Single vs Multi-thread Performance: Which is more important?

[ddpaulb]

Asking about all around performance. Not just gaming.

 

[thatmoney]

Depends on what you are doing. I believe if you are video rendering or heavy modeling work you want a cpu with strong multi-threaded performance because some programs are able to utilize cpus with higher multi-threaded performance better.(Not 100% sure) In modern gaming however single threaded performance is more important due to dx11. However when dx12 you should expect to see a 10%-15% improvement in multi-threaded performance. This change won't occur for awhile through.

 

[Gam3r01]

We cant answer that unless we know your workload.
In certain situations single threaded performance is better (gaming for example)
In other cases, multithreaded performance is better (like most rendering)

However, comparing processor to processor is much more informative than comparing thread strength.

 

[Crixilian]

generally, 1 process is 1 threaded
so, more cores means more multi tasking

but, I always prefer 4 cores even not gaming
but if you are not running many programs at once you may go for 2 cores and higher frequency, for faster programs load

 

[ddpaulb]

We cant answer that unless we know your workload.
In certain situations single threaded performance is better (gaming for example)
In other cases, multithreaded performance is better (like most rendering)

However, comparing processor to processor is much more informative than comparing thread strength.

What sort of things should I compare between cpus?

 

[Gam3r01]

Architecture mostly.
Really the quickest way to compare them would be posting two you have questions about and we can give a recommendation (or a budget)

 

[ddpaulb]

Architecture mostly.
Really the quickest way to compare them would be posting two you have questions about and we can give a recommendation (or a budget)

I'm considering FX-6300, FX-8320E, i5-4440, i5-6400, i3-4130, i3-6100.

 

[Gam3r01]

The 6400 is the best out of all those, followed by the 4440, then the 6100/4130/6300

 

[ddpaulb]

The 6400 is the best out of all those, followed by the 4440, then the 6100/4130/6300

I will scratch AMD off.