Are Core i5's no longer enough for gaming?

Dominic-Toretto · 30 Jun 2020 at 09:43

I have been playing COD Warzone lately with:
7600k @ 5.2GHz
1080TI @ 2GHz
@ 4K with a mix of high / medium / low settings and the game is barely holding 60fps.

I am seeing both CPU and GPU usage pegged at 100%. Does this sound correct

Any suggestions on a upgrade path if so?

jubei · 30 Jun 2020 at 10:07

Cod is just shoddy and broken mate. Google 100% cpu warzone and you will find many complaints from people with all kinds of rigs including 2080ti and 8700k etc. It seems to be almost random who can and can't play that game lol.

HangTime · 30 Jun 2020 at 10:08

7600K @ 5.2 is pretty strong from an IPC perspective so it might be a issue with cores/threads: https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews...c_performance_review_and_optimisation_guide/3
That said, at 4k perhaps just as likely to be a GPU bottleneck I think: https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews...c_performance_review_and_optimisation_guide/8
Might be worth benching at 1440p to see if that increases your FPS much, if it doesn't then it could point towards the CPU being the problem.

My gut feeling is a 5.2ghz Kabylake should be sufficient as I'd expect it to trounce most 4c/8t parts at stock speed.

kola · 30 Jun 2020 at 12:24

Squidward said:
I have been playing COD Warzone lately with:
7600k @ 5.2GHz
1080TI @ 2GHz
@ 4K with a mix of high / medium / low settings and the game is barely holding 60fps.

I am seeing both CPU and GPU usage pegged at 100%. Does this sound correct

Any suggestions on a upgrade path if so?

ive got a crappy 2500k and a 980ti everything low i can keep about 60fps

greatash · 30 Jun 2020 at 13:37

4 threads will limit framerate in a lot of modern games. Upgrade path is nonexistent on that platform, 7700k is the only choice, and for its price you can get a 3600 + mobo + ram so a change in platform will be needed.

10600k is decent if you want to stick to Intel, bit expensive for what you get though

Grim5 · 30 Jun 2020 at 21:53

jubei said:
Cod is just shoddy and broken mate. Google 100% cpu warzone and you will find many complaints from people with all kinds of rigs including 2080ti and 8700k etc. It seems to be almost random who can and can't play that game lol.

No problems here on my 3950x, CPU usage never above 20% in Warzone

CuriousTomCat · 30 Jun 2020 at 23:09

Well your specific i5 isn't good for gaming because it only has 4c/4t. Modern i5 processsors have more cores and threads.

jigger · 1 Jul 2020 at 00:31

CuriousTomCat said:
Well your specific i5 isn't good for gaming because it only has 4c/4t. Modern i5 processsors have more cores and threads.

Kabylake is as modern as anything else in Intels lineup.

~>Dg<~ · 1 Jul 2020 at 01:52

is fine. anyone telling you isnt. is daft. carry on.

tamzzy · 1 Jul 2020 at 04:55

As you have a pascal gpu, download the latest nvidia drivers and turn on hardware scheduling, should improve performance from what I've read so far (good for slower/less threaded processors with faster gpus)

Rroff · 1 Jul 2020 at 05:49

~>Dg<~ said:
is fine. anyone telling you isnt. is daft. carry on.

More recent games don't tend to run as well on a 4C/4T CPU.

greatash · 1 Jul 2020 at 06:44

~>Dg<~ said:
is fine. anyone telling you isnt. is daft. carry on.

Have you used a 4 thread CPU recently? I found some games to be unplayable with 100% CPU usage. and this was in 2018 nevermind 2020.

CuriousTomCat · 1 Jul 2020 at 08:03

jigger said:
Kabylake is as modern as anything else in Intels lineup.

Yes the architecture is. I was referring to the low number of cores/threads. The 7600K predates Ryzen, so a time when Intel's R&D department were playing board games all day.

Grim5 · 1 Jul 2020 at 08:35

Rroff said:
More recent games don't tend to run as well on a 4C/4T CPU.

Division 2 is a good example, the 4/4 7600k gets absolutely smashed by a ryzen 1600

welshrat · 1 Jul 2020 at 09:05

Yeah, best to start thinking about an upgrade in terms of cores, doesnt matter which although personally AMD offer far better value. I have moved myself and my 11 year old son to ryzens as he was struggling playing some games with me (he is actually now useful on my Bf5 squad) only my 7 year old is left with a 4 core i7 but hopefully he wont mind for a year or 2

Grim5 · 1 Jul 2020 at 10:56

Grim5 said:
Division 2 is a good example, the 4/4 7600k gets absolutely smashed by a ryzen 1600

Even vs Intel the difference is massive. And some here think 4c/4t CPU is still good lmao

welshrat · 1 Jul 2020 at 11:33

Might be worth replacing the 7600k with a 7700k if you can sell yours and get one cheap, at least then you can get by with 8 threads for a bit longer whilst you plan a bigger upgrade, although looking at auction sites they still hold around £200 so in my opinion its best to upgrade now.

EDIT
plus side is that 7600k with board etc still sell well so hopefully you can get a decent CPU and board for most of the money

Kirby Wurm · 1 Jul 2020 at 23:41

greatash said:
Have you used a 4 thread CPU recently? I found some games to be unplayable with 100% CPU usage. and this was in 2018 nevermind 2020.

Agreed, BF1 was the first game where I noticed big performance limitations on a 4690K. 4c/8t can still cope well but it all depends on the cost. If around £200 second hand for a 7700K then it makes no sense, sell the mobo/7600K and buy a 3600/B450 mobo or similar.

Journey · 1 Jul 2020 at 23:50

You are certainly not doing your 1080 Ti any justice by sticking with a 4c/4t CPU even at 7GHz it would still be pretty pants.

Sell your board/CPU/RAM (if slow) net about £180, buy a cheap B450/R5 3600/16GB PC3200 for ~£120 on top, enjoy a much more balanced system for the price of a few games.

C64 · 2 Jul 2020 at 03:17

8 core is probably a better long term path for high end gpu users, midrangers 6/12