i5-660 old vs new processors.

[zar555]

So i constantly see people talking about how important single core performance is compared to having multiple cores when gaming, so how much difference would there really be between my dual core i5-660 @ 4.2 ghz compared to a quad core i5-4690 @3.5ghz?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Your i5-660 can compare with one of the cheaper I3 processors today. The i5-660 has two physical cores with hyperthreading, just like an I3 does today. It supports up to 1333Mhz RAM whereas an i5-4690 can support higher frequencies. The newer architecture has more transistors so single-core performance itself with the 4690 is much greater than the 660, especially with a higher clock rate. Lastly, 4 physical cores of the 4690 make it quite better than the 660. So yes it's like going from a cheap 4th Gen I3 to a better 4th gen I5.

 

[clutchc]

Quite a bit. Games have moved beyond single core performance. AAA games are very multi core aware now. And the IPC of the 1st gen Core processor is far behind the IPC of the Haswell. For gaming, the i5-660 is in the same tier as the older Phenom II X4s. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html
OC'ing it to 4.2GHz will help, but not that much. No more than it would to OC the PH II X4 945 to 4.2 GHz. Your i5's Hyper Threading is not as advanced as the newer Core processors, either.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

there is a large difference between those cpu's assuming you arent bottlenecked by the gpu. Most games these days will use 4 threads/cores. Going beyond 4 does not offer much for most games.