Why Do So Many Games Require i7?

I was told that i7's are not necessary for gaming and that the gain is minimal. However, most games list i7's on recommended specs. I'm working on a Skylake build. I've been waiting for the new 6700k's to get back in stock. They are simply too expensive right now. Some say that the 6600k's would be just as good for gaming but that is not what the requirements are calling for these days. What say you?

If you're getting the CPU for "mostly" gaming then yes 6600K is just as good as 6700K. There's no reason at all to get an i7 for gaming. In fact more PC gamers own i5.

@NintendoFan1953: i7 are good for CPU extensive games (like RTS, MMOs etc). If you're tight with budget though i5 will perform well. If you can go the extra mile, get an i7.

But 6700K is currently more expensive then 5820K.

6600K on the other hand is worth the price and I doubt he'll find a game that 6600K would have problems with.

No idea about current pricing since my last build was 3 years ago but like I said, if money isn't an issue he can do i7, but i5 will still perform well for gaming.

It's definitely NOT worth the extra $30-$100 for something that'll give you minimal, if any advantage. If you have the money, by all means get the I7, but honestly it would be foolish.

You have to remember that many specs lists are simply drawn up using whatever parts the developer had available to test at the time. This is precisely why they spec sheets aren't accurate. For all intents and purposes an i5 should do most people fine. The i7s yield slightly better minimum frame rates/fps deviation but it's nothing huge.

Well, I am sure that you should still be able to play just fine even if you have an i5 at the moment. I am not exactly an expert but that would be my conclusion.

An i5 certainly is the general consensus. I noticed on the Witcher 3 recommended specs, even though it recommended an i7 it was a 3770, which is 3rd generation. I wonder if it's based more on the speed rather than the cores.

about 2 year ago people was saying this to me when I was looking for a new PC. I took the plunge and got a I7 3770k. I no its lowish now though but glad I went for I7 back then on this CPU then the I5 people was recommending me as it be even lower now then I got. I was only saving about £150 any way. It still a good CPU along with 970 GTX. People where saying you can always upgrade later. But now I don't even have to do that until at least not to end of next year when I be buying a new build any way. Saved time in the end.

If the 6700k's ever come back down to the $350 range then I plan to buy one.

The main difference between same gen, the i5 and i7 is cpu cache size and the Hyperthreading, both cpu's are quad cores on same LGA socket and their processing power are virtually the same at the same clocks. For example Witcher 3 that makes use of eight threads from a cpu i7 4790k is around 6% faster than i5 4690k with average framerate and is with a 500mhz difference between the two cpus.

6% is not that much of a difference. I guess I'm thinking future. With the new consoles using 8 cores, I'm wondering if that will have an impact on coding for new games.

The consoles do not have access to those 8 cores in games, and to the fact that the jaguar cpu in those consoles suck big time. The fact that their only clocked at 1.6/1.7ghz and the cpu's performance per clock is no better than AMD's 2009/2010 era cpus. Now the games on those consoles only have access to 6 on PS4 and 6 1/2 cores on the X1, with those 6 cores available which means that any AMD Athlon 2 or Phenom 2 quad core clocked at 2.6 ghz or higher will surpass the processing power of PS4 cpu having 6 cores to use.

Many games already do make use of eight threads and depending of the game's cpu and gpu needs the vast majority see little to no difference from i5 and i7 since the most games are more dependent on the gpu.

Most system requirements listed by games are based on guess-a-mation or they only tested on a few computer configurations they had there. Most just suggest i7 or FX8 as recommended or top is just because its the best cpu type from each company.

You can pick up an i7 4790k for $300 or bit less and its performance is virtually the same as the new Skylake 6700k.

@04dcarraher: I honestly considered going with a 4790k build but was thinking Skylake for future-proofing, if such a thing even exists.

The only thing Skylake is really doing is DDR4, smaller nm manufacturing and much stronger igp (intel gpu). You aren't going to see any real difference between the two performance wise.

0 games "require" an i7

Some benefit from it but not many.

@04dcarraher: I've noticed that as well. However, there's not much of a price difference between the 4790k and the 6700k when the skylake processors are in abundant supply. I can't help but wonder if Intel is holding back the skylakes to sell off their older cpus. Right now I have a i5 2500 minus the 'k.' Not too good for games. My card is the AMD 6870.

Especially when the port isn't optimized.

meh, I am still gaming on a Phenom II X4. Clearly I could do much much better, but my arm has yet to be twisted to an i7 upgrade

I've never seen a game that requires an i7 to play. It might recommend one, but not require one.

Ya I was told get an i5, and I didn't need 16gb of ram. Well I said nope not listening to those idiots and like another purchased an i7 3770k which plays everything I throw at it, and I haven't even overclocked it.

I exclusively build i7 systems for people. There was ever 1 exception (my friend) who wanted to save money, has now built 3 computers over a 5-6 year period... Because he "didn't need the best". 2 i5's later he is an i7 user.

Maybe he learned his lesson. :P

Easy answer : no time to optimize and to make you spend money!!!

That i5 2500 is perfectly fine for games its that 6870 of yours that is not.

i would take system requirements with a grain of salt. Most often than not Sys requirements are so off that is completely funny

Take mad max for instance. It lists a 7870 as a minimum requirement yet here i am running the game on a 7850 and i actually play the game at mostly high settings at 50-60fps

i7's are good to alleviate cpu bottlenecks when you are using sli/crossfire high end CPU's. Using a single GPU even a high end one like 980ti their performance at best case scenario will be 5-10% better than an i5 and that in extremely cpu bound games that take advantage more than 4 5hreads. Most of the times their performance is identical to an i5

I haven't seen any games REQUIRE an i7 yet. I am guessing they recommend them for the 8 threads. Just like they recommend the AMD FX8350, even though i7s destroy the 8350.

You don't need a i7 for gaming. Depending on your GPU you may not even need a i5. Lower budge GPU's tend to work well with i3's, but obviously if you're getting a i5 you're more than likely getting a strong GPU.

@04dcarraher: @04dcarraher: He says the truth my friend

Any dual-core will (still) do. No game will run faster. PC requirements are made up by marketing and legal people, not game developers. Not even game directors.

So, there's that...

People buying expensive hardware feel always "in the know", because they have to justify their expensive purchases to someone (therefore: Internet forums). Fancy hardware IS nice, but nothing makes it better, unless some obscure game runs INTEL ONLY features. Maybe a handful do. Otherwise, the Windows 10 kernel scheduler does more than any fancy 1000 USD CPU. Too bad, Win 10 is still in (public) beta.

get a 4790k

You'll get a few more frames per second on an i7 skylake on Fallout 4, but an i5 is still fine.

I just OC my i5 4690k and don't have any problems it.

Why Do So Many Games Require i7 > Because devs are lazy to checkout which CPUs run the best with their games? poor optimization leads to such high requirements sometimes too.

Many companies today, just check their games with what they have in their office.

They let the professional reviewers do the benchmarks (since they do a better job and they test more stuff).

Oh and about Bethesda. Lately they are posting overkill requirements for their games.

Anyone remember the MINIMUM core i7 from The Evil Within?

Minimum Requirements

• OS: windows 7/8.1
• GPU: GTX 460 or an equivalent 1 GB VRAM card
• CPU: i7 or an equivalent 4+ core processor
• RAM: 4 GB
• HDD: 50 GB

So like many people said before, don't take minimum and recommended requirements seriously. Not even devs do...

this.

some games (like Battlefield 4, iirc) actually run few frames lower with an i7, compared to same clocked i5.

I still have my 980x from 2010. Starting to show its age but it can still keep up with the newer chips. That year I also bought a gtx 480 and replaced it in 2012 with a 690. Still going strong but I'm tempted to get a 980 Ti