Can hyper threading help in games in near future?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I was watching a video in youtube - This one

In that video, @ 3:46, after he ran unigine heaven synthetic benchmark, the hyper threading cores are idle. At 5:26, after he ran game benchmark all the physical cores and hyper threading cores seems to handle the load equally.

My question is, if having a 4 core, 4 threads CPU will really help in handling gaming loads well?
I know a good latest CPU be it (i5 or i7) can handle games well, but if in future where the bottlenecks come into play, will the i7 with threading can really help over an i5 without threads???

P.S. I'm not gonna build any system, just for knowledge.

 

[c4s2k3]

Really depends a lot on the specific game. A few years ago most game engines did not make much use of multiple threads, so multiple CPU cores were not utilized much. But newer games are offloading more and more processing to multiple threads, meaning they will readily use multiple cores and benefit more from more physical or virtual (hyper threaded) CPU cores. I expect this trend to continue.

I would say buy a CPU With as many cores (physical and virtual) as you can afford, but realize a virtual core generally does not produce as much benefit as a physical one. In other words, all other things being equal, 4 physical cores should outperform 2 physical cores with 2 virtual ones (2 core hyper threaded)

 

[InvalidError]

A growing number of games will refuse to work or not work well on CPUs with only two cores like the old Pentiums but will run happily on 2C4T CPUs like some of the newer Pentiums and the i3s. A much smaller number of games like Crysis 3 show significant scaling beyond 4C4T (i5) but that number is likely to grow over time.

With Ryzen bringing 4C8T down to the $150 price point later this year, the amount of software written to use more threads may increase faster over time.

Also, people doing live streaming, multi-tasking and other similar stuff already benefit from more cores and threads even if the individual games and applications they run don't use that many since the extra processing power gets used by the stuff they run in the background.

 

[Nordein]

Hi all,

I was watching a video in youtube - This one

In that video, @ 3:46, after he ran unigine heaven synthetic benchmark, the hyper threading cores are idle. At 5:26, after he ran game benchmark all the physical cores and hyper threading cores seems to handle the load equally.

My question is, if having a 4 core, 4 threads CPU will really help in handling gaming loads well?
I know a good latest CPU be it (i5 or i7) can handle games well, but if in future where the bottlenecks come into play, will the i7 with threading can really help over an i5 without threads???

P.S. I'm not gonna build any system, just for knowledge.

Yes hyper-threading can help in games. Not all programs and games are programmed equally. When programming as a whole pushes multi-core/threading more aggressively, virtual threads will be more useful than not. For gaming, if you want to upgrade as little as possible, i7's will be your best ticket. Even by today's standards, i7's do help in a lot of games. The longevity between upgrades will be much longer if you choose a higher end CPU.

 

[InvalidError]

The longevity between upgrades will be much longer if you choose a higher end CPU.

Assuming that AMD manages to restore competition and keep Intel's prices in check for more than just one product cycle with Ryzen, the cost difference between a mainstream and high-end system today will be able to buy you a rebuild that outperforms your high-end system 3-4 years down the road, with the new system providing the advantages of renewed warranties, updated IOs, new features, improved power efficiency, etc.

In the past six years, updated IOs and features have been the main purchase drivers and over-paying for a CPU you didn't need right away wouldn't save you from those, so I wouldn't recommend over-building by much. When I built my current system, I was thinking of going with an i3 but when I saw that I could get an i5-3470 for only $20 more, I stepped up just to make sure I wouldn't get an upgrade itch two years down the line. Heading into the fifth year, I still have no sign of upgrade itch but Ryzen 4C8T/6C12T might change that.

 

[Guest]

The longevity between upgrades will be much longer if you choose a higher end CPU.

Assuming that AMD manages to restore competition and keep Intel's prices in check for more than just one product cycle with Ryzen, the cost difference between a mainstream and high-end system today will be able to buy you a rebuild that outperforms your high-end system 3-4 years down the road, with the new system providing the advantages of renewed warranties, updated IOs, new features, improved power efficiency, etc.

In the past six years, updated IOs and features have been the main purchase drivers and over-paying for a CPU you didn't need right away wouldn't save you from those, so I wouldn't recommend over-building by much. When I built my current system, I was thinking of going with an i3 but when I saw that I could get an i5-3470 for only $20 more, I stepped up just to make sure I wouldn't get an upgrade itch two years down the line. Heading into the fifth year, I still have no sign of upgrade itch but Ryzen 4C8T/6C12T might change that.

Your final thoughts?

 

[InvalidError]

Your final thoughts?

My general approach to PCs: don't worry about future software until you get there.

PC games in particular have to be designed around a baseline hardware configuration and most developers choose to aim on the low side to make their games accessible to the widest audience possible. Right now, we're just beginning to see games that require a minimum of 2C4T to run reasonably well after a decade of dual-core CPUs being mainstream. It will take many more years for 4C8T to become a common minimum requirement.

 

[Guest]

So, an i5 should be enough now, right? (not considering Ryzen)

 

[InvalidError]

So, an i5 should be enough now, right? (not considering Ryzen)

For the vast majority of games if you aren't running stuff like game capture/streaming software in the background, yes.