i3-4330 vs i5-3570 for PCSX2

[hiimdoug]

I get that there are technical differences between the two CPUs (ie more cores, L2/L3 Cache etc), however my question is which technical detail of the i5-3570 helps make for better pcsx2 performance than the i3-4330? Being that they are essentially the same clock speed and being that pcsx2 only uses two cores.

[Nobbs66]

PCSX2 can use more than 2 cores using the mtVU speedhack or software model.

[Donovan24]

I get that there are technical differences between the two CPUs (ie more cores, L2/L3 Cache etc), however my question is which technical detail of the i5-3570 helps make for better pcsx2 performance than the i3-4330? Being that they are essentially the same clock speed and being that pcsx2 only uses two cores.

With the MTVU speedhack pcsx2 can use 3 cores. Then the 4th core could be used by background processes.

Plus quite a few games require software mode, which can use 4 cores.

The Quad core will be a lot faster in general, with a few exceptions ofcourse.

[Blyss Sarania]

The IPC and single threaded of those processors is almost identical. If there is a difference, I would expect it to be cache related. Especially L2 cache can make a HUGE difference(the difference between old P4s and the Celerons were the Celerons had some cache disabled, that's it, and we all know how slow most celerons are) And of course, cores with MTVU and or software as mentioned above.

So basically the things you said you already know about.

[pablocrossa]

ON A DESKTOP:

i5 -> 4 cores 4 threads
i3 -> 2 cores 4 threads
Only because of this the MTVU hack is going to be faster (I'm not sure by how much, don't have a source of measurement) on the i5 than the i3 as a core is faster than a logical thread (EDIT: as a rule of thumb) (if you do want more technical information on this just make sure you read on Hyperthreading by Intel to get the difference; despite to say it's a little too long to get into proper detail on a post on a forum).

SECONDLY, ON BOTH LAPTOPS AND DESKTOPS

i5 -> Turbo boost
i3 -> No Turbo boot
On my laptop (i7 rated at 2.7GHz) while I'm on high performance mode my clockrate NEVER falls bellow around 3.5GHz. This means that, with adequate cooling and PSU, your i5 can run at up to 3.8GHz constantly (depending on the program, with PCSX2 possibly only at 3.6GHz) as opposed to the i3 which will always be at 3.5GHz, again making the i5 SLIGHTLY faster in this scenario.

Finally the cache will always (as a rule of thumb) make a CPU faster when having more again by how CPUs work, more reading on the topic would help understand why.

That's really it in terms of PCSX2 AFAIK but someone might know more

[||dav1de||]

Haswell seems to perform much better than Ivy Bridge in PCSX2 (+15% at the same frequency I think), so the i3 might not be a bad choice...

[Donovan24]

Haswell seems to perform much better than Ivy Bridge in PCSX2 (+15% at the same frequency I think), so the i3 might not be a bad choice...

The whole extra core from MTVU brings much more than 15%. On compatible games.

[DaTankAC]

MTVU does work with hyperthreading. Not as good as a physical core, but the results are still good.

[||dav1de||]

The whole extra core from MTVU brings much more than 15%. On compatible games.

MTVU does work with hyperthreading. Not as good as a physical core, but the results are still good.

You both have reason, so it's hard to say which of the two will perform better, it will probably depends on games: if MTVU doesn't work the i3 should be better, if it works well the i5 should be better, if it works, but not that well, probably there will be similar performances.

[Blyss Sarania]

My main source for determining how well stuff will work in PCSX2 says to me that they will be pretty close in performance. Both have exception STP. > 2000