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How fast a processor do you need?
A more powerful CPU can help with more demanding tasks
5 Jul 2013

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If you really want to beef up your PCs performance, a faster CPU

is the way forward. But how big a boost are we talking about?

To find out, we tested four models, from the bottom to the top of
Intels range. In all cases we used an Asus Z77 motherboard with
8GB of RAM and a 2GB Nvidia GTX 680 graphics card, along with a
Samsung 840 Pro SSD; the only thing we changed was the
processor.

As our results show, you get what you pay for. As you move up the
range, tasks complete more quickly and benchmark scores
increase. But our various benchmarks dont all see the same
benefit from a processor upgrade.

In general, tests tend to complete more quickly with a more

capable processor. However, in our Windows test the effect isnt
as pronounced as you might expect. Here, the most powerful
processor (the 3.5GHz Core i7) delivers a 47% Improvement in
scores over the least powerful (the 1.8GHz Celeron G460), from
0.74 to 1.09. Since the Core i7 runs at almost twice the frequency
of the Celeron leaving aside technical factors such as the
number of cores and cache size its a much smaller boost than
you might expect. The fact is that for Windows performance,
processor power is only one factor hard disk speed and memory
play important roles too.

DoesahigherendCPUmakeadierence?
TESTPC:Nvidia
GeForceGTX680, Singlecore DualcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU
CPU(withHyper (withHyper (withoutHyper (withHyper
8GBRAM,256GB Threading) Threading) Threading) Threading)
SSDwith

3.5GHzIntel
1.8GHzIntel 3.4GHzIntel 3.2GHzIntel
CPU Corei7
CeleronG460 Corei32130 Corei53470
3770K
RealWorldBenchmarks
Overall 0.45 0.84 1.1 1.15
Responsiveness 0.74 1.06 1.15 1.09
Media 0.37 0.82 1.14 1.22
Multasking 0.23 0.65 1.03 1.13

In our more intensive tests, high-end processors show bigger
benefits. Our Media benchmarks test a processors raw number-
crunching ability: compressing audio files, adjusting photos and
rendering video. Here, even stepping up from the baseline Celeron
G460 to a last-generation Core i3 more than doubles performance
(from 0.37 to 0.82). Moving to the high-end Core i7 sees the
benchmark score rocket to 1.22, equivalent to 3.3 times the
performance of the Celeron.

In our Multitasking test we run several taxing applications at once,

so its no surprise that the quad-core i5 and i7 processors fare
much better than the dual-core Core i3. The single-core Celeron
G460 is left in the dust, taking around five times as long as the
Core i7 to complete these tests.

While a more powerful CPU helps across the board, its only in the
most demanding tasks that a high-end processor reveals its full
capabilities. Note that, although the Core i7 is sold as an eight-
threaded processor, it has only four physical cores, just like the
Core i5, with four additional virtual cores supplied by Intels
Hyper-Threading technology. This is why the Core i7 scores only
10% higher than the i5 in our Multitasking test.
 DoesahigherendCPUmakeadierence?
TESTPC:Nvidia
Singlecore DualcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU
GeForceGTX680,
CPU(withHyper (withHyper (withoutHyper (withHyper
8GBRAM,256GB Threading) Threading) Threading) Threading)
SSDwith

3.5GHzIntel
1.8GHzIntel 3.4GHzIntel 3.2GHzIntel
CPU Corei7
CeleronG460 Corei32130 Corei53470
3770K
Howlongdoesittaketo
Opena1GBsetof
47secs 27secs 23secs 23secs
photographs
Batchprocessa
3mins
setof 5mins39secs 3mins12secs 3mins11secs
35secs
photographs
Encodeseveral
2mins
albumsintoAAC 7mins40secs 2mins16secs 2mins16secs
52secs
format
ConvertanHD 3mins
14mins40secs 1min57secs 1min38secs
videole 59secs
Rendera3D 2mins
7mins33secs 1min6secs 57secs
image 06secs
CompletethePC
12mins
ProMultasking 33mins18secs 8mins57secs 8mins49secs
34secs
test
RebootWindows 28secs 24secs 23secs 23secs

Gaming performance

If youre a gamer, you might assume that your graphics card does
all the work. As our Crysis tests show, however, games rely on the
processor just as much as the GPU. With a lightweight Celeron
CPU, Crysis wasnt able to keep up a playable frame rate at Full HD
resolution; switching to the Sandy Bridge Core i3 removed the
bottleneck and tripled the games performance.

Moving up to a mid-range or high-end Ivy Bridge part unlocked

even smoother gameplay. Its clear that gaming performance relies
on a combination of CPU and GPU performance.
 CanaCPUaectgamingperformance?
TESTPC:Nvidia
Singlecore DualcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU QuadcoreCPU
GeForceGTX680,
CPU(withHyper (withHyper (withoutHyper (withHyper
8GBRAM,256GB Threading) Threading) Threading) Threading)
SSDwith
1.8GHzIntel 3.4GHzIntel 3.2GHzIntel 3.5GHzIntel
CPU
CeleronG460 Corei32130 Corei53470 Corei73770K
Howlongdoesittaketo
LoadaCrysislevel 47secs 27secs 23secs 23secs
Crysis(High
quality,1,920x
13 37 47 48
1,080),minimum
framerate
Crysis(High
quality,1,920x
24 78 96 99
1,080),average
framerate

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