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Why do PC Gaming magazines suggest i7s and 16GB of RAM?

post #1 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:11pm
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This may not be the best forum to ask this in, but it seems to be the most fitting. Apologies if its not, since this is a bit of a general question.

When I look at PC Gamer or Maximum PC, the power rigs that they tend to recommend for gaming generally have i7s with 16GB of RAM. Why?

Is there anything a i7 would provide a gamer over an i5? or 16GB over 8GB? It seems like a waste, if the primary reason for the build is gaming, even if you tend to multitask. Perhaps I'm missing something, in which case, I'd love to hear!
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post #2 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:15pm
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Because they are always going to suggest overkill....
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post #3 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:18pm
It's because they are sponsored usually by Intel and the other hardware companies.

subtle advertising
Edited by Dhalmel - 6/15/12 at 1:14pm
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post #4 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mehdi View Post

This may not be the best forum to ask this in, but it seems to be the most fitting. Apologies if its not, since this is a bit of a general question.
When I look at PC Gamer or Maximum PC, the power rigs that they tend to recommend for gaming generally have i7s with 16GB of RAM. Why?
Is there anything a i7 would provide a gamer over an i5? or 16GB over 8GB? It seems like a waste, if the primary reason for the build is gaming, even if you tend to multitask. Perhaps I'm missing something, in which case, I'd love to hear!

i7 just sounds better, and you can look down on the i5ers.

The only really difference is HyperThreading, and the moment thats not making much of a a difference in games. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/hyper-threading-core-i7-980x,review-31842-4.html

If you are doing a custom build I would grab an i5 and put the money in to the graphic and mobo.
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post #5 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:20pm
The above but also could be due to they want this to last at least 3 years without upgrades tongue.gif
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post #6 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:21pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhalmel View Post

It's because they are sponsored usually by and Intel and the other hardware companies.
subtle advertising

Yup, this. I get free issues of CPU magazine, and I have yet to see a single critique of any item they've featured. They pretty much praise any item they get their hands on. Definitely makes for a good coffee table magazine, but I wouldn't use it for any advice of any sort.

If you're being sponsored by Intel or some other manufacturer, you don't bite the hand that feeds, so to speak
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post #7 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:23pm
I would assume for advertising and also future-proofing. An i7 likely has a couple more years of use than an i5, and why not 16 GB RAM? RAM's pretty cheap, and you can never have too much.

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post #8 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:31pm
The I7 is definitely the more powerful chip, but it's not the best performance per dollar. From what I have seen, the I5 2500k seems to be the most popular and best value. Plus even a lowly pentium can handle bf3 fairly well with a 7970, but that's a different story. Toms hardware is pretty good at illustrating how once you go past a certain price point the returns you get become smaller and smaller (for cpu that is). Gaming wise I imagine the I5 2500k will get the most votes and for good reason since the I5 will deliver about 95% of the performance of the I73930k and cost you much much less.
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post #9 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:34pm
Everyone has said it pretty much. But to the question OP asked about if there's any benefit: It's slight but it's there. BF3 is one of the few games that can use hyper-threading to any extent to gain some frames and 16gb of RAM is useful for a few people (myself included) who multitask while they game and get RAM capped. I'm not saying that under normal circumstances people will need 16gb but there are some of us that actually use it.
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post #10 of 36
6/15/12 at 12:37pm
I know just what you are talking about. Game Informer had an article in their last issue that talked about how PC gaming is getting less expensive. Then they went on to recommend pre built PCs for nearly $2,000 that came with a GTX 570 or 560ti. It's amazing how screwed you'd get if you based your purchases off magazines and articles.
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