The E5 2699 v3 CPUs I was looking at are going for around $45 or best offer.
Handbrake is said to make good use of 6 cores with diminishing returns on additional cores.Mostly for Handbrake...
I get that.None of these builds are for me, they are for people on very tight budgets who want to be able to try PC gaming so 500 is over budget.
For the V2 the best options are the E5-2667 v2 and the E5-2690 v2, both less than 25USD. The E5-2687 v2 is a little more but all you get is 100mhz higher base and it is a 150w vs 130w so probably not worth it. I'm looking at Haswell/Broadwell too. The E5-2699 v3 has a lot of cores but not sure that would help in gaming.The E5 2699 v3 CPUs I was looking at are going for around $45 or best offer.
I've done a lot of benching Handbrake. It seems to use 8 cores but none beyond that. I found the following. Note that I use very high quality settings much higher than you typically see when you see benchmarks online so not sure how mine compare.Handbrake is said to make good use of 6 cores with diminishing returns on additional cores.
Unfortunately this is not a hard cutoff and helps us only a little because more cores do help, just not as much as the first 6.
I ended up grabbing a z420 f0r 150USD. It comes with Windows 10 and has a 256Gb SSD boot drive so that is covered. And with 64Gb quad channel it should be good. I have been looking at 1080ti and 1660ti's. RX580's are cheap too. They are all good budget GPU's. I actually have 2 4850's, 2 5850's, and 2 7970's form builds long past, a GT710 too I think. I know everyone has this mindset that you need to be running the lastest and greatest. You really don't. There are countless great games from the last 10 years that would play great on a budget build especially when you consider the modding community. If I was new to PC gaming on a budget, Far Cry 1 with 4k textures would be great fun.I get that.
How are you coming on other parts/software? The CPU is only one piece and I would argue less important than the GPU for gaming.
I had good luck with Kinguin for cheap Windows OS.
Maybe a used 1660ti @ $100 or so for video? My laptop has a 1660ti mobile and for years it was the best system in the house. It is totally decent. We are spoiled now with a 3080 and a 4070 but those are obviously over budget.
I can send you a GT240 for just the cost of shipping... Might be able to find a 4850 if you are interested.
If you can afford an SSD please try to get one. SSDs are a huge improvement over spinners.
Oh man I love FC1 and 2. FC2 has a real starfield at night, not just random stars.
When we got the new cards with the raytracing I played RTX Quake which is just Quake but with better textures and raytracing. Looks tons better, especially the water.View attachment 98930
A buddy of mine had me run CyberPunk with ray tracing off and it looked amazingly good. Many of the things I had been attributing to the ray tracing looked nearly as good with it off. Shadows and reflections were there and looked fine. No way I'd notice the difference during active gameplay.You really don't need ray tracing
A friend showed me Control screenshots with RT on. I was not impressed. The graphics didn't look anything revolutionary. RT is just a really bad gimmick. No harm in turning it on if your GPU can handle it but GPU buying decisions shouldn't be based on RT performance. Maybe not until DirectX is updated to include some next generation iteration of RT where one vendor doesn't have an overwhelming advantage in RT performance.A buddy of mine had me run CyberPunk with ray tracing off and it looked amazingly good.
Anything interesting you have discovered from your experiment of running games on a workstation CPU? Which games have you tried so far?There are countless great games from the last 10 years that would play great on a budget build especially when you consider the modding community.
I got a really smart buddy who swears by it. He talks about reflections in mirrors, windows and water really helping him to play a game. Like he can see around corners and get the jump on the enemy.RT is just a really bad gimmick.
Yes. From the 1980s till a few years ago, PC graphics were amazing and RT-free.but if there is a suitable non-RT substitute maybe RT isn't that big of a deal?
So far I've only been able to test the W-2145 because I only have one suitable video card to test.Anything interesting you have discovered from your experiment of running games on a workstation CPU? Which games have you tried so far?
Ha Intel listed that CPU at launch at 4115USD.The E5 2699 v3 CPUs I was looking at are going for around $45 or best offer.
Have you tried this?Oh man I love FC1 and 2. FC2 has a real starfield at night, not just random stars.
No, but I will!Have you tried this?
FarCry Upscaled mod for Far Cry
Upscaled FarCry images/textures 4X (and few 2X) with Topaz's A.I. Gigapixel and ESRGAN (various models).www.moddb.com
E5-2667 V4 is much stronger and has AVX2 which modern game engines use. The V2 Xeon is only AVX and will be pretty slow due to its age.I want to see how the E5-2695 v2 does.
Decent CPU with 32 threads. For that price, I approve!Looks like I can get an E5-2697A V4 for under $40.
I know but just curious. I didn't expect it to do any gaming. That's why I just threw in a video card I had laying around. I'm using it for Handbrake right now.E5-2667 V4 is much stronger and has AVX2 which modern game engines use. The V2 Xeon is only AVX and will be pretty slow due to its age.
The V4's are the best when it comes to price/performance and 14nm vs 22nm for the V3's. If you want to step up to a skylake it cost significantly more. W-2145 goes for 110-120USD.Looks like I can get an E5-2697A V4 for under $40. Looking at various v3 and v4 Xeons on Ebay.
I ended up grabbing a z420 f0r 150USD. It comes with Windows 10 and has a 256Gb SSD boot drive so that is covered. And with 64Gb quad channel it should be good. I have been looking at 1080ti and 1660ti's. RX580's are cheap too. They are all good budget GPU's. I actually have 2 4850's, 2 5850's, and 2 7970's form builds long past, a GT710 too I think. I know everyone has this mindset that you need to be running the lastest and greatest. You really don't. There are countless great games from the last 10 years that would play great on a budget build especially when you consider the modding community. If I was new to PC gaming on a budget, Far Cry 1 with 4k textures would be great fun.
So far I've only been able to test the W-2145 because I only have one suitable video card to test.
W-2145/4x16Gb DDR4 PC2666/RX6800XT/WD 1TB 770NVMe boot drive/2TB corsair SSD I get 61.3 Average, 44.6 min and 88.2 max fps at 1680x1050 when I benched Deus Ex Mankind Divided. That is with all graphics quality settings to maximum. Bumping to 1080, the frame rate drops so that is the graphics card limited at the settings I'm using. I need to pick up some others. I want to see how the E5-2695 v2 does. I have an old 5850 1GB in now so that isn't worth benching I don't think.
Here are benchmarks with an 8 core and 16 core V4/Broadwell. The E5-2667 V4 is 30-40USD on ebay. Not bad for e-waste.
Ha Intel listed that CPU at launch at 4115USD.
I know but just curious. I didn't expect it to do any gaming. That's why I just threw in a video card I had laying around. I'm using it for Handbrake right now.
The V4's are the best when it comes to price/performance and 14nm vs 22nm for the V3's. If you want to step up to a skylake it cost significantly more. W-2145 goes for 110-120USD.