Switch from an i7 processor to an Xeon for better gaming and productivity.
Switch from an i7 processor to an Xeon for better gaming and productivity.
Hey everyone, I was exploring some budget-friendly Xeon options and thought about swapping my 8700 for dual E5-2690v3s. Removing the BIOS microcode would let me get the 3.5GHz all-core turbo. I plan to go with a budget x99 dual socket board from AliExpress and pair it with my GTX 1080 Ti and 1060. I understand gaming speeds might drop a bit because of the lower single-core performance, but I’m curious if that would be noticeable. With next-gen consoles boasting 8+ cores and better multi-core support, it’s worth considering. Since those components are similar in price to my current setup, selling my CPU and motherboard could be a smart move. Also, since I occasionally edit videos and stream, having 24 cores would really help. Would your gaming experience suffer noticeably? Thanks!
You can find affordable first-gen Threadripper and Mobo setups for the 8700 plus Mobo at competitive prices. The Threadripper will significantly outperform older Xeons, particularly in gaming, thanks to reduced Numa node latency when using game mode.
It would be bad for gaming even though games are moving toward more cores; they still don’t utilize many beyond six. The dual socket setup is inefficient and clocks are slow. Doing video edits or streaming isn’t worth the big drop in game performance. If you need both editing and gaming with high cores, a threadripper might be better.
This path offers solid value, but keep in mind that two 12-core sockets won't perform identically to one 24-core unit, which may lead to reduced gains as games become more multithreaded. I anticipate mainstream consumer 24 cores will match the performance of mid-range gaming chips within the next five years, though predictions could change.
They may have more multi-core support, but that doesn't guarantee better performance per core. Expect issues.
However, that doesn't apply to systems with 8, 10, or 12 core processors; those should suffice. Edited August 18, 2020 by Drama Lama
What games are you enjoying? 1080 and an 8700 make a solid combination.