New CPU for FAF

[Arszi]

Hi! I will buy a new PC, primarily for work, but Supreme Commander is an important aspect too. I am thinking about two options:
I buy an Intel i3-4130 3.4 Ghz (dual core but 4 threads via hyper threading) CPU for now, and buy an i7 next year (and sell the i3). This one would be the favorable option. The other one is, I buy an Intel i5-4440 3.1 Ghz and keep it.

My question is: is the i3 strong enough to play FAF, even on Setons (Even 2v2 or 3v3 would be sufficient)? If not, would the i5? Also I would use the Core Maximizer app.
I am looking forward for your answers!

[IceDreamer]

Core Maximiser does absolutely nothing, don't bother. i3 would struggle on big Setons games, but be fine elsewhere. Personally I'd wait a bit longer, earn some more, and get an i5 4670k, which will run everything perfectly.

[Kof]

4670 all the way - i5 is better than i7 for gaming.

Buy the unlocked cpu and with a little bit of research you can overclock it to 4.4 or 4.5 easily. You need to get a decent cooling system too if you want to do this. But you have to be careful or you can fry your chip. I get a CPU indicator of 147 with a 4670 @ 4.5. Runs under 40 C when playing setons. P me if yu need more info on anything.

GL HF

[Arszi]

I don't plan to overclock the CPU (I'd rather not experiment with something I can not afford to lose ). So a non-overclocked, non "K" INTEL Core i5-4670 would be sufficient?

[Kof]

Well it's the best chip out there at the moment.

Don't OC if you don't want to - it does take some research and carries risks - but only if you're rash/careless.

I mentioned under 40 C above, I jut played a game of Setons and it maxed on 54 C actually (which is fine, I aim not to go over 60, but that's because I'm careful by nature, you can go higher asfely). Also, you've got to be careful of when the ambient temparature goes up, i.e. in the summer. It's easy to monitor, you just run a utility like RealTemp and that will give you real time temperature for each core and tell you the min and max, since it started running.

The stock clock speed for a 4670 is 3.4, you can OC it to 4.4 or 4.5 easily enough (without pushing it), you can go higher again, but like I said I'm careful.

But there are lots of different types of chips and motherboards (the two are important). AMD would offer better value, some people like them. Google is your friend. Duck did some work on the cpu indicator in the lobby, maybe pm him, he might have an idea of what a decent cpu type is, so you don't overspend (because maybe the 4670 is too good a chip for FAF, it might be overkill). Depends what other stuff you want to use your new rig for.

Anyway, 'nuff waffle. Later.

[Arszi]

Thank you for your answer! Then I'll go for the i5-4670. As I mentioned, it will be for work primarily (programming, mostly multi-thread programming this summer, hosting a virtual machine, etc), but if I can play Supreme Commander too, then it will be perfect.
Yes, I have been researching for weeks, and I decided to choose the LGA 1150 socket, cuz AMD won't make new FX CPU-s for the AM3+ socket.
I think the ambient temp won't be an issue, I choose a PC Case with front and back fan. Inside it will be less warm than my room

[IceDreamer]

You didn't mention the multithreading. If that's the case you are actually better off going AMD for the money, they're extremely good value for money when you begin using all the cores. The performance in FA will be a bit worse, but still ultimately VERY playable, and if you are getting a new motherboard as well with this the overall system costs will be far, far cheaper. Get an FX9370. It is an 8-core job, much, much more powerful than the i5 once you actually begin to ramp up the cores when it comes to virtual machines, and you'll only drop a single simspeed late-game in FA, not too bad at all. It will only suffer in the very biggest games.

[BRNKoINSANITY]

Do not get an AMD chip if you play 4v4 or setons or the like..... everyone will hate you for your slow PC lol. I have a 3570k and it runs great. Any of the mid range to high level i5 is your best bet. I would go ahead and get the "k" chip though, as in 2-3 years instead of upgrading you can pick up a water cooler for a hundred bucks and give yourself a speed boost to keep up with the next gen of chips better.

[IceDreamer]

Shut up BRNK, you have absolutely no clue. The FX9370 will stay at positive simspeed in all but the very, VERY biggest games, exactly like the i5. They are incredibly close in real world use, and the FX is far better for running virtual machines etc, and it overclocks better too. I have a CPU rating of 280 or so with the 2.0GHz i7 in this laptop and it copes with utter solidity with 4v4 Setons. The FX8320 in my mate's desktop is faster than this, and obviously the 9370 is much faster again.

I do wish people would stop bashing AMD (And Intel) without having tried them. Fact of the matter is that any modern CPU runs this game fine.

[Ionic]

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

See where AMD shows up on the list....lets put it this way for a few minutes I thought this was an intel only benchmark!

I own a few of the Intel Xeon E3-1270 v3, great value, rock solid with ECC ram, and no built in graphics card on this chip for less things to go wrong.