I7 give you the best performance
no it really doesn't, you can't future proof by spending more, buying a more powerful computer to make it last longer is a flawed idea, and always has been, it wouldn't surprise me if it came from the common idea that a computer is "out of date as soon as you buy it" which is also not true, but comes from some idiot reading the spec sticker at best buy
Id just go with an i5.
WOW isnt hard on the CPU at all and most current CPUs are overkill for WOW.
So like said id go for the i5 and spend the money that your saving on something else, more RAM, an SSD, women etc. (they first 2 will benefit most PCs more then an i7).
For example, i myself am still rocking an old overclocked x6 1090. I have zero issues running WOW or any other game on high settings like Skyrim.
I dont even know how often i have thought about getting an i5 but it simply wont make my games run noticebly faster.
CPUs simply arent the bottleneck in most games.
Well I have an i7 and I recommand an i5 if its just for WoW, EXCEPT if you, for example, wanna capture and edit / compress your videos, then I'd recommand an i7.
The only real reason why you should get an i7 over an i5 for gaming is maybe the higher stock speeds (and this really only applies to the most recent Devil's Canyon CPUs). In those, the i7 comes at a stock 4.0 GHz and the i5 comes at a stock 3.5 GHz. However, this can be considered null and void if you spend the extra money you save on the i5 to get really good CPU cooling and overclock it yourself. Some people don't like to overclock though, and getting the CPU with the higher stock clock is something that might honestly entice them more.
However, as most people here have said, i5 is more than enough for gaming. And will be for the foreseeable future. Devs just don't waste the time and effort trying to optimize games for hyper threading, if that is even a real or worthwhile goal in the first place.
In the future, hexa-core and octa-core CPUs will probably be a much better choice once games actually start utilizing/requiring something like that. Although, that is probably not going to happen any time soon, considering the vast majority of games are still made with consoles in mind. The new consoles may have octa-core CPUs in them, but they are really weak ones (PS4 clocked at 1.6GHz and XO clocked at 1.75GHz I believe). An Intel quad-core at stock clocks still blows them out of the water and will continue to do so (and then when you factor in overclocking, the difference becomes even greater :P).
Last edited by Zephyr Storm; 2014-09-02 at 03:26 AM.
If money is not an issue; i7.
If you care about price/performance; i5.
I think some people missed the OP saying that he'd be streaming using OBS while playing WoW, which from my limited experience seems to be a prime example of the i7 showing its worth.
I wouldn't say its overkill tbh.
Just got an i7 4790k with a 7870 and did a 13man flex and was dropping down to about 50-55 fps during when lots of things happen like aoe and the dark meditation and what not on protectors. Probably would have gotten lower fps if i went with the i5.
And this is with all settings on low....
Why low? Place all on ultra just keep shadows down and distance to fair.
Not strictly about WoW performance but over all gaming performance, but I'm looking at a laptop for gaming in general. The one with the i7 is about $100 more. What you're saying is, the i7 isn't really worth the added cost? Thing is, I'm looking at this laptop partially because it's new on the market (June 2014) and I want something that won't be obsolete quickly. Will the i5 last the next few years as a competitive CPU? Or will I start to regret not upgrading now?
Putin khuliyo
Laptop's are a little different because the difference between the i5 and i7 clocks are higher in the mobile version than in the desktop versions in most cases. Plus you don't really want to overclock them at all. If you want to game on a laptop in any serious way I would say the mobile i7 is the better choice.