Can anyone help explain

[r3v3ng3]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-core-i5-4690k-core-i7-4790k-review

The link is a review of the fps in game between an i5 4690k and i7 4790k, they use a gtx 780 ti at 720p. The results are the i7 has higher fps in all games tested by approx 15-30 fps depending on the game. So for all those threads asking whether to get an i5 4690k with gtx 980 vs i7 4790k with gtx 970, and getting solved as the i5 4690k gtx980 combo, does this review not discount this? Considering there is a substantial fps gain in having an i7 over i5, the fps difference between i5+980 vs i7+970 would be neglible, although the i7 gives your system an overall boost in every other aspect.

Therefore, why should anyone choose the i5+980 combo? What am I missing?

 

[gilbadon]

Gaming is barely defined by CPU power. It is almost purely GPU. The i5/980 is better because it will play games at way higher FPS (I know because I have that combo). Also, their tests are at 720p. 720p is such a low resolution that the cap is no longer constrained by GPU because it is so easy for it to handle. Now all of the performance is limited by the CPU. It is not a valid test case and should be ignored for most purposes except for circumstances where extremely high fps is required.

 

[smorizio]

first all the tests should be the same at that low res if they used the same two test beds and gpu. the i5 and i7 are the same core inside other the nthe i7 has hyperthreading. the i5 is a better buy if your not having a lot of build$$$

 

[endeavour37a]

Just to affirm what has been said here, the 4690k/980 is a better gaming combo than a 4790k/970. Running 720 screens to test is not the way to test them properly. You won't seem much difference between 4690/4790 in gaming for a long time to come, you will see the difference today between a 970/980 in FPS.

 

[r3v3ng3]

Thanks for the replies guys, one last thing, If I wanted to stream lower quality games, such as WoW, Dota 2 or LoL, how would and i5 stack up against an i7?

 

[gilbadon]

An i7 would prove better for decoding and encoding the video, but the i5/980 build is still better.

 

[r3v3ng3]

Thanks to all for replying. On a side note, I am building a gaming rig for a friend, he doesn't have as big a budget as I do so naturally he can't afford a 980. I was aiming at a 970 for his build but there is a lot of debate on whether or not the 780 ti is a better card for the same price as the 970. Does anyone have any benchmarks I can read into or personal experience?

 

[mdocod]

Match the CPU to the compute workload generated by the FPS goals in the games you want to play, in the conditions you anticipate playing them in (multiplayer? end game? raids?).

Match the GPU to the render workload generated by the visual quality settings you intend to run at your FPS goals.

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The hard caps on performance are set by the CPU and the monitor refresh rate.

Visual quality is adjustable, therefor, any performance related cap imposed by a GPU is always a soft cap that can be adjusted up or down to the inverse of visual quality.In fact, the render workload is so vastly adjustable, that pretty much ANY current technology discrete gaming GPU is capable of playing pretty much any at game at 60FPS. GTX750 at 720P with medium settings will give the same performance (=fps) as a GTX980 at 1440P. The compute requirements to play the game at 60FPS remain largely the same either way, meaning that if it takes an i5 to play the game at a consistent 60FPS, it will require that i5 whether you're playing on the $100 or $500 GPU.

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In the benchmarking world, where we run fixed visual quality settings across all tests, and run single player test sequences with practically no compute overhead, the GTX980 will beat the GTX970 every time because the bottleneck is artificially planted on the GPU all the time.

In the real world, people don't play boring test sequences, they play congested multiplayer conditions with lots of effective units, AI, and physics going on all at once. This is compute intensive. In these real world conditions, the bottleneck bounces back and forth from the CPU to the GPU depending on the conditions. Even flagship CPUs will drop below 60FPS in many of these conditions. When we we consider the real world conditions that people play games in, and not the fixed visual quality settings, single player sequence that we use to "test" hardware, we conclude the following:

The i5+980 is better for playing at higher visual quality settings (like more resolution).
The i7+970 is better for playing at higher FPS.

If you choose the i5+980 because you want more FPS, then you are choosing your hardware from within a bubble that pops the moment you play real games in real conditions and take control of visual quality settings.

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Having said all that, most games simply do not provide much performance scaling from the i5 to the i7, as most of the difference there is in the form of hyperthreading. Since most games do not scale well or saturate well beyond 4 threads, the performance advantages of the i7 are typically not as desirable as the visual quality advantages of the GTX980. YMMV. When working within budget constraints, the i5 is typically going to provide 90-100% of the performance of the i7 in gaming workloads, with about a $100 savings. This makes it a great value gaming CPU!

If you're working on a build that is on the fence there between the i5 and i7, there's always the E3-1231V3 to consider. Same compute performance as an i7-4770 but priced ~$240, often within spitting distance of the price of an i5-4690. If the build won't be overclocked, the E3 is another fantastic value gaming CPU.