GTX 960 2GB Core i3 4160 vs Core i5 6400

[Mr Vatiquette]

There seems to be very little difference in real world performance. My Fire Strike results are very close - if it wasn't for the physics test the Core i3 would have won.

Looks like Core i3 is still a great budget gaming CPU.

Anyone else seeing similar?

[The Keeper]

This benchmark is not representative of all games out there. The benchmark was released back in 2013. Games have become more CPU-intensive in the last year. An i5 would be a bottleneck for a 970 in a game like AC Syndicate (check out Joker Production's performance review on the game on Youtube). I consider a 970 to be a mid-range card, so I guess it's not relevant for a "budget gamer," even though the card is pretty damn cheap.

Also, differences in CPU should have little-to-no impact on the graphics tests, as those are meant to strictly test your GPU(s). The best test for gaming is to run actual games, as different games have different demands from the GPU(s) and CPU.

[xSOSxHawkens]

Rather than the Firestrike test I would suggest running the Sky Diver test. Firestrike uses a set CPU test that does not scale, as do all the other test EXCEPT Sky Diver.

Sky Diver uses a scaling test on the CPU up to 96 threads, and cuts off when the FPS drops below around 25-30. This test will show you the better usage of the i5 under high-thread counts, whereas testing Firestrike just shows the difference of running 32 threads on each.

To be honest, I feel Sky Diver to be a much better DX-11 test overall, its stressfull enough to hit any range of cards with valid results even on the high end, and provides a low enough performance threshold to allow accurate comparisons on the low end where Firestike scores becme too compressed for detailed accuracy.

Add to this the fact that its the only test in the suit with a scaling multi-threaded CPU test and its all around the best.

[xSOSxHawkens]

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/sd/2881255/sd/3490172

Here you can see that the i3 holds its own out past 24 threads, but by 48 threads it has hit near acceptable minimums of ~30fps, and at 96 threads it just cant cut the mustard.

The i5 on the other hand delivers highly acceptable frame rates past 48 threads before hitting the low points at 96 but still well ahead of the i3.

What this means is that in actual multi-threaded envirments and with games that fully utilise all four threads of the CPU, the i5 will outperform the i3, and do it with a much lower overall core clock. Such games would include titles like FO4 or GTA-V.

[UL_Jarnis]

Note that the upcoming Time Spy test will also bring similar "increasingly complicated" CPU test to the high end benchmark - Fire Strike CPU test is indeed something that could use an improvement, but changing the benchmark after the launch is something we avoid doing as it would require invalidating all existing scores for comparisons. Instead we look to improve such design-level issues in upcoming tests, like we did on Sky Diver.

[Mr Vatiquette]

Thanks for all the replies. I have compared the Sky diver and noticed the i5 keeps going for quite some time.

I also did the API testing and noticed the DX12 gap.