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Core I5 or I7 for the Rift?

bsselp
Protege
So does an I5 or I7 core processor make any real difference for the Rift? I've heard that it might but don't want to spend an extra 100 bucks if it's not really necessary...
52 REPLIES 52

leo1954au
Adventurer

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Good point @lordvtp

I was also wondering about the multimedia boost the i7 would provide with that new Touch app that let's people draw a virtual object and have it print out irl with a 3D printer.

Sakkura
Heroic Explorer

Zenbane said:

If and when games move more towards DirectX 12, the i7 outperforms the i5,



Not really. Only if the games are CPU bottlenecked, and DirectX 12 isn't increasing the CPU load at all. It's reducing it, and allowing it to more easily be spread across multiple cores. But if 4 cores without HT are already enough to have you sitting at 90 FPS (or your monitor refresh rate), then it doesn't matter.

Sakkura
Heroic Explorer

lordvtp said:

The thing here is that we are not discussing i5 vs i7 in a pure gaming context, but in a VR context. Those extra threads absolutely come into play when you add the control processes for the HMD and control implements ( I assume touch will need want a separate thread aside from the hmd driver itself). My leap motion can use 3/4 of a thread by itself when using it in VR (and I have a 4.8 ghz  5820k)


Those control processes are pretty negligible. Like when someone looked into CPU load with 4 sensors hooked up, it pretty much didn't matter.

Nipoc
Adventurer
A amd fx 6300 is powerful enough for VR right now, even a generation one i7/i5 is enough. The current i5 is more than twice as powerful as those cpus, so there is no reason to believe, that the current i5 won't be powerful enough in 5 years.
(Headtracking, sensor fusion... takes less than 5% processor usage)

The i7 outperforms the i5 by 20% in a benchmark, which means it's probaly around 10% in a real game and thats  not much considering the price difference.

shadowfrogger
Heroic Explorer
We just don't know the full effects of all new games built ground up with dx12/vulkan in mind.
Either will be fine, the i7 will last longer as a cpu and could be 5-30% percent faster in fps for future games

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3039552/hardware/tested-how-many-cpu-cores-you-really-need-for-direct...

For ashes there is already a difference
4 core 75fps
4 core/ht 90 fps

however like someone said before. buy cheaper, buy twice is a good budget method.
i5(next year) and & AMD Zen will probably make 6 core+ the norm and games will make proper of it. Is a i7 worth it ? I Probably spend the extra and would go with one, it is just a bit of extra futureproofing.
Visit my amateur homegrown indie game company website! http://www.gaming-disorder.com/

jademan
Heroic Explorer

Zenbane said:

Anything can be considered "overkill" when it comes to gaming.


(Me here - damn quoting)  I call BS on this... If you are a gamer, you get the best, and that's that. Bottleneck this - I will have the newest GPU in a month too. The devs know what's coming/out there... be ready for it!

bsselp
Protege


Zenbane said:

If and when games move more towards DirectX 12, the i7 outperforms the i5,




http://www.pcworld.com/article/2900814/tested-directx-12s-potential-performance-leap-is-insane.html



And another consideration,

While the minimum CPU recommendations for both of the big dogs of VR are relatively sedate (the Oculus Rift recommends an Intel Core i5-4590 processor), as we're building the ultimate VR gaming PC we're going to make sure that our machine is future proof for years to come, so that there will be no chance of our processor bottlenecking performance in the future.

That's why we've gone for the six-core Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, which is arguably the best CPU for gaming that's available right now. While some may argue that four cores are plenty for your CPU, we're really looking into the future when it comes to this build, and when virtual reality, along with positional audio and other bells and whistles, becomes ever more demanding, we'll want to make sure our CPU can keep up.

http://www.techradar.com/us/how-to/computing/how-to-build-the-ultimate-pc-for-virtual-reality-131815...





Zenbane said:

If and when games move more towards DirectX 12, the i7 outperforms the i5,




http://www.pcworld.com/article/2900814/tested-directx-12s-potential-performance-leap-is-insane.html



And another consideration,

While the minimum CPU recommendations for both of the big dogs of VR are relatively sedate (the Oculus Rift recommends an Intel Core i5-4590 processor), as we're building the ultimate VR gaming PC we're going to make sure that our machine is future proof for years to come, so that there will be no chance of our processor bottlenecking performance in the future.

That's why we've gone for the six-core Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, which is arguably the best CPU for gaming that's available right now. While some may argue that four cores are plenty for your CPU, we're really looking into the future when it comes to this build, and when virtual reality, along with positional audio and other bells and whistles, becomes ever more demanding, we'll want to make sure our CPU can keep up.

http://www.techradar.com/us/how-to/computing/how-to-build-the-ultimate-pc-for-virtual-reality-131815...




Now I'm thinking maybe I should just go for the six core I7-5820K...I would like to future proof as much as possible. Do you really think 6 cores will be used with VR in the next few years? 

jayhawk
Superstar
After some research and finding out the difference between an i5 and i7 for gaming was minimal, I chose an i5. But not only was I trying to keep costs down, I needed something that consumed less power (less watts) since I was going to build the PC in the smallest possible case I could (more power = more heat)