I5 or I7 for gaming?

[Laminator]

I5 no need to pay for the more expensive I7 that don't give the extra performance

[cmndr_andi]

The i5 is a really capable CPU and excellent for gaming - not to mention is it much better value in terms of £/performance. However, it as also true that games are increasingly being coded to utilise many cores. This will only increase as the new consoles both have an 8 core CPU, but each core is relatively slow - therefore developers need to code their games to use all the available threads effectively. In the past the Xbox 360's 3 core CPU was the target for most multiplatform game makers - so making the games run on more than 3 threads didn't make sense, but now with the PS4 and Xbox1 it will make a lot of sense.

Therefore, it is likely that for future PC games the AMD multi-core CPUs and intel i7s will see previously unseen performance increases compared to their 4 thread brothers (especially when using very powerful GPU(s)). So if you plan to use 2 high-end graphics cards in your rig then getting an i7 over an i5 may well be worth it (and the price difference will be pretty small compared to the cost of those GPUs).

[galacticfear]

I think an i7 is only really worth it over the i5 if you use it for non-gaming purposes too... in benchmarks the i5 performs almost identically in games.

[Wam7]

The i5 is a really capable CPU and excellent for gaming - not to mention is it much better value in terms of £/performance. However, it as also true that games are increasingly being coded to utilise many cores. This will only increase as the new consoles both have an 8 core CPU, but each core is relatively slow - therefore developers need to code their games to use all the available threads effectively. In the past the Xbox 360's 3 core CPU was the target for most multiplatform game makers - so making the games run on more than 3 threads didn't make sense, but now with the PS4 and Xbox1 it will make a lot of sense.

Therefore, it is likely that for future PC games the AMD multi-core CPUs and intel i7s will see previously unseen performance increases compared to their 4 thread brothers (especially when using very powerful GPU(s)). So if you plan to use 2 high-end graphics cards in your rig then getting an i7 over an i5 may well be worth it (and the price difference will be pretty small compared to the cost of those GPUs).

While it was true that if mainly gaming then an I5 will give approx the same performance as an I7, that has already ceased to to be the case (See BF4 benchmarks) and will only become more so. You don't need a crystal ball to see this is the way that game programming is going. If you are buying now for gaming it is almost just common sense to get an I7 or even a FX8320/50.

[Blackfudge]

i5 unless you have a 6300 which wouldn't be much of a upgrade.

[karl751]

Yeah I already have a 6300 overclocked to 4.3 as I only have a ga 970a ds3 so lack of vrm cooling is holding me back. Also I only have a artic cooler 13. I was tempted to get a new motherboard and cooler but figured an Intel upgrade would be a better idea. Which is looking to be after xmas now with a nice 4770k

[cha_m_rlie]

As others have said, the I7 will be helpful in newer games, such as BF4. It is also good to have an I7 for photo/sound/video editing.
If, however, you don't have the money or feel there is no point paying the extra price, the I5 will still do a good job.

[CrispiusBaconus]

An i7 will always outperform the i5 in gaming, but not enough to justify the extra cost as it only adds around 5 fps.

[TerminatorUK]

Back in the day, an i5 for sure - hyper threading used to have a negative impact on gaming performance.

However, these days, the situation is definitely different - there are certainly some games (BF4, Crysis 3) that are benefitting from the additional logical processors available.

It isn't necessarily a requirement though - in 99% of gaming scenarios, an i5 will perform equally as well and save a load of cash.

You also will find heat and power (especially overclocked) will be lower on an i5 as well...

[karl751]

Yeah I went for the 4670k in the end, I had decided on the 4770k, but it was a no brainer when I saw the I5 for £156.

[koyejo]

depending on the specific cpu but most i7s tend to be overkill for gaming

[Obraxis]

If you can afford i7, deffo go i7. If not, go i5. You cant really lose, as they're both great CPUs. Just i7 is that little bit better

[Tknibbs31]

It should be a no brain the i5 is the only choice because game don't use more than 4 cores so the hyper threading won't increase performance so the i7 would be a waste of money

[Wam7]

It should be a no brain the i5 is the only choice because game don't use more than 4 cores so the hyper threading won't increase performance so the i7 would be a waste of money

This statement is simply not correct.

[Shivy011]

Yeah, wondering about that jim
If you were to upgrade, I believe an 8320 would be a decent upgrade

[Wolmack]

Deffo go with the i7, like others have said more games are starting to utilise it's power.