The CPU of choice has a huge impact on the gaming performance, but not in the way you’d think. Most applications will benefit from having more cores, but gaming is more single-core orientated, so this means single-core performance is more important than multicore performance. With Ryzen Threadripper, there seems to be a lot of cores, but will it have an impact on gaming performance?
Ryzen is known for its amazing performance when it comes to content creation, this ranges from applications such as streaming, 3D Modelling, and Video editing. All these applications benefit from Ryzen’s multicore performance, but is gaming on a Ryzen processor a good idea? In this post, we’re going to find out whether it is a good idea to go with Threadripper, and what some of the better options there are.
Answer: Ryzen Threadripper is a great CPU, and it definitely has its place when it comes to professional applications, but for gaming, it’s not a good option. There are better processors out there with a better single-core performance at a more affordable price, Ryzen Threadripper CPUs are for users that need a powerful workstation,
Cores Vs Clock Speed For Gaming
Gaming is a single-core application, this means it isn’t going to benefit from having cores, and unfortunately this is how most games today are coded. Actually, it’s closer to 60% of games that are single-core coded, this means higher clock speeds are more favored over core count. This isn’t to say that core count is completely irrelevant, it is an important factor for the overall performance of your system, it helps with background tasks that can influence gaming performance.
Single-core performance is the most important metric when measuring a processor’s ability to generate frames per second, and it isn’t just clock speed that contributes to this metric. There is another factor that comes into play, and that is IPC which stands for instructions per clock. A CPU with a higher IPC will produce more instructions per clock cycle, consequentially increasing the single-core performance. This is why newer processors with lower clock speeds are better than older processors with higher clock speeds.
Due to the higher clock speeds being more advantageous for gaming, this opens gaming up to the budget PC building market. You do not need overkill components to build a competent gaming machine which is a huge benefit for many budget seekers. Often, you’ll find many gaming machines using processors such as the Ryzen 5 and the I5 as they have decent single-core performance, and are reasonably priced.
Are Threads(Virtual Cores) Good For Gaming?
Virtual cores or threads are an aspect of physical cores, many processors will come with threads that are double the number of cores, this is because two physical cores make up for 2 threads/virtual cores. Having SMT or simultaneous multithreading is a benefit for applications that require multiple cores to run effectively, most applications will see a 30% benefit. But gaming on the other hand is a different story as it is single-core coded.
The way virtual cores work is pretty smart, they allow a single core to process two different sets of instructions at the same time consequently increasing its efficiency. That’s all SMT technology does, Ryzen Threadripper processors come with a huge number of cores therefore a huge number of threads. You can find Ryzen Threadripper processors with 32 cores and 64 threads, but this performance doesn’t necessarily translate into more FPS.
As for gaming, physical cores are more important than virtual cores as they make the biggest impact when it comes to gaming. Increasing the single-core performance is the best thing you can do when building a gaming PC, you can do this by overclocking but SMT or other technology such as Hyperthreading will not make a difference. This will however increase the processor’s ability to multitask making it a great option for handling background tasks, this will reduce the influence they have on games.
Ryzen Vs Intel For Gaming
Ryzen is known to be the best option when it comes to multi-core performance, due to this it is the best choice for professional workstations and content creators. They do have decent single-core performance, it isn’t terrible, by any means and you can definitely game on a Ryzen CPU. We just do not recommend gaming on a Threadripper as the extra cores and threads make no difference in the gaming performance. This is not to say that it is impossible to game on Threadripper, it will provide you with insane multitasking capabilities which can benefit from FPS spikes, but there will be no noticeable increase in frame rate.
You can purchase a way better Ryzen processor such as the Ryzen 9 5900x which has better single-core performance and it has a decent number of cores, due to this, it will generate way more FPS, in games and it is also a great option for content creation. Ryzen 9 processors are the direct competitor to the I9 processors and the Intel I9 processors feature some of the best gaming processors due to their single-core performance.
You will often find gamers go with intel due to the fact they’re the better option when it comes to gamers. You will find many games purchasing processors such as the I5 and the I7 because there is honestly no need for an I9 when it comes to gaming. I9 processors are the top of the line, and they do provide the best single-core performance, but the I5 is a more affordable option that is best for strictly gaming machines.
How To Increase FPS When Gaming?
Instead of purchasing a Ryzen Threadripper CPU, you can save a ton of money going with a simple I9 or a Ryzen 9 processor, this will allow you to allocate more money on a better graphics card, and more RAM if necessary. The most important component for generating more FPS is the graphics card, and what resolution you’re running at, always focus on the GPU first when building a gaming PC. The graphics card is responsible for accelerating the graphical potential of your system, without a GPU your PC will rely on integrated graphics which isn’t enough for today’s games.
After focusing on the GPU, find a decent CPU to go with it. You do not want to go too cheap because this can have adverse effects. Your CPU should match your GPU in power, this is to reduce effects such as bottleneck, bottlenecks are when your graphics card is held back due to your CPUs lack of power, this will result in less FPS in-game. So if you’re going with a top-tier graphics card, you will want a decent mid-top tier CPU to go with it. Another method to increase FPS is a method which most gamers will not want to do, but it is to lower the game settings, sometimes disabling certain settings can result in huge FPS gains with minor visual differences
After picking out your CPU, you will want enough RAM for gaming, as of today, we recommend at least 16GB of RAM, this will hit the sweet spot and allow you to game at nearly any resolution without issues. The RAM is responsible for sending and retrieving information from the CPU, so if you do not have enough RAM, negative effects such as random FPS drops and crashes will occur. After you implement all these recommendations, overclocking can be a great option to push your PC to its limits to generate much more FPS, you can overclock your CPU, GPU, and RAM for massive FPS gains.
Conclusion
The verdict is that Ryzen Threadripper processors should just be reserved for users wanting an overkill workstation for content creation, there is no need for this many cores for gaming as it will have no impact when it comes to gaming. The more cores you have will be beneficial for video editing, streaming, and 3D modeling, but it won’t increase FPS.
If you’re looking for decent gaming processors with many cores we recommend the Ryzen 9 lineup of processors as it features many cores and decent single-core performance. Even better, the Intel I9 lineup of processors is better as they possess some of the best gaming processors reaching single-core clock speeds of up to 5GHz+. No Ryzen processor can reach these clock speeds without overclocking, this is what makes intel the choice of the processor when it comes to gaming.
