Choosing a Gaming CPU: Single + Multi-GPU at 1440p, April 2013
by Ian Cutress on May 8, 2013 10:00 AM ESTCivilization V
A game that has plagued my testing over the past twelve months is Civilization V. Being on the older 12.3 Catalyst drivers were somewhat of a nightmare, giving no scaling, and as a result I dropped it from my test suite after only a couple of reviews. With the later drivers used for this review, the situation has improved but only slightly, as you will see below. Civilization V seems to run into a scaling bottleneck very early on, and any additional GPU allocation only causes worse performance.
Our Civilization V testing uses Ryan’s GPU benchmark test all wrapped up in a neat batch file. We test at 1440p, and report the average frame rate of a 5 minute test.
One 7970
Civilization V is the first game where we see a gap when comparing processor families. A big part of what makes Civ5 perform at the best rates seems to be PCIe 3.0, followed by CPU performance – our PCIe 2.0 Intel processors are a little behind the PCIe 3.0 models. By virtue of not having a PCIe 3.0 AMD motherboard in for testing, the bad rap falls on AMD until PCIe 3.0 becomes part of their main game.
Two 7970s
The power of PCIe 3.0 is more apparent with two 7970 GPUs, however it is worth noting that only processors such as the i5-2500K and above have actually improved their performance with the second GPU. Everything else stays relatively similar.
Three 7970s
More cores and PCIe 3.0 are winners here, but no GPU configuration has scaled above two GPUs.
Four 7970s
Again, no scaling.
One 580
While the top end Intel processors again take the lead, an interesting point is that now we have all PCIe 2.0 values for comparison, the non-hyper threaded 2500K takes the top spot, 10% higher than the FX-8350.
Two 580s
We have another Intel/AMD split, by virtue of the fact that none of the AMD processors scaled above the first GPU. On the Intel side, you need at least an i5-2500K to see scaling, similar to what we saw with the 7970s.
Civilization V conclusion
Intel processors are the clear winner here, though not one stands out over the other. Having PCIe 3.0 seems to be the positive point for Civilization V, but in most cases scaling is still out of the window unless you have a monster machine under your belt.
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HisDivineOrder - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
Shhhhhh. You're using too much of that stuff called sense. It might spread and suddenly everyone would want case reviews that reflect what anyone who'd install a motherboard in 99% of the cases they review instead of miniITX for every review. I mean, there's no way that putting a miniITX or microATX into every case review isn't going to impact the actual case being reviewed, is there?IS THERE?
crimson117 - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
Agreed - why review a full tower with a micro atx? Who builds like that?Gigaplex - Sunday, May 12, 2013 - link
I do. Is that a problem?Blibbax - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
If you're recommending the A8-5600K, but for people with a discrete GPU, aren't you really recommending the FX-4*** series?Ortanon - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
Excellent question.IanCutress - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
Good point - apart from not testing the FX-4xxx processors (I don't have any), the FX-4xxx uses an AM3 platform - the FM2 platform is both newer and the chipsets offer more native USB 3.0 / SATA 6 Gbps as well as a UEFI BIOS from the ground up. The FX-4xxx is still a relevant choice with its L3 cache, and a couple of newer boards have been released to try and get the best from the 990FX chipset. Though out of what I have tested so far, the A8 makes the most sense if you're looking at pure 1-GPU gaming. If I get an FX-4100 in, it will be tested and conclusions adjusted if it performs similarly - there's no point suggesting a CPU I haven't tested and can't back it up with data.Ian
Blibbax - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
I entirely agree that it'd be wrong to make conclusions without data. However, I feel like the APU recommendation ought to go with some sort of "however..." caveat.I look forward to your FX4 and FX6 results, however. I was initially not at all sold on these chips, but now that the prices have come down and the FX6 is often priced against Intel's i3, they are much more compelling.
DeathReborn - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
There's always the Athlon II X4 750K BE which still uses FM2 but lacks the IGP.Cow86 - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
If you're going to compare it against Trinity APU's, then wouldn't it be fairer to get an FX-4300, based on the same piledriver core? See if that L3 cache makes enough of a difference? More up to date as well...kmmatney - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - link
If you live near a microcenter, you can get an FX-4130 (3.8 Ghz) and motherboard for $99. That leaves quite of room to get a better GPU, and probably a better overall gaming experience for a given amount of money. I upgraded from an X4-955 to a 3570K about 6 months ago, and have to admit that I barely notice the performance increase in games, and would have probably been better off spending the $250 on a better video card. I do like the extra speed while using handbrake, though, and my son likes my old X4-955 that was a big upgrade from his previous setup, though.