62 replies to this topic

[typographie]

Robsy128, on 20 January 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:

So I'll be waiting around until the end of the year or next year for an upgrade to the i5 processor I'm thinking of getting?

Longer than that. I've still got an i5-750 from 2009 and its still competitive. Sandy Bridge (-2500K) and Ivy Bridge (-3570K) were better, but not better by enough to make me want to spend $300+ on a new CPU and motherboard. Haswell (-4xxx?) this year might be the first that's actually worth it for me.

If history is any indication, someone buying an i5-3570K today could probably expect ~3 years before there's an upgrade that's truly worth its cost. Year-to-year processor upgrades are usually incremental, they do not often obliterate anything in that time.

Robsy128, on 20 January 2013 - 09:39 AM, said:

I wonder... is it worth spending more money on an i7?

Desktop i7's are quad-cores with hyperthreading, which means they behave something like 8-core processors. They're great, but that's something that benefits a lot of professional video editing/architectural/engineering-type programs, but not so much gaming. An i5 will usually perform approximately the same in games.

[Robsy128]

Ahh I see. I'm currently in the middle of my video game designer course, so I often use game engines, like Unity and the Unreal Engine. When working on projects, I usually have a few tabs of Chrome open as well as itunes when I feel like it. Would I benefit from an i7 at all? Or would the i5 be the better choice?

I've noticed that with my current motherboard and processor, the game engines take about 5-10 minutes to load up, which can be a pain when I just want to get started straight away.

[typographie]

I don't really know anything about the software you use.. try to do some research on them and see if you can find out how well multi-threaded they are (i.e. how many cores they make heavy use of). Maybe your professor(s) would know. If they make good use of hyperthreading, maybe an i7 is worth it to you.

Basically you'd be looking at a Core i7-3770K instead of i5-3570K. Its about $100 more, but you'd use the same motherboard. I personally don't think its worth it, the i5 is already a very fast quad-core and it will not shy away from multi-tasking. Its already going to be a massive difference from what you have.

Edited by typographie, 21 January 2013 - 12:37 AM.