6 or 8 cores are suitable for gaming depending on the game requirements and your system's capabilities.
6 or 8 cores are suitable for gaming depending on the game requirements and your system's capabilities.
What do people believe about using 6 or 8 CPU cores for gaming? Are upcoming titles like the new elder scrolls teaser or cyberpunk 2077 likely to use 8 cores soon? Or will 8 cores become standard in the next few years? Share your thoughts and any personal experiences you have!
Both recent Tomb Raider titles rely on eight real cores. Other games sometimes match with six to eight threads effectively. When developed for both consoles and PC, it seems most are optimized for 6–8+ cores, though a few exceptions might handle 12–16 threads well. It's tough to say definitively, as open-world experiences tend to use more resources. #Future This is my prediction, based on what I expect in the next 2–4 years of engine development.
I share your thoughts—it's similar to the past four core years moving toward the ideal six-core setup. I’m curious about whether switching to an 8-core 2000 series Ryzen or sticking with a 6-core 3000 series makes sense. Could it be that there’s a realistic path if I upgrade later, or will performance drop significantly? I know four cores still serve many gamers today, but can developers continue creating games for such a broad range of cores?
It would be unrealistic to remove them, but with the upcoming 3000 and a possible 4000 series release next year, developers will understand the future tech landscape and its boundaries. They’ll aim for stunning visuals and smooth performance using cutting-edge graphics. The push toward multi-core processors might take 3 to 6 years, or maybe sooner if PC parts influence them. Consoles are adopting PC components, so developers will cater across platforms, potentially boosting profits from other areas like the console market, which could speed things up. Here are some ideas: focus on seamless cross-platform experiences, invest in next-gen rendering techniques, explore hybrid architectures, and leverage cloud-based processing to enhance performance.
It seems they won’t miss out on more than 50% of revenue from steam users on 4-core processors. I notice future games often list minimum and maximum requirements, suggesting 8 cores might be ideal soon—but this could change. It’s hard to tell if adding more cores is the best choice now or sticking with 6 for better performance while gaming.
Games might work well on 8 cores, though it may take some time before they need it. I still have a quad-core processor and can handle all the latest Tomb Raider games without trouble. The Shadow benchmark suggested my CPU struggled in certain scenes, but the GPU was the main limitation overall.
PC games have changed in size and will keep evolving. The focus shifts to determining what performance level suits you best. I’m confident six strong cores will cover modern games for the next few years. This brings up another idea—core quality matters, not just quantity. If I had to pick between a 3600 and a 2700X, I’d go with the 3600 without hesitation. It’s noticeably more powerful overall, aside from Cinebench. A better CPU would definitely help, but it won’t change much for my current setup. My GPU could improve more than either of my existing models, yet I don’t see a need to upgrade now. The 3700X is already in another system, but I won’t switch unless the 4000-series or newer becomes necessary.
That’s a solid observation. I’ll go with six core, especially since it’s a 3000 series model—things are more flexible than you think. It really depends on how you use it. I’m confident that even with a decent GPU like a 2070 Super, you’ll still get great graphics and smooth performance over time. From a broader view, unless you’re a power user needing peak performance, eight cores will be worth the investment.
Thread numbers and SMT seem exaggerated. I consider it mainly a hardware constraint rather than a software issue. Compared to a genuine core, the extra speed it provides varies with the tasks at hand. Generally, you could notice a 0 to 50% boost in CPU performance from using SMT in common applications, with most falling near the lower side of that range. Cinebench performs well and sits around 30%. I’ve seen the original Ryzen Blender test show 50%, but I’m unsure if that reflects typical usage. Measuring it in games is tricky because the GPU plays a bigger role. Returning to this, on average, a 6c6t CPU tends to outperform or deliver more stable results than a 4c8t one. It’s hard to say definitively, but as core counts rise, there might be a shift from adding complexity to creating simpler, more efficient cores with more of them.