Hardware Minimum CPU Required for Mainstream Gaming

[Mantis41]

It depends on each game. Some games allow you to run PhysX on CPU while some don't.

Would this be a reason to buy Nvidia or is it just a bit Meh?

 

[trumpet-205]

Would this be a reason to buy Nvidia or is it just a bit Meh?

Meh. PhysX doesn't add a lot to gaming experience.

 

[PityOnU]

Meh. PhysX doesn't add a lot to gaming experience.

Yeah, and you can't forget about AMD's TressFX! That's hair craziness adds so much to the realism of the character! I didn't need those extra 30fps anyway.

 

[marcus134]

I didn't say that... I said that It doesn't have 2 threads per core

sorry, I misread thinking about the confusion between mobile and desktop i5.

mobile i5 +1 desktop sku are dual core with hyper threading

 

[SolidSnake95]

Thanks for the great responses all.

To clear up some of the confusion, when I say mainstream gaming, I mean PC native AAA titles - things like Skyrim or Dead Space or Mass Effect or Need for Speed (heh, most of those are EA games, sorry).

I understand that for emulation you need a lot more oomph, so that's something completely different. I'm just talking about PC native titles.

Also, all of you are focusing on Intel desktop processors. What about mobile, or AMD?

Yeah I was wodnering where all this talk of emulation came from.

I'd say at the least, get you a nvidia 9800 gt with a amd phenom x4, nothing wrong with a machine like that. 4 GB of RAM wouldn't hurt either.

 

[natkoden]

CPU these days is not that important. GPU, on the other hand, is very important.

BUT, I woulnd't go as lower as an FX 6300.

 

[SolidSnake95]

Good article! Now that's what I'm talking about.

So basically, you can actually get away with a surprising horrible CPU, as long as you have a nice graphics card.

Hmmm...

I'd say, regardless of how fast your cpu is, its the gpu that mainly counts(and ram). GPU will be the bottleneck of performance no matter how fast your cpu is, I speak from experience.

 

[Originality]

But before people start reading all this anti-CPU talk and get the wrong idea, some games still need a good CPU to run well. It's includes most strategy games, games with a high number if units, games with a sophisticated AI, etc. for example, the Shogun series.

 

[natkoden]

Just found an amazing article:

http://technewspedia.com/curious-review-radeon-hd-7970-tested-on-a-core-2-duo-e8400/

And for CPU dependant games:

CPU gaming performance
Batman: AC: Frames per second: Higher is better
AMD FX-6300: 120
AMD FX-6200: 110
INTEL CORE I5-3570K: 164
AMD FX-8350: 114
CPU gaming performance
Shogun 2: Frames per second: Higher is better
AMD FX-6300: 21
AMD FX-6200: 19
INTEL CORE I5-3570K: 35
AMD FX-8350: 25


That should give you an idea.