The Intel Haswell Refresh Review: Core i7-4790, i5-4690 and i3-4360 Tested
by Ian Cutress on May 11, 2014 3:01 AM ESTFor our discrete GPU benchmarks, we have split them up into the different GPU configurations we have tested. We have access to both MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPUs and ASUS reference HD 7970s, for SLI and Crossfire respectively. These tests are all run at 1080p and maximum settings, reporting the average and minimum frame rates.
dGPU Benchmarks: 1x MSI GTX770 Lightning
F1 2013
Using the i3 brings the frame rate down below 120 FPS average, with the minimum FPS up to 20% lower than the i5.
Bioshock Infinite
With Bioshock on single NVIDIA, it would seem that CPU power matters more in the minimum FPS values.
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is infamously CPU-agnostic, showing all CPUs hovering around or below 50 FPS average.
Sleeping Dogs
Similarly with Sleeping Dogs, it does not take much CPU power to hit peak FPS.
Company of Heroes 2
COH2 takes a strain on most graphics cards, but both average and minimum FPS are roughly the same for all three refresh CPUs.
Battlefield 4
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AndrewJacksonZA - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
If you didn't clarify "Human limited" and "CPU limited" I would've understood them the other way around:"Human limited" has the human being as the slowest part of the system with a very fast CPU.
"CPU limited" has the CPU as the slowest part of the system.
Harry Lloyd - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
Testing performance of these CPUs is completely pointless. The only interesting thing about them is power consumption and thermals.geok1ng - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
The benchmarks of the Xeon 2687 v2 8c/16Ht imply that the upcoming Extrem Edition haswell-E CPU will be a landslide. 5960X can't come soon enough.Antronman - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
If the 5960x will be as bad as the 4960x, the 5930k can't come soon enough either.milkMADE - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
too bad the only sku with 8-cores to give it that landslide are the EE $1000 5960xgeok1ng - Tuesday, May 13, 2014 - link
a xeon 1680 v2 , single socket 8c/16ht costs $1887, and afetr 6 months we still do not know if it is unlocked like the 6cores 1650/1660. So $1000 for a 5960x is not outlandishChrispy_ - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
Looking at the Z97 vs H97, why are small businesses not allowed to use SRT?Such dumb.
Antronman - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
How many fucks I give: 0.StrangerGuy - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
Intel can spam a million SKUs left and right while pretending it's relevant like 10 years ago and it still doesn't mask the fact there are only like 2 chips @ $50 and $220 that makes sense for 90% and 9.99% of desktop users respectively, and most of them are well served by chips sold 3 years ago.Antronman - Monday, May 12, 2014 - link
Actually there are more "sensible" enthusiast chips. For example, if I am running a 4k setup, and I also record gameplay and upload it to youtube, I want something notably better performing than the 4670k. And I would say that much larger .01% of the computer-using community is pro overclockers and video editors and scientists and software developers.There's so many niches these days, a much greater percentage of people needing more specific solutions is present than most people think.