Cores for Gaming

[prince_xaine]

Okay, so I have someone telling me that an 8 core processor would be better than gaming than a quad core processor.

I am arguing that quad core processors typically have higher performance per core.

He is arguing performance is balanced between cores.

I know there is many factors at play here (i.e. clock speed, # of threads, the games themselves, etc.) But, wouldn't a quad-core processor typically perform better while gaming?

 

[Hellfire13]

Most games yeah. Not because a quad core have higher performance per core, but because most games typically do not scale well beyond 4 cores. Only some recent games have started using more than 4, and its a long time before they can adopt to 8 cores industry wide. So, these days the sweet spot is 6 core.

The higher performance you mentioned above kicks in when you push the clocks from its base limit. While overclocking, more cores will generate more heat subsequently limiting load line calibration.