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which cpu for gaming ?

builder22

builder22

builder22

Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2005
Posts
5,043
bit out of touch with all the latest tech....
current cpu is an e8400 @ 3.6ghz, I imagine the current cpus blow this away in stock form?
should I be looking at quad core ?

also, is it even worth the hassle/risk of overclocking now ? I'm thinking the cpu just isn't pushed, even in stock form, because of how fast they must be now

which also makes me think is it even worth upgrading my cpu at all and just getting better gfx ?
 
For me, the Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz for around £138 is in the price/performance sweet spot, but if you can stretch to an i7 then all the better.

What kind of budget do you have? It'd help others to recommend something.

An E8400 is still pretty decent, what graphics card do you have and what kind of resolution do you play at?
 
To be honest all cpu are good for gaming, i think what you ment to be asking is which cpu is good for certain games, look at my signature, all the games out there runs on my system without any problem dispite it is overclocked, also with the development of games these days, it all about the GPU, and less the cpu, unless you are talking about the new cpu coming out soon with built in GPU engine.....
 
D.Roberts said:
Would he not have to purchase a new mother board to run i3,i5 or i7?
Click to expand...
True, but the OP just simply asked what CPU was best for gaming without really saying whether or not he wanted to fully upgrade.

However I echo what darkwildchild79 said, you can get away with a reasonably slow/cheap AMD CPU and coupling it with a decent graphics card as most games these tend to be more GPU intensive.
 
builder22 said:
bit out of touch with all the latest tech....
current cpu is an e8400 @ 3.6ghz, I imagine the current cpus blow this away in stock form?
should I be looking at quad core ?

also, is it even worth the hassle/risk of overclocking now ? I'm thinking the cpu just isn't pushed, even in stock form, because of how fast they must be now

which also makes me think is it even worth upgrading my cpu at all and just getting better gfx ?
Click to expand...

An E8400 at 3.6ghz is plenty quick enough. Pair that with a decent graphics card and gaming will be fine for a long while yet one would think.
 
With a bit of a fiddle, I've got my E8400 up to 4.05GHz... Pair that with a high end graphics card and 4 or 6GB of fast ram and you'll be laughing for gaming.

Not many games coded for quad core or more so the dual core is still fine for games imo :)
 
I upgraded from a e8400 with an 4870x2 to a i5 760 and the difference is amazing, my first quad-core and I wouldnt look back. Now my cpu isn't bottlenecking me anymore.

Very easy to overclock as well. (I have only overclocked to 3ghz atm as no need for the extra power/heat/electricity usage)
 
dont worry about getting a quad just yet, most games are still only using a maximum of 2 cores, so the higher the clock speed the better. 3.5GHz+ on a dual core should be fine for a while yet.
 
builder22 said:
bit out of touch with all the latest tech....
current cpu is an e8400 @ 3.6ghz, I imagine the current cpus blow this away in stock form?
should I be looking at quad core ?

also, is it even worth the hassle/risk of overclocking now ? I'm thinking the cpu just isn't pushed, even in stock form, because of how fast they must be now

which also makes me think is it even worth upgrading my cpu at all and just getting better gfx ?
Click to expand...

You will see a benefit from going to quad core, there's been a steady increase in the past year of games doing a fair bit better on a quad (Dragon Ages/Bad company to name but 2), and i imagine the comming year is going to see most games working better on 4 cores, i did get a boost on DA & BC when swapping a 3.8 dual for a 3.8 quad

The real question here is how much life there is in the rest of your system and how often you upgrade

There is a new CPU comming out quite soon i hear, sandybridge or somesuch, if the rest of your rig is going to need a full upgrade in the next 6 to 12 months i'd wait for that

If the rest of your rig has 18 months + left in it (i'e decent amount of memory/HD/Graphics/PSU and not in need of urgent upgrading) i'd be tempted to simply get a yorkifield Quad and OC it

This is the route i followed as i had 4 gig's, a decent HD, etc and i did not fancy swapping mobo's, memory etc just before a major Intel hardware update just get a newer CPU when there was no real need gaming wise, a yorkfield OC to 3.4 - 3.8 will see you 100% ok CPU wise for at least 24 months in terms of games, there's still people running OC Q6600 at 3.2 - 3.4 running all the latest games no issues
 
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builder22 said:
bit out of touch with all the latest tech....
current cpu is an e8400 @ 3.6ghz, I imagine the current cpus blow this away in stock form?
should I be looking at quad core ?

also, is it even worth the hassle/risk of overclocking now ? I'm thinking the cpu just isn't pushed, even in stock form, because of how fast they must be now

which also makes me think is it even worth upgrading my cpu at all and just getting better gfx ?
Click to expand...

Plonk a used Q6600 in and clock it to 3.2ghz+ Thats your best bet until sandy Bridge or BullDozer
 
thanks for the replies guys, even tho some of u are saying dual core is plenty and some saying it's not ! :d, does cache size etc make a difference for gaming or is it mainly clock speeds as mentioned ? if it's just the speed that matters there seems little point in upgrading my cpu....but then i may need a new m/b anyway.....

gfx card is an 8800gts 512
m/b is an abit ip35 pro
memory is ddr2 800, corsair i think
psu is a 620w *****
I don't game at any particular resolution as the monitor seems to handle scaling pretty well, but ideally 1920 1200

it was all good stuff at the time and I know a new gfx card would make a massive difference but is there any point upgrading anything else
I never thought about the memory actually, is ddr3 a big step up from what I have ?

as for budget, there's nothing set but I don't like paying an extra, say 100 quid for hardly any performance upgrade, maybe with the exception of the gfx card as I've always regreted not getting a top notch card in the past

sorry if this isn't strictly cpu related now but I didn't think of these other things originally :)
 
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I also have an E8400, but at 4.25GHz, and I'm finding it a bit limiting. Mainly in quad optimized games, and also some very poorly optimized games that need a good cpu to run well. For everything else it's wonderful. Being in the same boat as you, I might suggest hanging about until the new line of cpus are out and then make the leap to a cheap i5/i7 (or pending new info some other option). In the meantime your chip should easily hit 4GHz so squeeze a bit more out of it (as long as your board is up to it of course) and hang about to see what happens to prices when the new chips are out.
 
As I have said a Q6600 will clock very nicely in that p35 mobo.

Sell the 8400

Its a no brainer with them about at 75 quid

They are still very very good chips
 
3.6 was the best I could get out of mine from what I remember, this is just with an aftermarket cooler, articair i think, big massive radiator fin things with a decent fan, it's been rock solid for about 2 years now so very reluctant to mess with it

I originally had it set faster but, again, from what I remember I wasn't comfortable with the voltage i needed, or the temps
dont think my cpu was one of the best steppings either

how much is an e8400 worth ? will def look in to a used quad core....and a gfx card just now tho
 
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