Noticed in the newest game benchmarks at Tech Spot, who does CPU benchmarks on newer games, the 4300 (or 4170 etc when 43XX benches not available) usually does well
Bioshock Infinite 19X12, Ultra settings, GTX 680, 3770k= 68 FPS FX 4320= 64 FPS
Tomb Raider 19X12, Ultimate Quality, HD7970 3770K= 79 FPS, FX 4170= 79 FPS
Crysis 3, 3770k=64 FPS, 4170=56 FPS (in this particular game I notice the i3 3220 only gets 36 FPS)
Far Cry 3 3770k=70 FPS, 4170=55 FPS (4000 series loses here, I would expect open world FC3 to be more CPU intensive, but still not bad)
Hitman Absolution 3770k=61 FPS, 4170=32 FPS (4170 gets destroyed here for whatever reason, also by the 3220)
And now a recent game that I figure should really stress the CPU:
Sim City: 3770k=43 FPS, 4320=32 FPS
Keep in mind we're comparing ~$110 CPU's vs the $330 3770k. I have no doubt overall the 3770k dominates, but once you throw it in a real world gaming environment, likely sometimes GPU bottlenecked, on the latest software, it seems the 4000 series, particularly the Vishera ones, has a lot of merit.
You can look at all these benches here:
http://www.techspot.com/reviews-software.shtml
It seems like in a lot of the latest and greatest games, where you are more likely gpu limited anyway, the 400 series and AMD in general shine more than in older games. It seems like raw clockspeed wins out in a lot of these, and the 4 integer cores must be playing a bigger role than the the 2 FP cores because they act like quad core in the benches for sure.
It appears the trend is strong, after I wrote this post I checked for example the MOH Warfighter benches, 4170 is one of the fastest CPU's bar none (tying the i7 3960, beating the 3470 and FX 8300, 8150 etc). It does appear raw clock wins in a lot of these.
Bioshock Infinite 19X12, Ultra settings, GTX 680, 3770k= 68 FPS FX 4320= 64 FPS
Tomb Raider 19X12, Ultimate Quality, HD7970 3770K= 79 FPS, FX 4170= 79 FPS
Crysis 3, 3770k=64 FPS, 4170=56 FPS (in this particular game I notice the i3 3220 only gets 36 FPS)
Far Cry 3 3770k=70 FPS, 4170=55 FPS (4000 series loses here, I would expect open world FC3 to be more CPU intensive, but still not bad)
Hitman Absolution 3770k=61 FPS, 4170=32 FPS (4170 gets destroyed here for whatever reason, also by the 3220)
And now a recent game that I figure should really stress the CPU:
Sim City: 3770k=43 FPS, 4320=32 FPS
Keep in mind we're comparing ~$110 CPU's vs the $330 3770k. I have no doubt overall the 3770k dominates, but once you throw it in a real world gaming environment, likely sometimes GPU bottlenecked, on the latest software, it seems the 4000 series, particularly the Vishera ones, has a lot of merit.
You can look at all these benches here:
http://www.techspot.com/reviews-software.shtml
It seems like in a lot of the latest and greatest games, where you are more likely gpu limited anyway, the 400 series and AMD in general shine more than in older games. It seems like raw clockspeed wins out in a lot of these, and the 4 integer cores must be playing a bigger role than the the 2 FP cores because they act like quad core in the benches for sure.
It appears the trend is strong, after I wrote this post I checked for example the MOH Warfighter benches, 4170 is one of the fastest CPU's bar none (tying the i7 3960, beating the 3470 and FX 8300, 8150 etc). It does appear raw clock wins in a lot of these.