bugger-all performance gains:

 

High Speed RAM - Is It Worth It? DDR3 1333MHz vs 2400MHz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgzA2C61z4

 

MYTH #4: You need a Z87, Z97 or Z170 motherboard for overclocking.

 

Rubbish. You can do decent overclocking on even some budget motherboards, provided that the overclocking settings are accessible in the BIOS.

These motherboards CAN still be worth buying because only the Z-Series chipsets support SLI/Crossfire, as well as many other features like expansion and better onboard audio, but some of the budget motherboards can be great deals for much less money.

Do yourself a favour and research everything before jumping in and going straight for a Z97 motherboard.

 

#2: Wrong. It depends on the CPU and the game, but you can definitely see a very significant performance boost from overclocking the CPU. Using Furmark as evidence is completely retarded, since Furmark is a dedicated GPU stress test.

 

#3: The main statement is correct. But your claim that "if your processor is only running on a 1600MHz interface, like my Core i5 4670K, you're only transferring data to the RAM at 1600MHz" is total bullshit.

 

#4: Guess what, Intel usually makes sure CPU multiplier overclocking isn't possible on the non-Z boards. They slip up sometimes, that's all.

[NeatSquidYT]

Last i checked furmark wasn't a game

^^

 

iirc it's basically a GPU test to check GPU temps when pushed to the max

[Bsmith]

Guess to where listening to trolls, never heard anyone say that shit

[TheMechEngineer]

No offense, but the way you worded some of these made you sound like an arrogant prick, as well as some of the complete bs in there.

Such as the overclocking one. FurMark may not have utilised the extra clock speed, but something like GTA V would, where CPUs are used to their max.

 

No problem, yeah you have a good point. Hey I could've done it better.

It's like how Minecraft is a more CPU-intensive game than most others, it really depends on the game.

I could've used a real game, but I don't really have any decent games for testing purposes so I decided to benchmark instead.

 

EDIT: I originally wanted to use Cinebench, but my Core 2 Duo computer is running Windows XP....

[NeatSquidYT]

 

It's like how Minecraft is a more CPU-intensive game than most others, it really depends on the game.

Because Java is shit and needs to die.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I have my gripes with your reason for MYTH 4. It is true that you don't need Z boards to overclock but not all of the other boards have the capability to overclock the chips. I am very wary when telling someone else that you don't need Z board to overclock because chances are they don't have much overclocking experience if not they would've already known this and the potential problems that come with it. Some kid might buy a K cpu with a budget H81 board and start overclocking. 

 

That's something I'd like to avoid. Unless its a pentium then things are different. Generally when a first time builder asks for A i5/i7 K and a motherboard for overclocking, I'll never ask them to grab a motherboard without official overclocking support.

 

I do know that some H87/97 boards can overclock alright. IIRC there was a bug in the bios of the Asrock H87 Fatal1ty Performance board that made overclocking easier on K chips but newer ones had new bios that corrected the "problem". 

[DXMember]

because 90% of gamers are 4th ~ 9th graders?

[TheMechEngineer]

Because Java is shit and needs to die.

 

I know right? I kid you not, my CPU actually runs hotter with vanilla Minecraft than it does when it's running Skyrim.

[Lays]

No problem, yeah you have a good point. Hey I could've done it better.

It's like how Minecraft is a more CPU-intensive game than most others, it really depends on the game.

I could've used a real game, but I don't really have any decent games for testing purposes so I decided to benchmark instead.

EDIT: I originally wanted to use Cinebench, but my Core 2 Duo computer is running Windows XP....

If you are going to use benchmarks as an example you should probably use ones that actually utilize the cpu, firestrike, etc.

The difference in your overall system score will be lots higher, and a lot of the times your graphics scores will go up as well.

Also, about the whole motherboard thing.. Sure there are lower end non z97 boards you can overclock with. Does that mean you should? Probably not, half of them have shitty vrm design and absolutely terrible heatsinks on them.

A few extra hundred mhz sure, but shooting for the stars sure as hell isn't going to end well.

[Manny Calavera]

OH you are engineer? Well done, Pls point this out more. Tap your back. 

 

 

 

MYTH #1: You need an 18-core processor to get the best framerate possible. BS No.1 Spotted: Extremities.

 

This is #1 because it pisses me off so much. If it's the job of the CPU to increase framerate, then what's the graphics card doing?

Here's a hands-on experiment to try: Start up the most resource-intense game you have, and play it with Task Manager running in the background. After a while, check out the CPU usage.

Shock horror!! The CPU is doing almost _nothing_. Damn right it's doing nothing. If this myth were real, you'd think the CPU would be pegged out at 100% usage, but this is nonsense.

When you buy a standalone graphics card, it's the GPU that does all the work. That's why it's a....y'know....standalone card with it's own memory, and all that.

 

BS No.2 Spotted: GPU doesnt run AI etc.. code on it, entirely CPUs job 

 

 

 

Before some people start mouthing off and asking about running a GTX Titan X SLI setup with an Intel Celeron. YES there are limits to this argument. It would be stupid to do that.

But if you're getting an 18-core processor expecting to get higher framerates, you're badly mistaken.

 

For more information, check out these videos (and notice how the Core i5's perform just as well as the Core i7's in gaming performance):

 

Heavyweight vs Lightweight CPU Showdown - Intel i7 5960X and Pentium G3258

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJACZ5iStWw

 

Best CPU For Gaming - 6700K, 4790K or 5930K?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOh19-No2Nw

 
BS No.3 Spotted

If you want higher framerate, you need both better gpu and better cpu, also it depends on game. As more framerate you have, the code has to be run more times. Entirely depends on the intensity on cpu for each example.

 

MYTH #2: Overclocking your CPU from 3.4GHz to 4.8GHz increases game performance substantially.

 

Yes it does. If game doesnt only need 3ghz, fine you wont notice difference, but performance of cpu IS substantial.

Just to show you

3.4 * 4 = 13.6

-

4.8 * 4 = 19.2 

            = 5.6

Thats like having 4 core + 1 more core running at 5.6, so 5 core on steroids

Yes, you can count like that

 

BS N.4 Spotted: Generalization 

Overclocking does bugger-all to help game performance.

Of course, this is very similar to myth #1, so....refer to the above.

But I know from _experience_ that this is the case. I have a Core 2 Duo gaming rig that I overclocked from 3.0GHz to 4.0GHz, which is a decent 33% increase in speed.

Testing with FurMark revealed that overclocking had yielded precisely bugger-all performance in FPS. We're literally talking an average of 21fps initially vs. 21fps after overclocking. Where's the massive performance gains, eh?

So essentially you're using much more electricity, producing much more heat, spending much more money on water cooling and shit to gain precisely....nothing.

What a bargain.

 

I reckon there is simply a need to highlight some of the BS out there, and hopefully it will be helpful to those wanting to build their own gaming computer for the first time.

If you want to prove something, post benchmarks, not some out-of-your-ass smartass subjective BS

 

You do have some valid points tho

[Wiplive]

The main thing is that gamers suggest PC specs with the lowest end i5 and GTX 970. It's like all people do is game. I better get i5 4690K and GTX 960 and overclock them both and I can use it for Adobe CC and programming better than i5 4430.