By: Ricardo B (ricardo.b.delete@this.xxxxx.xx), May 14, 2013 12:50 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
RichardC (tich.delete@this.pobox.com) on May 14, 2013 12:09 pm wrote:
> Ricardo B (ricardo.b.delete@this.xxxxx.xx) on May 14, 2013 11:18 am wrote:
> > Actually, this question should be different.
> > If you're going to use FPS as the benchmark for games, does high end CPU
> > performance even matter or should you just go and get a faster GPU?
>
> The benchmarks I saw showed that 4C/4T vs 4C/8T at 3.8GHz was
> pretty equal; but 4C/4T 4.0GHz was significantly faster than 4C/4T 3.8GHz.
> That's quite strong evidence that cpu performance does make a difference,
> but that hyperthreading is not particularly helpful for current game engines.
Well, I've also seen game benchmarks where SMT helps -- Frostbite2 seems to make good use of up to 8 threads.
However, the vast majority of gaming benchmarks...
> I expect budget-conscious gamers would go for a Core i5 (4C/4T) and spend the
> extra money on a $200+ GPU.
... would indicate that people would be better off with a better GPU and than even a mid-range dual core is "good enough".
So, the question remains: which are the common applications that make you want to spend every last bit of CPU transistor budget on single thread performance and cleave SMT away?
> Ricardo B (ricardo.b.delete@this.xxxxx.xx) on May 14, 2013 11:18 am wrote:
> > Actually, this question should be different.
> > If you're going to use FPS as the benchmark for games, does high end CPU
> > performance even matter or should you just go and get a faster GPU?
>
> The benchmarks I saw showed that 4C/4T vs 4C/8T at 3.8GHz was
> pretty equal; but 4C/4T 4.0GHz was significantly faster than 4C/4T 3.8GHz.
> That's quite strong evidence that cpu performance does make a difference,
> but that hyperthreading is not particularly helpful for current game engines.
Well, I've also seen game benchmarks where SMT helps -- Frostbite2 seems to make good use of up to 8 threads.
However, the vast majority of gaming benchmarks...
> I expect budget-conscious gamers would go for a Core i5 (4C/4T) and spend the
> extra money on a $200+ GPU.
... would indicate that people would be better off with a better GPU and than even a mid-range dual core is "good enough".
So, the question remains: which are the common applications that make you want to spend every last bit of CPU transistor budget on single thread performance and cleave SMT away?