Argument over i5 and i7

[flying tiger ii]

I have a friend who argued to me that the i7 was Significantly better then the i5 core processor. I showed him a link to the performances between the two and he said that that isn't " real world performance" between the two. He also incorrectly identified that the i7 processor has 8 cores and the i5 has 4. The i7 actually has 4 cores with 8 threads. Depending on which i7 it is. But we were talking about the i5 and i7's that people could acutally afford. My question, Does the i7 really have a SIGNIFICANT advantage over the i5? or was i right that the i7 is a more expensive CPU that only performs 5-10 frames better in most games.

 

[smackers_12]

In most games there is no advantage to an i7, however in some workloads there will be a difference. The single core performance of each is exactly the same (roughly, the performance can vary from chip to chip) as most games only use 1 or 2 threads they will be the same. In rendering and other heavily threaded workloads the i7 will win as in some games (not many) the i7 will have a marginal improvement. You are right

 

[Outlander_04]

The cores in the i7 and i5 are identical . They each have 4

The differences are
1/ more cache on the i7
2/ higher clock speed
3/ it can run two threads through a core at one time [ hyperthreading ] . But the core can not do more total work than it could before .

Gaming take the i5 every day of the week , except when you have a $100 you dont need

 

[manofchalk]

Whether there is a performance difference between an i5 and i7 depends on what performance your testing. For games, there is no real difference since the additional threads arent likely to be used, but if your talking video editing or any heavy number-crunching, there is a respectable difference.

 

[flying tiger ii]

Exactly, He helped the other guy and said get an i7 and a GTX 750ti. Now, Both are good options but wouldn't a i5 with a GTX 970 or equivalent be a better option? He hates to be wrong but everyone thinks he's right. To each their own. I have no Quarrels with him but the audacity to say that an i7 is Significantly better is ridiculous.

 

[manofchalk]

GPU grunt counts for more in games than the CPU. For a long time CPU's have been strong enough to game with.
A 2500k is still sufficient to game on and its a 2.5yr old chip at this point.

 

[smackers_12]

Exactly, He helped the other guy and said get an i7 and a GTX 750ti. Now, Both are good options but wouldn't a i5 with a GTX 970 or equivalent be a better option? He hates to be wrong but everyone thinks he's right. To each their own. I have no Quarrels with him but the audacity to say that an i7 is Significantly better is ridiculous.

For gaming the money you save from buying an i5 vs an i7 can be put into your graphics card and the i5+more expensive graphics card will crush the i7 in games

 

[flying tiger ii]

Awesome, Now who thinks AMD's new card will beat the GTX 970/980? Because My money is going to Envidia in november so I can get the GTX 970 with the i5 i'm going to buy. will AMD bundle a game with their new GPU?

 

[smackers_12]

Awesome, Now who thinks AMD's new card will beat the GTX 970/980? Because My money is going to Envidia in november so I can get the GTX 970 with the i5 i'm going to buy. will AMD bundle a game with their new GPU?

Normally then bundle 3 with there high end cards i think. But nothing has been confirmed, the press conference people thought might be about a new card was about sending cards to india (good for people who live in india, doesn't really matter if you dont)

 

[flying tiger ii]

ahh, bummer :/ . I'm secretly a AMD fan but I swear they need to step up their game! Also, I wish i could afford a GTX 980 but the 970 will do fine. Once I'm an adult with a good paying job I'll be able to afford those kind of things lol.

 

[manofchalk]

The AMD cards will perform pretty much on par with their price equivalents, as has always been, its just going to be a matter of features and value.
AMD are still running Never Settle, you could buy an AMD card now and get games.

 

[flying tiger ii]

Yea but the cards run hot and the MSI card i want is more than 400$. But the GTX 970 MSI is around 350-360$. Even if i got alien:isolation for free and 2 other games, it still wouldn't match the price of what the MSI 290 is worth.