Stick to haswell?

Yudhaputera

Reputable
Aug 10, 2015
13
0
4,510
Hi! Before I start, here are my system:

CPU: Intel i3 4130
Mb: MSI H81M-E35 V2
Ram: 8GB
PSU: Enermax Naxn 500W
GPU: Integrated (Planning on buying GTX 1050 Ti by the end of the month)

This system is purely for gaming and I mostly gonna play:

Resident Evil series, Tomb Raider series, CSGO, COD, Battlefield those kind of games. and my target is 1080p/60fps with medium - high quality

So what's the best option for me? Should I just upgrade to haswell i5 or go for i3/i5 Skylake? And if it's best to stick to haswell, what i5 type should I get? And how long do you think this system will last before I need another major upgrade?

If you need more detail, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you!
 
Solution
Main benefits of Skylake over Haswell are better integrated graphics (irrelevant since you're getting a GPU), lower temps and power consumption (mostly irrelevant on a desktop), USB-C support (which would necessitate a motherboard upgrade and possibly RAM upgrade), and DDR4 support (which would also require a motherboard and RAM upgrade). In terms of performance, Skylake is on average only about 5%-10% faster than Haswell clock-for-clock, and some functions are actually slower. So unless you need USB-C and are willing to upgrade other components to get it, Haswell is your most cost-effective option.

The 4-core requirement in certain games isn't really a problem with the dual-core i3. Since it has hyperthreading, it appears to...
Haswell is fine though an argument could be made for an i5 variant. Many games now require or at least utilize four or more cores easily enough. You should be able to pick up a used i5 compatible with your motherboard for fairly cheap. With an i3 haswell your going to need an upgrade fairly soon for gaming but if you step up to an i5 Or even better an i7 you should be good for another few years before you need a whole new platform. I still run an i7 3930k @4.2ghz (sandy bridge-e so older then your chips architecture) though I am looking to upgrade after Ryzen/ skylake-e drop but even then my setup would be good for another 2 or more years for gaming with high end GPU's @4K.
 


Yeah used i5 or i7, I was thinking the same thing. But let's just say I'm gonna get the used i7 is the H81 chipset is gonna be a problem?
 
Main benefits of Skylake over Haswell are better integrated graphics (irrelevant since you're getting a GPU), lower temps and power consumption (mostly irrelevant on a desktop), USB-C support (which would necessitate a motherboard upgrade and possibly RAM upgrade), and DDR4 support (which would also require a motherboard and RAM upgrade). In terms of performance, Skylake is on average only about 5%-10% faster than Haswell clock-for-clock, and some functions are actually slower. So unless you need USB-C and are willing to upgrade other components to get it, Haswell is your most cost-effective option.

The 4-core requirement in certain games isn't really a problem with the dual-core i3. Since it has hyperthreading, it appears to software to be a 4-core CPU. It won't run these games as smoothly as if you had 4 physical cores, but it will run them. You have to drop down to the Pentiums (dual core, no hyperthreading) before these games stop running.

Of the games you've listed, CSGO, BF, and COD tend to be bottlenecked by the CPU. Generally, the multiplayer games tend to hit the CPU pretty hard. Especially if there are lots of other players in the area (your computer has to track, predict, and reconcile their movements and actions with updates from the server). If you don't play these games often or very seriously, you may even want to wait until you get the new GPU and see how they run with the i3. Then decide after playing them whether or not to upgrade to an i5.
 
Solution


there are plenty of games where 4 real cores will trounce 2 cores plus hyper-threads. Yes he could step up to skylake but then he has a full platform upgrade with motherboard, ram and CPU. My point was that by adding an i5 or i7 he could get close to skylake performance at a fraction of the cost. If it were my money being spent I would rather get a used CPU and maybe add some extra GPU horse power on what I would have spent on the entire skylake platform. It is much better bang for your buck. Now granted if money isn't an issue the latest and greatest is always just that. I was trying to give him advice that would extend his platforms life while giving him more power and a better gaming experience. saying 2c/4t is sufficient in this day in age for gaming is really not true anymore. More and more games are well threaded so I would disagree with keeping the i3 but it's his money and game experience.
 

I don't disagree. I was just pointing out that since whether that's true depends on the game, he might as well try the games he plays first with the i3 to see if performance is acceptable. Only upgrading to the i5 if he feels the i3's performance is lackluster. It's not like there's a fire sale on Haswell i5s which is going to end soon. And it costs him nothing to try playing on the i3 before deciding to upgrade.