Forum

Common sense would say higher frequency is better. And more cores you get from i7 won’t help you. So if you need it just for that, you can stick with i5.

I’ve used the same CPU for around 3 years, rarely had problems even with more modern games.
If you don’t already have a suitable motherboard for the CPU, i’d probably go for a 6xxx or 7xxx i5 – or wait for Ryzen, which is likely to offer more bang for buck.

Quoted from Silver Tosspot

Don’t worry about the i7, it’s even a pretty big overkill.

However I want to point out that what canfo said is wrong (if I interpreted “more bang for your buck” right), ryzen will NOT give you better performance (at least when it comes to tf2). Games in general favor per core performance, which is where intel excels and where AMD blows. And when it comes to tf2, per core performance is extra important.

That said, while it won’t give you any better game performance for your average game, the ryzen will no doubt also be more than enough for tf2, while staying at a lower price than most expensive i7 CPUs (dunno about the 3xxx series though) so it’s probably a pretty smart choice.

Ryzen will not give you better performance?? Someone hasn’t been properly updated on the benchmarks, because a 500 euro ryzen cpu easily destroys a 1200 euro intel cpu! Single core performance is equal while Ryzen’s multiple core performance is better. That said, the only models that AMD is releasing is the 1800x, 1700x and 1700, and those are all equipped with 8 cores and 16 threads which are absolute overkill.

Anyway for tf2 most cpu’s are sufficient, you won’t notice any difference between an i5 or i7. But I suggest getting at least a 4th generation i5 or i7, 3rd generation (i7-3770) is pretty old, it’ll still run fine obviously, but it’s not future proof. Though if you’re going to use the PC for tf2 only, then the i7-3770 should be fine.

Edit: I think it also comes down to your budget, if you have one, write it down. The i7-3770K is actually really old so I’m curious whether you’re going to buy it for the full price or like a second-hand 150 euro price. If you have a 400+ euro budget for cpu, I actually suggest going with the Ryzen, purely because as mentioned earlier, the single core performance with an intel cpu (latest 7xxx) generation is about equal while multiple core peformance is a lot better, but for a lot less money.

Quoted from Nightmare

[…]

Ryzen will not give you better performance?? Someone hasn’t been properly updated on the benchmarks, because a 500 euro ryzen cpu easily destroys a 1200 euro intel cpu! Single core performance is equal while Ryzen’s multiple core performance is better. That said, the only models that AMD is releasing is the 1800x, 1700x and 1700, and those are all equipped with 8 cores and 16 threads which are absolute overkill.

Anyway for tf2 most cpu’s are sufficient, you won’t notice any difference between an i5 or i7. But I suggest getting at least a 4th generation i5 or i7, 3rd generation (i7-3770) is pretty old, it’ll still run fine obviously, but it’s not future proof. Though if you’re going to use the PC for tf2 only, then the i7-3770 should be fine.

Edit: I think it also comes down to your budget, if you have one, write it down. The i7-3770K is actually really old so I’m curious whether you’re going to buy it for the full price or like a second-hand 150 euro price. If you have a 400+ euro budget for cpu, I actually suggest going with the Ryzen, purely because as mentioned earlier, the single core performance with an intel cpu (latest 7xxx) generation is about equal while multiple core peformance is a lot better, but for a lot less money.

The benchmarks I’ve seen show that intel still beat AMD in single core performance.