Hey Guys, I'm guessing this is as good as any place to ask this: I'm currently running a CFX setup with 2x Gigabyte R9 280X Windforce GPUs I also have 2 possible CPUs, my question to you all would be the following; which of the following CPUs would, in practice, give me the least CPU bottleneck: a Core i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz (my current part, reaching 100% usage when gaming, GTA5 Story mode as an example) a Core i7-980X (got it from a buddy, OC TBD) I know each CPU are from different archs and times, but im wondering if the 2 extra cores and HT will help at all with 2GPUs OC'ing the 980X would be to try and reach a similar clockrate, was thinking of reaching 3.8GHz Looking forward to you guys' ideas and thoughts! :cheers:
The IB chip is newer and has higher IPC, but GTAV is a very demanding game. I'm still running a W3680 (think 980X Xeon), OCed to 4.0 GHz @ 1.25 V (golden chip) and I see no reason to upgrade in the forseeable future as very few games stress my CPU much, and today's quad cores (Skylake) are still not faster at my current OC. The only benefit I would have to upgrading is newer storage interfaces, really. My current CPU can quite easily reach 4.4 GHz with HT on, 4.5+ with it off at 1.4 V, but I dialled back the OC as such speed isn't really necessary and is more than enough for my day-to-day needs. Most 980Xs should hit 4.4 without too much difficulty if you wanna go down that route, but the IB cpu should be fine.
Keep the Ivy Bridge. AVX and the much more modern (past-Sandy) core are going to be much more important than the extra cores or HT.
Bottleneck for Fat Games like WD, AC:Unity ect. is always 4core or less ! Take x6 or x8 AMD or Intel ;-)
i5's have had their day. More cores win from now on, even older ones. 12 Threads somehow feels fulfilling, can never go back to 4 Typically games don't push my CPU (basically the same as a 980X) even as much as 20% most of the time. Not tried GTA5 yet though. I run mine most of the time at 3.5GHz (3.3 is stock) as I don't need more speed in games - 3.5 just happened to be where I left the BIOS and not for any need. I'd push it higher for special tasks like video encoding or something intensive only. As BLEH! says, these chips can usually easily do 4.4GHz on air. With better cooling 4.8 or even 5GHz if lucky is "possible". Will be testing my new chip (had a lower multi version before at 4GHz) out properly Quite Soon now Incidentally some motherboards of this generation do have newer interfaces. Mine for example has both USB3 and also SATAIII (up to 600MB/s). Though I suspect my Gigabyte X58A-OC is a fairly rare motherboard second hand these days. Perhaps some other boards also won't leave you feeling a touch too close to the Dark Ages? (the Marvel 88SE9182 SATAIII controller on my motherboard is not the best out, but on my Samsung 512GB 850 Pro I get just under 500MB/s which is fine for now in non-benchmark use) I'm Happily sticking my this setup until I see what Zen is like for fun - won't Need to upgrade from my Xeon X5680 even then for some years to come I imagine
980x is fine for 1 card, I would clock it to 4ghz or higher though. That cpu still has life left in it.
Interesting about the AVX. Had a quick look at i7-4960X review on this site which also shows how the 980X compares to the chips like the 3570K or 4770K. In the Expresso Transcode which supports AVX it Very easily beats the i5-3570K and even beats the i7-4770K (standing further ahead of it and closer to the 3960X). --- (EDIT from the wording it may not be enabled on most of the chips there on 2nd look) In games it wins some and loses some Vs the 3570. Nothing significant though. Personally from seeing that I'd quite easily choose the 980X. - Just loses so little and gains so much more. Well, will look out for more reviews relating to AVX for my own curiosity, but it does not seem to be That important Vs the benefits of all the extra Cores and Thread over an i5 give if you ever do anything other than gaming. Even then I've yet to see Ivybridge or newer chips do much better personally when comparing game performance but that honestly just could be because the games in question do not support AVX. Maybe some of you guys happen to have some reviews you remember reading? EDIT (2nd): Been looking but there is surprisingly little info about products supporting AVX and the general impression regarding games is that very little is coded to support the extensions yet (could be people are missing that games underlying engines have support built in?)
For less He/You can take Fury-Pro and unlock its potential :banana: Great for Future gaming and OK for Todays :infinity:
The main thing against the 980X is that Good motherboards for it may be overpriced causing you to sink more money into an ageing setup. Checking ebay, my board currently sells for between about £90 - £200 / USD136 - USD300. As OnnA says, perhaps there are better ways to spend your money. Perhaps you can sell the 980X and put the extra $ towards something or even next years upgrade. All said and done the 3570K @ 4.4GHz is a Great chip for games still and I doubt you are suffering much for having it ^^
The i5 3570K draws half the power, overclocks further, and at a good overclock matches the 980X at a good overclock at least, in heavily-threaded games, and has a healthy lead for games that use 4 cores or less. Outside of gaming, only heavily threaded workloads may see the 980X OC beat out the i5 3570K, and it's not a rule of thumb. That's besides the fact that the CPU has AVX which the 980X lacks, and the platform is much newer and has more features. There is little reason to go for the 980X over the 3570K.
True that about the power. I actually also own a 3570K based spare system. X5680 System at idle = 165w 3570K System at idle = 40w When I currently spend most of the time working or on the web, my older system seems a tad wasteful. Under load I find the difference diminishes somewhat though and I am quite happy with the X5680. From what I've seen both chips OC about evenly. Just large averages of less serious OCers appear to skew results a little on sites reporting avg OCs for these chips. As for the games, I am sure AVX is Going to be helpful, but I still easily (currently) choose the older chip for gaming from personal experience showing the 3570K struggling far more. - and unless things have changed since I last checked, extra cores are kinda helpful if streaming / recording gaming sessions etc I've essentially had my core setup for a Long time now and am quite keen to get a Nice upgrade. So it is interesting to see how things in the CPU world are shaping up in real world scenarios and how such things as AVX help weight the results. - hopefully soon I will come across some good benchmarks, didn't find much useful tonight after a semi-decent look.
Or sell both and get i7 3770k, Dual gpu systems will benefit from extra threads by default. Check some reviews 1 vs 2 gpus @ same cpu..
I have to admit to have been rather tempted with the 5820k as a good value option to get more up to date Still a rather nice option atm for someone seeking more cores I imagine? (am somewhat out of date on CPU front due to Mostly ignoring/skipping this generation due to such small performance gaines in benchmarks when I checked, in favour of Zen etc next year or something from Intel in a few years time)
It really comes down to resolution of your gaming. Higher the resolution less impact your cpu will have on the system. I5 is great cpu. Hell i notice difference between my aging amd phenom II x4 945 and my current cpu. I know gaming i will notice a difference to. Don't forget intel and amd are going to release more upcoming cpu's in the next few months so its going to be very interesting. Atleast amd is giving nvidia run for it money in bang for its buck on gpu's.
