cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

A better gaming CPU (taking recommendations)

martine-dee
Level 12
Hi,

I am with i-7820X and GTX 1080 Ti Strix. So far, I've seen several indicators that the CPU is a bottleneck for some gaming moments.

Concretely, in Quake Champions, folks get stabler and higher fps. That game loves high clocks, so when I raised the CPU to 4.3 GHz, it indeed gave more fps. Unfortunately, the i7-7820X only takes me so far.

Also, in Hitman (TM) 2, simulation quality is an option selected based on CPU specs. Unfortunately, stuttering is immense at the setting where the i7-7820X should fit in (8+ cores).

The 3D Mark also seems to mention this, with a bit of humor. It gave me achievement "Your GPU is ready to rumble, but your CPU doesn't want to play."

I picked i7-7820X because it is a mule for non-gaming purposes, but apparently games like something else. Do you have suggestions on what CPU would do better for gaming?

Thanks 🙂
Keep exploring, keep innovating, keep creating
4,552 Views
23 REPLIES 23

restsugavan
Level 13
Gaming limited use resources and happy on 256-bit Microarchitect CPU.
Kabylake X was only CPU that suitable for gaming. However it was already EOL.

At this moment, You may consider RYZEN 3000 Series or 9900KF or KS series better. *
For Skylake X and Cascade Lake X even it can be playing games but it was not suitable.*
W11CANARY 26090.1 Core i9 7980XE 02007006 MCE ME 11.12.95.2499 R6E OFFICIAL BIOS 3801 SAMSUNG OG9 FW 1019.0 SSD 970 EVO PLUS 1 TB x 3 NVIDIA RTX 4090 GAME READY 551.86 64GB GSKILL DDR4 3200MHz JBL 9.1 Sound Bar DTS-X

ThrashZone
Level 10
Hi,
Problem is x299 cache is way too low 2400MHz I believe which is pathetic for gaming
Max cache 30 should help a lot minimum cache 27
Cache voltage should be fine on auto or you can use offset mode at +0.150 to get around 1.1v max
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Thanks both for the input!

Well if I move to AMD, I need a new mobo anyway, eh? 😉

ThrashZone wrote:
Hi,
Problem is x299 cache is way too low 2400MHz

What cache are you referring to? I can't find anything about that among the mobo specs

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-X299-E-GAMING/specifications/
Keep exploring, keep innovating, keep creating

ThrashZone wrote:
Hi,
Problem is x299 cache is way too low 2400MHz I believe which is pathetic for gaming
Max cache 30 should help a lot minimum cache 27
Cache voltage should be fine on auto or you can use offset mode at +0.150 to get around 1.1v max

It took me a while, and now I can work with those terms.

E gaming's NB is 2700 MHz, that is where it is for me. I've browsed cpuz images for e gaming II and rampage vi extreme encore, where the situation seems about the same. NB freq is in the range from 800 to 2700 MHz. If NB frequency is what I need for gaming, then LGA 2066 was the wrong choice.

I peeked at cpuz screenshots for ROG Maximus XI Extreme, to see ~4000 MHz to 4700 MHz. How does one tweak that?

I looked at Max XI Extreme as an example of a mobo that supports i9-9900KS; I still might get myself a dual build from e gaming and another mobo, depending on how long it takes for Coffee Lake successor to come out. My planned case is Thermaltake W200. Any better suggestion, since it's mentioned?
Keep exploring, keep innovating, keep creating

ThrashZone
Level 10
Hi,
Cache/ mesh/ uncore
You won't see that in spec's look in bios to change the setting off auto

If you want to confirm min/ max cache used or again Uncore just use hwinfo and open it with sensors only option uncore will be listed under core clocks.
You'll likely see max cache/ uncore at 2400 or maybe 2700Mhz

https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

martine-dee
Level 12
All right.

I got a reco to get myself i9-9900KS, and a corresponding mobo. It actually makes sense to me, even though it means replacing the cooling system as well.
Keep exploring, keep innovating, keep creating

ThrashZone
Level 10
Hi,
9900k or KS cache is a good example why they are gaming champs
Run 5.0MHz and cache 47 where as SLX is a trivial 30 max lol

But 30 cache will do actually pretty well gaming.
You can also use cpu-z and validate/ submit and on the link it generates will show you your Uncore speed.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

restsugavan
Level 13
Right , L3 cache of Ringbus Interconnect can be scaling as well as Uncore speed due It topology styles.

Oppositing to Mesh Interconnect 1.0 itself they're 2 way bus (CHA) per core on uncore, thus the speed must be down from Ringbus to avoid traffic jam.
We can be maxing speed around 3.2-3.3 GHz for Skylake X SKU by increse cache and uncore voltage tweak. But it become unstable on some SKUs due
that voltage was not standard and Intel recommended.

Another disadvantage of Skylake X Microarchitect was Non-Inclusive cache machanism. On Skylake S and other architect that used Ringbus Interconnect.
Data on L1 were store on L2 and L3 cache too. Games and manytasks like this. But for Skylake X only L1 and L2 that data were store , L3 cache acting like
victim cache and uncore buffer too reduce latency of cache size. Games and manytasks require reload data a lot during we running it. L3 cache couldn't
helping L1 and L2 like Skylake S anymore due it was victim cache.

Just like Skylake X heavily use only L1 and L2 cache during re-load. Thank to it 512-bit wide databus here we'll not suffer a lot when oftenly re-load data.
However both L1+L2 data cache size was 32K+1024K when combined compare to Skylake S core that L1+L2+L3 cache size was 32K+256K+2048K. Thus
overall performance of Skylake X may inferior to Skylake S and other Ringbus Interconnect when using cache intensive task.
W11CANARY 26090.1 Core i9 7980XE 02007006 MCE ME 11.12.95.2499 R6E OFFICIAL BIOS 3801 SAMSUNG OG9 FW 1019.0 SSD 970 EVO PLUS 1 TB x 3 NVIDIA RTX 4090 GAME READY 551.86 64GB GSKILL DDR4 3200MHz JBL 9.1 Sound Bar DTS-X

vmanuelgm
Level 11
@Restsugavan

The best way to check x299 gaming performance is to test it directly with several games. If u want to have a look, example of Jedi:

https://youtu.be/uMbAxbuCshA

In my channel u can watch other games short gameplays with a nice Afterburner/Rivatuner OSD.
Asus x670e Hero, 7950x, TG 7000, Master 4090, 970 PRO, 860 EVO, Intel 750,
SN850, SN750, 840 Pro, 2xSkyhawk 4TB, Pioneer S12U
EVGA T2 1600, Silverstone TJ11, Custom LC, Acer Predator x35, Philips OLED