Would I benefit more from upgrading from a core i7 2600k with 8gb of ram running windows 7 for dolphin?
I'm considering the core i7 4970 for an upgrade, or should I just get a liquid cooling system and overclock it? im also rocking a gtx 750 ti(although I may return that today for a gtx 770 or 780). If I did upgrade how much of a performance boost would I gain? any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Dolphin is a dual core application . Hyperthreading is useless for it , multi cores CPUs (more than 4 cores) are useless too
See Dolphin Benchmark here :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...ring#gid=0
i7 4970X is Ivy Bridge E , not Haswell . Base on Dolphin Benchmark , Ivy Bridge E is 5~10% faster than Sandy Bridge but Ivy Bridge use TIM paste instead of fluxless solder between the CPU die and the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS) -> As a result , Ivy Bridge overclocking capacity is worse than Sandy Bridge
So I would say no improvement at all
i5 4670
k / i7 4770
k is recommended here . Pair i5 4670k + MSI Z87 G45
Do not buy non-k Intel CPUs and non-Z87 mobo , they can't be overclocked
However , Haswell uses TIM too . You better wait till Summer , you could buy a new unlocked Intel CPU (code name : Devil Canyon) which is superior to older Haswell in term of overclocking
Aren't Ivy Bridge E chips big enough to still use the Indium solder they used on mainstream Sandy? I'm pretty sure that was one of their main features, other than the extra cores.
Oops , IVY E is soldered .
But I wouldn't recommend it for Dolphin . Haswell show 30% improvement over Ivy Bridge ( 25~27% over Ivy E)
If he still want a multi-cores CPU , he should wait for Haswell E 8 cores instead (DDR4 as bonus)
I've heard a lot of people are waiting for the x99 boards but itll cost a premium though
. I want to wait for the x99, im thinking im better off with just upgrading to a gtx 780. ive heard that the 800 series is not going to be the revolution we all thought, but the 900 series is where Maxwell will really shine. im so looking forward to quad channel ddr4. I LOVED triple channel memory with ddr3 in the x58 mobo back in the day, such a shame it went back to ddr3 dual channel, you really noticed a difference.
doubt the upgrade is worth it. I'd wait for another 1 to 2 generations.
In the meantime, get a good cpu cooler and clock that i7 at 4.8GHz like I did!