More than 8-10 CPU cores just for games, is it pointless?

[HRL]

Games which utilise more than 8 threads are the exception but they are out there. Most games so far don't really utilise beyond 6 cores / 12 threads but games like CP2077 for instance while mostly doesn't demand it there are areas where 8 cores / 16 threads provides a small advantage (though it doesn't really need 16 threads but needs at least 8 real cores and around 10-12 threads in those circumstances or you will see GPU utilisation from from mid to high 90s to low 80s).

Played CP2077 for the first time since upgrading PC.

From a 2700X & 3090FE it was just about playable at 4K max settings but a little juddery here and there, to my new 5950X and the same GPU, absolutely smooth as silk.

Not sure if it’s the IPC improvements or sheer number of cores but it’s gone from just about playable to what I’d hoped it would run like on a 3090 with RT.

Might actually get around to playing it now.

 

[Rroff]

Played CP2077 for the first time since upgrading PC.

From a 2700X & 3090FE it was just about playable at 4K max settings but a little juddery here and there, to my new 5950X and the same GPU, absolutely smooth as silk.

Not sure if it’s the IPC improvements or sheer number of cores but it’s gone from just about playable to what I’d hoped it would run like on a 3090 with RT.

Might actually get around to playing it now.

There was an update BTW at some point that improved smoothness and performance on Ryzen CPUs.

Game seems to run just oddly on a lot of hardware. My ageing 6 core 12 thread Xeon runs the game, aside from some areas where it clearly needs at least 8 real threads, very smoothly and much better than many people are seeing on newer CPUs and in many cases people are seeing impacted performance. As I mentioned before I can play for about 2 hours before suddenly the framerate drops from a smooth 60 to stuttery 45 FPS while some people for some reason see a stuttery 45 FPS straight away.

I'm curious what hardware the game was developed and optimised on as I don't think they've really done much work for newer CPUs aside from the post-release Ryzen fix.

As an aside in many games the 5000 series Ryzen has around 40% 1% lows uplift over previous generation CPUs as well as having some latency improvements - that really can contribute to games feeling much smoother.

 

[HRL]

Fair points if an update improved things but I tried it last week and it was a bit poor, this week on the new CPU and it’s massively better.

Update out in the past week then?

Either way, I’m actually going to put some time into the game now before the ME Legendary Edition comes out.

 

[Rroff]

Fair points if an update improved things but I tried it last week and it was a bit poor, this week on the new CPU and it’s massively better.

Update out in the past week then?

Either way, I’m actually going to put some time into the game now before the ME Legendary Edition comes out.

The original CPU fix update was shortly after release - I've not checked the latest patch though to see if any further improvements - they were tweaking the memory optimisation, etc. in recent patches.

 

[LordBeggar]

I noticed that some games do benefit from the 10900/10850's 10 CPU cores, but the difference is small vs 8 core CPUs like the 10700k and 5800X.

None of the CPU benchmarks I looked at showed any advantage in gaming for CPUs above 10 cores.

So, should gamers stick to 8-10 core CPUs for now? Then save their money for AMD 5nm /10nm Intel CPUs released in the next 1-2 years? Surely, that would be much better bang for buck?

Also, PS5/Series X games are optimised/designed for 8 CPU cores, so I'm doubtful most developers will bother optimizing for 10 or more CPU cores on PC ports.

All you need is 6 cores maximum for a game. 5600X performs same as 595X when it comes to gaming

 

[g67575]

All you need is 6 cores maximum for a game. 5600X performs same as 595X when it comes to gaming

I think this is only true for the 5600X, which seems to get excellent performance in just about every game. It's a very efficient CPU and a significant upgrade.

Most other 6 core CPUs will perform significantly less well though. Cyberpunk 2077 seems to prefer 8 core CPUs though. 8 core CPUs can also offer faster turn times in games like Warhammer II and Civilization 6, but the difference isn't massive.

 

[_Cereal_]

changed from a 5600x to a 5800x (it will sound pointless but i barely spent any extra money since i paid 307 quid for the 5800x), honestly I dont really notice any difference when it comes to gaming performance right now, it clocks slightly higher though which is nice, i dont intend to change CPU for 4, 5 years so i am kinda hoping it will age better since consoles are using 8 core Ryzen CPUs and i have it paired with a beefy 3090, i believe Cyberpunk already gets increased from extra CPU cores but honestly i dont have the game.

 

[Joxeon]

I think this is only true for the 5600X, which seems to get excellent performance in just about every game. It's a very efficient CPU and a significant upgrade.

Most other 6 core CPUs will perform significantly less well though. Cyberpunk 2077 seems to prefer 8 core CPUs though. 8 core CPUs can also offer faster turn times in games like Warhammer II and Civilization 6, but the difference isn't massive.

The 11400F seems to perform the same as a 5600X at 1440P or above and even at 1080P it's only within a couple of percent and being half the price makes the 5600X poor value, ok you can drop in 5900X or so in a couple of years time but when's it ever really been worth it to upgrade CPUs on the same gen for gaming vs just getting something newer especially now with the gains we're seeing every year.

 

[_Cereal_]

The 11400F seems to perform the same as a 5600X at 1440P or above and even at 1080P it's only within a couple of percent and being half the price makes the 5600X poor value, ok you can drop in 5900X or so in a couple of years time but when's it ever really been worth it to upgrade CPUs on the same gen for gaming vs just getting something newer especially now with the gains we're seeing every year.

Honestly most youtubers said the exact same when comparing the 3600 to the 5600x in 1440p and i ended up having huge gains on some games (Battlefield V multiplayer was a big difference honestly), comparing mostly GPU bound games yeah.... you not gonna see any difference, start playing MMO, racing SIMS, even most "Esports" titles (CS GO, overwatch, valorant) and you will see Ryzen 3 pulling much ahead.
Should most pc users go for a 11400f and spend the money difference on a better GPU? yes, but for someone already using a 3080/90 or a 6800/900 I would totally recommend any Ryzen 3 CPU over a 11400f.

 

[Joxeon]

Honestly most youtubers said the exact same when comparing the 3600 to the 5600x in 1440p and i ended up having huge gains on some games (Battlefield V multiplayer was a big difference honestly), comparing mostly GPU bound games yeah.... you not gonna see any difference, start playing MMO, racing SIMS, even most "Esports" titles (CS GO, overwatch, valorant) and you will see Ryzen 3 pulling much ahead.
Should most pc users go for a 11400f and spend the money difference on a better GPU? yes, but for someone already using a 3080/90 or a 6800/900 I would totally recommend any Ryzen 3 CPU over a 11400f.

Realistically even in those esports games your going to be pulling like 300+ fps on either CPU so unless your playing for a living it probably won't matter. Also the 11400F is much closer to a 5600X than a 3600 is.

But yeah I get your point that if your buying something like 3090 in the first place your probably not bothered in getting VFM and just want the best but then also in that case getting a 5800X is probably also the better option for slightly higher fps, better 1% lows and futureproofing.

The 5600X is in the odd position of being the budget 6 core but not at budget pricing.

 

[_Cereal_]

Realistically even in those esports games your going to be pulling like 300+ fps on either CPU so unless your playing for a living it probably won't matter. Also the 11400F is much closer to a 5600X than a 3600 is.

But yeah I get your point that if your buying something like 3090 in the first place your probably not bothered in getting VFM and just want the best but then also in that case getting a 5800X is probably also the better option for slightly higher fps, better 1% lows and futureproofing.

The 5600X is in the odd position of being the budget 6 core but not at budget pricing.

To be honest you can find regularly the 5600x for 220 if you look out for it, hard sell for 300 quid though specially when you can get a 10850k for nearly that price as well.

 

[Ultraman1966]

My son has just inherited my old 2700X and 2080Ti. Should do better than the consoles for quite some time.

Gave me an excuse to get a 5950X for myself, so the more cores the merrier in my book. Seems to boost just over 5Ghz fresh out the box but I’ll eventually get around to looking into PBO2 to eek a little more out of it.

Should do me easily for the next 5 years with just a GPU upgrade somewhere along the way.

Out of interest, how much extra cooling do you have to tame the 5950x? It's a lot of cores!!

 

[HRL]

Out of interest, how much extra cooling do you have to tame the 5950x? It's a lot of cores!!

For peace of mind an AIO as a minimum IMO.

It’s a bit lazy compared to a full loop but it’s keeping my CPU at a peak of 75C under stress. Typically runs considerably cooler though.

Not sure if a fairly big case helps too but I’m sure it’s not doing me any harm.

 

[EsaT]

Out of interest, how much extra cooling do you have to tame the 5950x? It's a lot of cores!!

It doesn't need any more cooling than Intel's 8 cores, because of AMD being lot more honest with TDP.
In fact it needs lot less cooling under full load than Intel's latest 8 core 11900K, which can suck twice the power assuming cooling can prevent throttling.

And would you call 5800X as hard to cool?
It has precisely same current/power limits as 5900X and 5950X:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1621...e-review-5950x-5900x-5800x-and-5700x-tested/8
5950X simply gets the best most power efficient high clock CCD chips.
While 5800X likely gets some of the worser CCDs produced being allowed to spend lots of power per core.

For peace of mind an AIO as a minimum IMO.

While water's thermal capacity masks short load spikes, for continuous cooling per noise average AIO is worser than high end heatpipe coolers.
Slim and compact radiators simply don't have that much surface area for dissipating heat into air.
And it takes big radiator to beat surface area of big tower coolers.

 

[Ultraman1966]

Yeah, I saw on some benchmarks how Intel has to put out almost double the heat to keep with AMD but people are still defending them and calling it better value...

 

[Glanza]

Yeah, I saw on some benchmarks how Intel has to put out almost double the heat to keep with AMD but people are still defending them and calling it better value...

Don't need to turn your heating on

 

[Ultraman1966]

Don't need to turn your heating on

Except when we get a heatwave and then they'll enjoy their personal oven

 

[Cooler running]

Less "pointless" and more "diminishing returns".

 

[HangTime]

10+ cores will be used in the future, remember when 4 cores were "pointless"?

Yeah, absolute eons ago and like most people I've upgraded since then and before there was more than a very niche case for anything more than 4 fast cores.

8 cores with good clockspeed/ipc deffo the way to go IMO, unless of course you can get more cores at a good price and/or you only buy new computers very infrequently (more than 5 years between platform upgrade).

Aside from AC Unity and UEBS I've yet to try any games that makes me think I could benefit from more than 8c16t, it's extreme diminishing returns and will be for some time.