Is an i7 Overkill for Gaming?

[StolenSpitFire]

I've been thinking about building a gaming PC with an i7, but many people think it's overkill. I mostly play RPGs like Fallout, Dragon Age, if it helps.

 

[Metalmario66]

I've been thinking about building a gaming PC with an i7, but many people think it's overkill. I mostly play RPGs like Fallout, Dragon Age, if it helps.

I dunno if I would say its overkill, especially if ur thinking of doing VR gaming in the near future, but if u would want to still play games good then a i5 should be fine but it's really up to u if u think its gonna be way too much for the games u play or not. U can compare CPUs online using something like cpuboss.com

 

[loki1944]

I know for a few games like Rome 2, an i7 is notably better; however an i5 gets the job done.

 

[Karadjgne]

Depends. I have an i7-3770k and an i5-3570k. There's a difference in more than a few games. Mostly it'll depend on the actual game itself. BF4 shows very large gains using 8 threads vrs 4, skyrim shows no gain whatsoever unless it's heavily modded. What's running in the background. Recording games for YouTube? Rendering vids? I7 is a big bonus there, get to play and record without fps loss.
An i7 can definitely make gaming easier and more enjoyable to many. Is it needed? Not really, a decent i5 works. So weigh the pros and cons as they pertain to you, your gaming, the extra stuff. Then decide.

 

[AceIccey]

Well to start off, Really you don't need an i7 unless your Rendering, Live Streaming, Recording, Video editing, etc. If you are just gaming I would go for an Intel core i5 4690k if your going Devils Canyon, etc etc. But if your planning to go for skylake processors go for an Intel core i5 6600k, Those two CPU's are a BEAST for gaming and can handle any game you throw at them if you have a decent enough GPU. So unless you plan to Live Stream, Video Edit, Render, etc, Get an i7. If you want to save some money and get the same performance in games as the i7 and just game not live stream. Go with an i5.

 

[geofelt]

Most games can only use 2-3 cores, so the I7 hyperthreads will not do much.
At stock, the I7-6700K is clocked higher.
Both the I5-6600K and the I7-6700K can be overclocked to reach identical levels.

If the price delta of $100 or so is not that important to you, go ahead and buy the I7 or you will forever wonder if you should have.

 

[loki1944]

Here are some benchmark showing my i5 4440 vs my i7 4770K; both loaded out with 390X http://i1068.photobucket.com/albums/u446/loki1944/i52_zps9bz3cxmh.png

Here's another one showing the two facing off in Shadow of Mordor and Attila (didn't have time to finish the rest): http://i1068.photobucket.com/albums/u446/loki1944/i5%20benchmarks_zpsf9wan2wf.png

 

[Karadjgne]

Those are all pretty much single player type games really. It would be interesting to see the results of a 4460 vrs 4770k in games like WoW, Starwars: Battlefront, BF1, BF4 etc that actually do use more than 4 threads in multi-player on heavy drop servers. Huge difference when it's 8v8 and 64v64