CPU's - how to buy? What to compare?

satanicguardian · 3 May 2013 at 11:17

Hey everyone, question that's been niggling at me for a long time - what is the best way to compare CPU performance?

I mean obviously the simplistic view would be "more cores, faster clock = better" but I don't think that's true, take into account how the cpu actually handles threads, so hmmmm...

can performance be judged on Gflops, or can certain cpu's be better at certain things?

What is the best way to compare them!?

andybird123 · 3 May 2013 at 11:31

gflops is one measure, however when making a purchasing decision you really need to find reviews of the CPU in question and compare the results in the type of applications you tend to run

you then need to try to find out to what extent that CPU can normally be overclocked

a 3930k overclocked to 4.5ghz will give a much higher gflops than say a 3570k at the same clock... however if you are primarily gaming on a single graphics card, it won't make much of a difference

satanicguardian · 3 May 2013 at 11:49

Well the main game I play is wow, which as you may know is built on an ancient, cpu dependent game engine, so the more oomph from cpu the better - What is it that makes the 3930k give so many more Gflops than the 3570k if the clock is the same? How can I establish why it's able to do this? Is it cause it handles threads better or?

ubersonic · 3 May 2013 at 12:04

satanicguardian said:
What is it that makes the 3930k give so many more Gflops than the 3570k if the clock is the same? How can I establish why it's able to do this? Is it cause it handles threads better or?

It has six physical cores and can hyperthread so has 12 logical cores, the 3570K has four cores and cannot hyperthread so has 4 logical cores.

For WoW performance, you want a 64bit chip, with at least 3 cores, preferably made by Intel, and as fast and as new as possible, but not necessarily in that order.

satanicguardian · 3 May 2013 at 12:16

So could you make a suggestion (for a sensible price, I'm skint!) that would be ideal for wow? I currently run an AMD setup so have AM3 boards

los · 3 May 2013 at 12:32

If your skint then AMD are always cheaper, could think about a FX6300 or 6350, dont know if your mobo supports AM3+?
I run wow with it ok

los · 3 May 2013 at 12:34

Oh they are about 100-110 I think or if you want to spend a bit more then a 8320 or 8350, but I belive I5's are normally the choice for gaming, dont know which one though.

satanicguardian · 3 May 2013 at 12:42

yeah my motherboard does, it's a pricey RoG board ;3 I would like to try intel again, i love amd but it's been 4 years since i've had an intel rig, I loved my Q6600

olivier renault · 4 May 2013 at 11:24

2500K second hand retail, £120.
Z68 motherboard second hand, £60.
Total : £180.

3570K, £170.
Z77 motherboard, £80.
Total : £250.

You shopuld have the DDR3 memory.

olivier renault · 4 May 2013 at 11:25

satanicguardian said:
yeah my motherboard does, it's a pricey RoG board ;3 I would like to try intel again, i love amd but it's been 4 years since i've had an intel rig, I loved my Q6600

If you have a good AM3 motherboard, compatible with Piledriver, then yeah, a FX6 / FX8 might be an option. Look for reviews of them compared to Intels see if it's acceptable, because the AMDs are more sensitive to the type games than the intels.

But to be fair, a 1055T at over 4GHz is still a formidable CPU.

Alkalinepro5 · 4 May 2013 at 11:43

Bare in mind CPU improements since 2011 are insignificant in terms of performance. You really have to question whether anything is worth upgrading from an overclocked 1055T.

If I was you I would just upgrade your GPU once the new Radeon 8000 / GTX700 series hit the shelves. In a year and a bit we will have Broadwell / Haswell-E which will be based on DDR4. You don't want to be kicking yourself for making a pointless upgrade now.

Ivy-E / Haswell are just the same as SB-E / Ivybridge. Spec-for-spec, but with a die shrink. Just save your money and invest in the one part which actually makes a difference in game performance (GPU).

joeyjojo · 4 May 2013 at 13:38

satanicguardian said:
So could you make a suggestion (for a sensible price, I'm skint!) that would be ideal for wow? I currently run an AMD setup so have AM3 boards

Is this your board? http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/formula/crosshair-iv-formula/

If it is, the AMD 6100 and 8120/8150 are in the CPU support list (albeit with "Beta support"). I'm not sure how much success people have had with piledriver (8350 etc.), e.g. this thread http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?25013-Crosshair-IV-Formula-8320-8350

At stock the difference in WOW is pretty huge between the 1055T and 8350 (50% faster!) but of course yours isn't at stock. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=697

Cheapest and least headache option will be to buy a newer AM3+ processor and keep the rest of your kit so I would look into that first.

Nuclear Fusion · 4 May 2013 at 13:51

Alkalinepro5 said:
Ivy-E / Haswell are just the same as SB-E / Ivybridge. Spec-for-spec, but with a die shrink. Just save your money and invest in the one part which actually makes a difference in game performance (GPU).

Actually, it is IB that is the die shrink of SB, Haswell is on the same 22nm process as IB but with a new architecture. IB-E will be a die shrink of SB-E however.

arknor · 4 May 2013 at 14:03

compare CPU performance here
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=363
Just choose what CPU's you want to compare from the drop down menu

obviously they only show stock performance but you still get a good idea

You really have to question whether anything is worth upgrading from an overclocked 1055T.

it is for games that only use 1-2 cores where single thread performance is key , 1055t are great still in well coded games that can distribute the workload fairly effectively but for older games like WOW they aren't so brilliant

satanicguardian · 6 May 2013 at 12:19

Alkalinepro5 said:
Bare in mind CPU improements since 2011 are insignificant in terms of performance. You really have to question whether anything is worth upgrading from an overclocked 1055T.

If I was you I would just upgrade your GPU once the new Radeon 8000 / GTX700 series hit the shelves. In a year and a bit we will have Broadwell / Haswell-E which will be based on DDR4. You don't want to be kicking yourself for making a pointless upgrade now.

Ivy-E / Haswell are just the same as SB-E / Ivybridge. Spec-for-spec, but with a die shrink. Just save your money and invest in the one part which actually makes a difference in game performance (GPU).

Well I mainly play WoW, and after lots of research, wow seems much more cpu dependent

satanicguardian · 6 May 2013 at 12:21

joeyjojo said:
Is this your board? http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/formula/crosshair-iv-formula/

If it is, the AMD 6100 and 8120/8150 are in the CPU support list (albeit with "Beta support"). I'm not sure how much success people have had with piledriver (8350 etc.), e.g. this thread http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?25013-Crosshair-IV-Formula-8320-8350

At stock the difference in WOW is pretty huge between the 1055T and 8350 (50% faster!) but of course yours isn't at stock. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=697

Cheapest and least headache option will be to buy a newer AM3+ processor and keep the rest of your kit so I would look into that first.

Yeah that's my board

I'm pretty sure a cpu upgrade would do a lot more for me than gpu at the moment, my gpu still ***** over most games at 1680x1050 on ultra, all the new call of duties, bioshock infinite etc. and considering I play wow 90% of the time.. :O

Phixsator · 11 May 2013 at 13:37

satanicguardian said:
Yeah that's my board I'm pretty sure a cpu upgrade would do a lot more for me than gpu at the moment, my gpu still ***** over most games at 1680x1050 on ultra, all the new call of duties, bioshock infinite etc. and considering I play wow 90% of the time.. :O

Spite what ubersonic hinted regarding intel being the better choice for your wow experience I would like to point out as a former WoW player during the latest expansion that my experience on the 8350 at stock speeds has been fantastic. I got more than enough fps (well over 60) nomatter what I did, be it 40 man open world raiding with 40 alliances trying to kill us at the same time, or something else intensive(like city hub during primetime). This was with every setting maxed out @ 1080p with shadows 1 step down from ultra(performance hog for no visible difference).

Yes an intel i5 or i7 will get you better results in this game but since its not a twitch game where more FPS will benefit you(above the standard 60) there is really no point in paying for it if money could be spent else where and maybe even start a saving on a proper SSD if you don't have one already which will make your PC much more enjoyable.

satanicguardian · 15 May 2013 at 09:30

Phixsator said:
Spite what ubersonic hinted regarding intel being the better choice for your wow experience I would like to point out as a former WoW player during the latest expansion that my experience on the 8350 at stock speeds has been fantastic. I got more than enough fps (well over 60) nomatter what I did, be it 40 man open world raiding with 40 alliances trying to kill us at the same time, or something else intensive(like city hub during primetime). This was with every setting maxed out @ 1080p with shadows 1 step down from ultra(performance hog for no visible difference).

Yes an intel i5 or i7 will get you better results in this game but since its not a twitch game where more FPS will benefit you(above the standard 60) there is really no point in paying for it if money could be spent else where and maybe even start a saving on a proper SSD if you don't have one already which will make your PC much more enjoyable.

Hmm sounds like a good plan

means I don't have to spend a lot - is my board still a decent board? Is there a massive difference between my 1055t and an 8350 then? :O

solado · 15 May 2013 at 11:35

I played WoW on a 8320 chip and ended up with 80+ FPS in well populated areas and raids. This was at stock speed, my GPU is a 6850 so quite dated by today's levels but worked fine. At no point did I feel the need to change my system to play.

This was of cause at 1920x1080 resolution and a mixture of high / ultra quality.

wozzizname · 15 May 2013 at 14:32

I've just got an 8350 to go with my 7970 gpu - WoW plays great with everything on Ultra settings at 1920*1080