Playing games on an Xeon processor Optimizing performance for gaming High-performance computing options available
Playing games on an Xeon processor Optimizing performance for gaming High-performance computing options available
Shloud, consider Dual Xeon e5-2623 v4 or I7-4470k. You had a strong gaming rig with an older Core i7 and a 1080Ti GPU. The results weren’t great—your performance dropped about 15%. It might be the hardware mismatch or the software limitations. Try the Xeon first; it could offer better results.
These chips run at lower clock speeds, but with four cores you experience strong performance from the Numa, making the results impressive.
Gaming dual sockets won't significantly reduce core-to-core latency. Extra cores likely won't help much, particularly with xeons that typically operate at lower clock speeds.
It's not about whether you can play games anymore. Xeon processors are designed for workstations and servers, usually with more cores but slower speeds. For gaming, core count isn't the main factor—clock speed does matter more. Even in 2021, a six-core setup is usually sufficient. The 4770K’s maximum clock speed is around 3.5 GHz, while I’m not sure about your cooling setup. It should be possible to keep it stable at 4–4.2 GHz for gaming, which might account for the small performance drop you noticed.
Changes are beginning to take shape. Asobo recently showcased an updated MSFS2020 patch arriving soon, designed to leverage multithreaded CPU capabilities more effectively. Several studios have also implemented significant adjustments to optimize performance on systems with many cores—such as Unreal Engine 5, Frostbite, and Unity. DX12U has made a few refinements to support these improvements. However, realizing these benefits still requires dedicated development work from developers, meaning widespread adoption won’t happen immediately. In the end, your insight is accurate: games will gain more from strong single-core speed than from having many cores.
Linus demonstrated in the Skulltrail how newer engines such as Vulcan work well with multiple cores, enabling better performance on older dual-socket setups. However, in most games, the weak single-core speed still poses a problem.