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Best enthusiast processor?

2

290X

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 1, 2013
Messages
230
What is, at the moment, the best enthusiast processor available? I want something that'll be good at playing videogames when overclocked to 4.5ghz but also be good at compute tasks (stuff like rendering, for instance).

What are my options, here?
 
Your options are Intel (Core i5-3570K, Ivy Bridge) and Intel (Core i5-4670K, Haswell). They generally outperform their AMD counterparts in most benchmarks that don't require the use of their onboard GPUs.

You could grab a Core i7 processor with Hyper Threading (the i7-3770K and the i7-4770K, respectively), but I believe that they're not worth the expense for most users. Few consumer-level programs are designed with Hyper Threading (or more than four CPU threads) in mind.

But do you really need them at 4.5GHz right from the start? The Haswell-based i5-4670K isn't as good an overclocker as the Ivy Bridge-based i5-3570K, but it's faster at the same speeds.
 
I'd like to push it to 4.5ghz or so. I already have my 3570k at 4.1ghz and it's not really cutting it.
 
It's not worth upgrading to Haswell. If you really want to push a higher overclock, you'd need to downgrade to Sandy Bridge.

Which motherboard and CPU cooler are you using?
 
Kind of tricky territory here, nothing cut and dry, mostly dependent on your definition of enthusiast. If you like to tinker and fine tune, AMD FX series are quite interesting processors. Lot of tinkering available, and certainly crazy amount of cooling solutions, power, and OC room. Plus its better suited for heavy threaded applications. However if you define enthusiast processor as one that just maxes out everything out of the box then look no further, jump into the Ivy-Bridge Extreme processors and your there.

Again depends on what your definition is though
 
maybe compute tasks would be the only reason i can think of for the OP...but then again the 3570K is no slouch
 
Rattle said:
How is that cpu not cutting it?
Click to expand...

OP talked about compute stuff. OP, is it at all possible to use GPU instead of CPU for your compute work? Guess you'll have to be more specific about what you're doing.
 
I'm not sure how I can be more specific, I said the main purpose was going to be video games and compute was second. It is possible to use the GPU for some compute stuff.
 
290X said:
I'm not sure how I can be more specific, I said the main purpose was going to be video games and compute was second. It is possible to use the GPU for some compute stuff.
Click to expand...
Well how is it not cutting it? Not cutting it when it comes to games? Or not cutting it when it comes to compute stuff? What games are you playing? In other words, please explain how exactly your current CPU setup isn't meeting your performance requirements.

Are you sure you can't push your 3570K any further? What motherboard, case, PSU, and HSF do you have? The average overclock for the 3570Ks were roughly 4.5Ghz IIRC.

But as Tiraides touched on, there really isn't any CPU that'll be worth upgrading from your 3570K when it comes to gaming.

With that said, if you plan on playing a ton of BF4 and will be using Windows 8, then the fastest and yet not stupid expensive CPU for that situation would probably be a 4930K CPU. Maybe the 3930K if it's that much cheaper. However, your 4.5Ghz goal with either CPU is more than likely not going to happen short of the following:
1) You have a large amount of luck
2) You have a computer hardware store nearby that's fine with you doing constant exchanges on the CPU in order to find that one chip that overclocks well.

Also note that a 4.2Ghz 4770K is roughly equal to a 4.5Ghz Core i5 2500K/3570K. So basically your options boil down to this one question: Are you willing to spend a lot of money for rather small performance increase in gaming performance?
 
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Dangman said:
Are you willing to spend a lot of money for rather small performance increase in gaming performance?
Click to expand...

Considering this CPU is going to be going into my new build which will feature 4x 880/390X video cards, the answer is: YES. I'm doing an overkill build on purpose.
 
290X said:
Considering this CPU is going to be going into my new build which will feature 4x 880/390X video cards, the answer is: YES. I'm doing an overkill build on purpose.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...oh now I remember you.

Yeah dude, as I noted in your last thread, you're still planning way too early, considering that 390X won't be out for whole 'nother year at the least and that the 880 cards' release date is still up in the air. Haswell-E could be released by then.

But if you were buying TODAY, then the 3930K or the 4930K (whichever is cheapest) would be your best bet.
 
Dangman said:
Hmmm...oh now I remember you.

Yeah dude, as I noted in your last thread, you're still planning way too early, considering that 390X won't be out for whole 'nother year at the least and that the 880 cards' release date is still up in the air. Haswell-E could be released by then.

But if you were buying TODAY, then the 3930K or the 4930K (whichever is cheapest) would be your best bet.
Click to expand...

Not really planning on going for Haswell-E because I don't want to deal with DDR4
 
JayJapanB said:
I heard not if you are overclocking anyway.
Click to expand...

I'll have to check out some CPU benchmarks. There's an additional benefit of 2011 boards having a ton of PCIe lanes, so they won't choke up 4x video cards.
 
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