Why upgrade my i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz to a i5-6600K @ ~4.7GHz for Oculus Rift?

[ecarus]

Question: Am I missing anything? I have the money to build a new overclocked i5-6600K/DDR4 based PC for my Oculus Rift; but I can't find an objectively sound reason to replace my four year old overclocked i5-3570/DDR3/GTX1080 based PC. This PC is only used for gaming, so please no suggestions for a i7 CPU unless you can make a sound argument for gaming use. My experience games don't use the hyper-threads.

Here are the overclocked specifications of the PC:

CPU: i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz (heatsoaked)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 @ 2,200MHz (heatsoaked)
GPU: GTX 1080 @ 2038MHz (heatsoaked) on PCI-E 3.0 x16 bus
MOBO: Z77 (Ivy Bridge)

So here is the wall of text as I go through my thought process that hopefully someone can objectively & logically shoot holes through to support a reason to upgrade my gaming PC. I am using PassMark for benchmarking comparision numbers, and will end with 3DMark's "Time Spy" numbers for an overall gaming benchmark.

Oculus has stressed that single thread performance is needed. My CPU's single thread score was 2,434MOPS. The highest rated CPU (i7-4790K @ 4.0GHz) was 2,527MOPS. A 4% improvement is not enough to warrant an upgrade.

Looking at CPU as a whole, my CPU's CPU Mark score was 8804. A i5-6600K Overclocked was 9075. A 3% improvement is not enough to warrant an upgrade.

OK maybe the memory performance would be a cause to upgrade to DDR4. My DDR3 memory latency was 20.4ns which equals the fastest DDR4 memory (21ns). My DDR3 uncached read transfer rate was 17,934MB/s; the highest rated DDR4 was 16,365MB/s. ). My DDR3 write transfer rate was 12,186MB/s; the highest rated DDR4 was 13,204MB/s (+8%). The improvement is not enough to warrant an upgrade.

My 3DMark "Time Spy" score was 6505. The highest i5-6600K @ 4.7GHz/GTX1080 @ 2038MHz (appeared to be heatsoaked) was 7211 (+10%). Looking at the detailed breakdown: Graphics score +1.6%, Graphics Test 1 score +2.4%, Graphics Test 2 score +0.9%, CPU score +43.7%, CPU Test score +43.7%. So here is the first indication that a i5-6600K @ 4.7GHz is a warranted improvement (+43.7%). But this CPU test hits the CPU HARD! I don't believe the CPU test is anything close to being representative of the (CPU) special effects we will see in VR for many many years due to the need to keep the latency <12ns (>84FPS) for nausea issues. A 10% improvement is not enough to warrant an upgrade.

So what am I missing? Yes the i5-6600K @4.7GHz is faster than my four year old i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, but it appears to not be a noticeable difference (+10% "Time Spy" score).

What are your thoughts?

 

[Gam3r01]

If you do not have an explicit need to upgrade, then dont bother.
Recommended specs are rarely correct, and if you are comfortable with the results you are getting then there is no reason to upgrade. Ivy Bridge i5s and i7s are still very capable by todays standards.

 

[USAFRet]

If you're dedicated to having the Rift, and you maybe sort of have the money for a whole new system...

Try the Rift with your current 3570k!
If it works, great. No further purchase needed.

If it fails to live up to your expectations, then and only then see about a whole new PC.


Bottom line:
Does it work with your current system?

 

[Karadjgne]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm pushing both a 3570k and a 3770k, both at decent OC (4.3 and 4.6) and they'll handle anything I throw at them. Only thing that's gotten replaced is the mouses and 1 keyboard (thank you again Tom's), other than that, the performance difference between skylake and Ivy Bridge is minimal, and only seen really at 100% usage.
That cpu can handle the gpu, and the gpu can easily handle Oculus.

Keep your money, it'll get used for a new system one day, but not today.