i5 vs i7 - look into the future, late 2013 iMac

[Sicutz]

hey guys,

I know, there are lot´s of theards about i5 vs i7.

But I want the power for gaming.

Yeah, also know, that the iMac is not the best gaming choice, but I love Apple and the nMP is to much.

So I just want to know if the CPU (i5) is able to slow down my iMac in games, or is the CPU(i5) fast enough and the 780m is to slow.

Sorry, dont know how to explain my problem in english


For example I want to play BF5, but the 780m is to slow for the game, so it dosent matter if I got the i5 oder i7, because the GPU is to slow.

Or the 780m works fine, but the i5 is to slow, so I loose fps.



Hope you can help me!

 

[trimiton]

Well, to put it simply, games don't (usually) use that much of a CPU as they do with the GPU.

Basically, if you don't need to do processor intensive stuff (e.g.: video/audio editing, compilation), a i5 would suffice over i7. Altough, if you've got the money you could buy an i7 and be clear that you won't need any upgrades soon related to the CPU

 

[Sicutz]

mhm, but if the i5 is enough for gaming in the future until the 780m is on the limit, I dont need more CPU power. (if your statement is correct)

I cant upgrade the GPU and it is already the best mobile GPU.


-----

Maybe I want until the next gen of iMac, I hope we´ll see a new iMac in 2014.

 

[Bear]

mhm, but if the i5 is enough for gaming in the future until the 780m is on the limit, I dont need more CPU power. (if your statement is correct)

I cant upgrade the GPU and it is already the best mobile GPU.

The 3.4GHz i5 is more than enough for games.

Maybe I want until the next gen of iMac, I hope we´ll see a new iMac in 2014.

And then you'll wait until the year after because you're still worried about the GPU or maybe you'll worry about something else. The 780M is actually quite capable for a mobile GPU. If you need a new system buy one now as you'll be ready to replace it in a few years anyway.

 

[Alfinator]

hey guys,

I know, there are lot´s of theards about i5 vs i7.

But I want the power for gaming.

Yeah, also know, that the iMac is not the best gaming choice, but I love Apple and the nMP is to much.

So I just want to know if the CPU (i5) is able to slow down my iMac in games, or is the CPU(i5) fast enough and the 780m is to slow.

Sorry, dont know how to explain my problem in english


For example I want to play BF5, but the 780m is to slow for the game, so it dosent matter if I got the i5 oder i7, because the GPU is to slow.

Or the 780m works fine, but the i5 is to slow, so I loose fps.
I really doubt it but I dont know really what specs that's required for BF5, you shouldn't really think about BF5, you should rather think about BF4

Hope you can help me!

Ok so between the i5 and i7 there is almost ZERO difference when it comes to handle games. If you CAN AFFORD it then the i7 is more future proof then the i5 but that extra money is better used elsewhere, like in RAM-memory or maybe a better GRAPHICS CARD.

Almost the only moment where the i7 has the upper hand is when it comes too heavy programs like photoshop, and other photo/video-editing programs.

 

[Dreadnought]

Most games nowadays don't make use of multiple cores. So an i7 ( = 4 cores, 8 threads) makes little difference over an quad i5 (= 4 cores) and could be overkill because of splitting each core into 2 threads (hyperthreading). Therefore an i5 could outperform an i7, as an i5 doesn't have hyperthreading. Some i5's have higher turboboost (single core boost), which can make a difference in games. However, the i7 in the 2013 iMac has more mhz standard as in turboboost.
It's waiting on more games that use multiple cores. But I agree with the rest, the best thing is to get the fastest GPU you can afford!

 

[yjchua95]

Depends on whether the games you're playing takes advantage of hyper threading or not.

On average, an i7 in the 3.4-3.5GHz range performs 28-33% better than an i5 in the same range when in multithreaded tasks.

Source: cpu-world.com