BritTorrent Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Hi all, I'm on the cusp of upgrading my rig with a better CPU, specifically to increase DCS performance, and I'm torn between the i5 and the i7 mentioned above. I know the i7 is objectively a better processor. But I hear a lot of reports saying that for DCS (and gaming in general) the i5 will work just as well because of the lack of hyper-threading support in DCS and other games. Can anyone actually confirm that this is the case? I don't want to shell out the extra £100 for an i7 to get no noticeable increase in performance. Also, when people refer to the i5 performing just as well as the i7, do they mean that it performs this well out of the box? Or when it's overclocked up to 4.0Ghz like the i7? My current rig Sorry for the wall of text and thanks in advance for any help. I just want to make sure I'm buying the right thing before I splurge £300+ on a new CPU and motherboard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaconSarnie Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I have the i5 4690k and to be honest Im more than satisfied with it and Im an OCD picky as hell left brain weirdo. Mines not overclocked but at some point I will, obviously I will go with aftermarket cooling at that point, but my 4690k running currently with stock cooling handles everything I throw at it, Bear in mind though I do have an Asus Strix GTx 980, which makes a big difference when it comes to gaming obviously. But as for the chip, I couldnt see the point in spending an extra £100 when the 4690k rated so well on all the sites I checked. I coupled it with 8GB of Kingston Ram, cant recall specs at mo, and an MSI Z9 Gaming board. DCS runs like a dream, as does Elite Dangerous, as has every other title I've thrown at it, all setting ons ultra or highest possible for each game. Hope this helps. And lo, Reverend Vegas did say "Take forth unto the infidel the mighty GAU 8 and expend its holy 30MM so that freedom will be brung upon them who knoweth not the joys of BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTT" "Amen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritTorrent Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Yeah that does help, thanks for your reply. In terms of overclocking...you think the after-market cooler I have on my rig will be sufficient to clock the i5 up to 4/4.4Ghz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaconSarnie Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 After checking a couple of places I can say yes If you kept the fittings that came with it originally so it will fit the socket. It says in compatibility it will work fine with the i5 4690k. https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2 I doubt you'll be in a rush to overclock though. I got my setup in January and am currently still running stock. As I say eveyrthing runs great. And lo, Reverend Vegas did say "Take forth unto the infidel the mighty GAU 8 and expend its holy 30MM so that freedom will be brung upon them who knoweth not the joys of BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTT" "Amen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporg Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Hi all, I'm on the cusp of upgrading my rig with a better CPU, specifically to increase DCS performance, and I'm torn between the i5 and the i7 mentioned above. I know the i7 is objectively a better processor. But I hear a lot of reports saying that for DCS (and gaming in general) the i5 will work just as well because of the lack of hyper-threading support in DCS and other games. Can anyone actually confirm that this is the case? I don't want to shell out the extra £100 for an i7 to get no noticeable increase in performance. Also, when people refer to the i5 performing just as well as the i7, do they mean that it performs this well out of the box? Or when it's overclocked up to 4.0Ghz like the i7? My current rig Sorry for the wall of text and thanks in advance for any help. I just want to make sure I'm buying the right thing before I splurge £300+ on a new CPU and motherboard! I think the I5 should be fine for you. It should be good enough for games, and it should overclock just as well as the I7. Spend the 100£ you saved on a good SSD, for instance one in the Samsung 850 series, EVO or Pro. Put your Windows and DCS on that one. You will really feel the difference. ;) For overclocking your current CPU cooler should be just fine. System specs: Gigabyte Aorus Master, i7 9700K@std, GTX 1080TI OC, 32 GB 3000 MHz RAM, NVMe M.2 SSD, Oculus Quest VR (2x1600x1440) Warthog HOTAS w/150mm extension, Slaw pedals, Gametrix Jetseat, TrackIR for monitor use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaconSarnie Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I think the I5 should be fine for you. Spend the 100£ you saved on a good SSD, for instance one in the Samsung 850 series, EVO or Pro. Put your Windows and DCS on that one. You will really feel the difference. ;) . Agree 100% on that, thats my next purchase. And lo, Reverend Vegas did say "Take forth unto the infidel the mighty GAU 8 and expend its holy 30MM so that freedom will be brung upon them who knoweth not the joys of BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTT" "Amen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lausbub78 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I got an I5 4690k and I can easily overclock it to 4,4ghz with core temps still capped at around 65-70 degree in a stresstest. In normal gaming it's hardly hitting 60 degree coretemp,but it's summer and pretty hot anyway. I think I could take it to 4.6ghz if I wanted to,but currently I have set it back at stock speed,which is fast enough for now. But good to know there is room for improvement later on. I use a Noctua DH14 Cooler. Maybe I just got lucky and got a good chip, not every does Overclock equaly well,but 4.4ghz should be doable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konovalov Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I5 is all that is needed. Hyper threading has it's uses with photography software such as Photoshop and other programs. I think there may be some games software which use HT and if you play those particular games or have software that benefits from HT then by all means consider it. I have an old i7-950 Bloomfield cranked up from 3.07 to 4.2ghz and when gaming I disable HT. As someone already suggested use the saving in CPU towards either SSD or better GPU. Remember that soon DCS 1.5/2 will arrive with a reported significant move away from the CPU to the GPU. Intel i7-8700K | Asus Maximus X Formula | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 GLH | Samsung 960 EVO NVMe 1 x 250GB OS & 1 x 500GB Games | Corsair RM750x 750W | Corsair Carbide Air 540| Win10 | Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz | Custom water loop: CPU EK-Supremacy EVO, GPU EK-GTX JetStream - Acetal+Nickel & Backplate, Radiator EK-Coolstream PE 360, Pump & Res EK-XRES 140 Revo D5, Fans 3 x EK-Vardar 120mm & 2 x Corsair ML140 140mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief1942 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 (edited) Concur with the above posts. I have 4690K and it provides me with everything I need to run DCSW at respectable speeds. Certainly it is getting some support from my graphics card (GTX Titan) but it also worked well with my former video setup. Save the $$ and use it for an SSD. Like you, I'm always looking at anything that might improve my PC capabilities, but currently all the offerings that are coming on the scene do not seem to have any great advantage with DCSW in light of it's older code. But I'm certain all that will change when 2.0 arrives on the scene. Edited September 1, 2015 by Chief1942 Intel i5-4690K Devil's Canyon, GForce TitanX, ASUS Z-97A MB, 16GB GDDR3 GSkill mem, Samsung SSD X3,Track IR, TM Warthog, MFG Crosswind pedals, Acer XB280HK monitor,GAMETRIX KW-908 JETSEAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitMaster Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 There are more differences between i5 and i7 than the 4 HT-cores but that is more towards workstation usage. If you have the extra 100 go for the i7, if you dont get the i5, both rock hard for gaming whereas the i7 holds the door open for massive multitasking. Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiJack Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Get the new tech CPU! Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0GHz. I have the i74790K and it is good and overclocks automatically to 4.9GHz so a good choice also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xaoslaad Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 The 6700k's are out and indeed have some nice features that I think the 4000 series dont have like boot from nvme drivers. Just watch for price gouging. The most you should pay is $350 but north american stocks are limited at the moment. Still I've managed to pick up 2 at proper prices from newegg and amazon for the few hours they each had them up. The nvme drives can transfer at a theoretical 32 gbps rather than 6 gpbs of AHCI SSD's and the z170 motherboards also carry usb 3.1 rev 2 connectors, etc. to keep you up to date on peripheral connectivity. Supposedly the next gen CPU's are going to be the same socket type, but we'll see. Still it might allow for a moderate bump without having to replace mobo and ram at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitMaster Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 ...on the other hand... a used SandyBridge and "cheap" DDR3 RAM can be obtained for little to no money and will boost just as high for DCS as any modern i7. No doubt, the newer i7's are somewhat more efficient but it comes with a nice price tag. Look at my sig, CPU & Mobo where for free, just look around, add decent RAM and a fat 3D card and safe big bucks ( that can go into SLI/SSD etc.. ) Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Rage* Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 ...on the other hand... a used SandyBridge and "cheap" DDR3 RAM can be obtained for little to no money and will boost just as high for DCS as any modern i7. No doubt, the newer i7's are somewhat more efficient but it comes with a nice price tag. Look at my sig, CPU & Mobo where for free, just look around, add decent RAM and a fat 3D card and safe big bucks ( that can go into SLI/SSD etc.. ) Totally agree. I have a 2700K. For gaming, there is virtually no difference between the second gen i7s and subsequent gen i7s. Just overclock to 4.5ghz+ and theyre all the same for gaming. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] 64th "Scorpions" Aggressor Squadron Discord: 64th Aggressor Squadron TS: 195.201.110.22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tintifaxl Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 My 4.5 year old i5-2500k is still running strong. I would never think about giving that away for free now. There is absolutly no reason for me to upgrade, alas. Windows 10 64bit, Intel i9-9900@5Ghz, 32 Gig RAM, MSI RTX 3080 TI, 2 TB SSD, 43" 2160p@1440p monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangi Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Don't know where you guys are getting cheap sandybridge from, here in Australia they are just as expensive as skylake and that's second hand. PC: 6600K @ 4.5 GHz, 12GB RAM, GTX 970, 32" 2K monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts