Is Core i7 Good For Gaming [Absolute Necessity or A Luxury]

Core i7— the name, the myth, the legend when it comes to the mainstream PC industry. It has been the most performant and desirable processor since the dawn of the Intel Core series, up until the introduction of the i9 CPU.

No surprise with today’s standard, the i7 is a jack-of-all-trades processor. But does that make it a viable option for gaming?

To find the answer, let’s dig into this article.

Sneak Peek At Core i7 Processors in Recent Years

To begin with, Intel set itself apart in high-performance computing with the inauguration of the core series processors back in 2008. The Core i7 965 Extreme Edition led this CPU family, being the alpha SKU.

Fast-forward to several years, the i7 CPUs have witnessed numerous upgrades in each iteration, whether it be core count, frequency, power consumption, or core architecture.

Now, to take a glance at all of them is a stick in the mud, as the number is too many. I, however, have made things easy for you by listing only the relevant i7 CPUs in recent years.

If you look closely, with each generation, some sort of spec bump is apparent such as core and thread count, power limit, clock speed etcetera.

So, these improvements must mean something, right? Yes, they do. In the later section, I’ll get down to the nitty-gritty of the performance of i7 processors.

Read more on what is AMD equivalent to Intel Core i7?

Performance Trend of Core i7 CPUs in Subsequent Iterations

See, everyone expects better performance with the new generation of products. And that’s fair.

If there is no tangible benefit that comes with the latest iteration, then what’s the point?

To answer the question, let’s have a look at the performance across sequential generations of core i7 processors.

Single Core

Single core score is the direct interpretation of expected performance in light-threaded workloads such as games and photoshop. Modern games, however, can exploit many cores and threads.

With that being said, synthetic benchmarks simulate what you can expect from a silicon microprocessor.

So, I ran a handful of tests with a selection of i7 CPUs from each generation, from the 7th to the latest 13th gen, to measure the improvement.

As demonstrated with the synthetic numbers, there’s a 76% of performance uplift over 7 years of development in the i7 product lineup.

Though, the monumental single core jump is seen going from the 11th gen to the 12th gen, which is 23%. Thanks to the all-new 10nm process node and core architecture.

Multicore

Multicore scenario for the core i7 part is even more fascinating. The extended numbers of cores and threads made this part a multicore monster. It all began with the i7 8700K, introducing the first 6-core mainstream desktop Intel processor.

Below, I’ve put together the multicore scores of i7 CPUs.

As the core count increased through the years, the i7 has become a behemoth, speaking of multithreaded workloads. The radical paradigm shift occurred with the 12th generation.

The combination of Golden Cove performance and Gracemont efficient cores opened a new horizon for the i7 processors. And the excellence continues with 13th gen i7 as well.

Now, with all of these numbers and improvements so to speak, how do they keep up with gaming?

They do wonders!

Let’s follow this up down to the last detail in the next section.

Also related to this guide on are i7 CPU good.

So Is Core i7 Actually Good For Gaming?

Good is an understatement for a core i7 CPU on the question of gaming. The i7 processor is an overkill part for sole gaming purposes.

Modern i7 CPUs can handle any high-end GPU without a hitch, showing no sign of CPU bottleneck whatsoever. It can handle any CPU-intensive game, delivering the maximum frames per second.

Don’t take my word for it. Let the numbers speak for themselves. I’ve tested all the modern titles up against the core i7 processor.

Here’s my test bench setup: 

As the baseline, I’ve taken the core i9 13900K CPU as it is one of the best if not the best gaming processor in the world right now. Let’s see how the i7 CPUs stack up next to it.

1920x1080p Benchmark

Compared to the same generation i9 and i7, you will see virtually no difference in 1080p or Full HD gaming benchmark. But considering the generation, the performance gap is apparent, being in line with the single core improvement as we’ve seen in the synthetic numbers.

The games I picked to compare each generation of i7 CPUs with the latest and greatest i9 13900K are heavily CPU bound. And the lower the resolution, the more load on the CPU. This is why 1080p data is crucial in measuring CPUs horsepower.

Below I’ve provided all the benchmark data of the games I tested:

Farcry 6

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Watchdogs: Legion

CS: GO

1080p: 6 Games Average

The first thing you’ll notice is that, the 13th-gen i7 roughly matches the concurrent i9 processor. It indicates the i7 CPU is capable of delivering the highest performance in games even if you skip the i9 CPU. The same thing can be said for the other generation i7 CPUs.

On top of that, taking a closer look, even if you are on a tight budget you can get a couple of generation older i7 at great bargains. And these are no slouches when it comes to gaming. Especially, if you target high resolution, you are basically offloading all the heavy work on the GPU.

2560x1440p Benchmark

A break-even point for high-resolution gaming and CPU performance is the 1440p resolution. Apart from a great graphics card, the processor also makes a big difference in the gaming experience, especially in 1% low performance.

Good CPUs deliver brilliant 1% low FPS, reducing the stutter issue and slow-downs. Core i7 CPUs do an exceptional job in this regard.

Let’s have a look.

Farcry 6

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Watchdogs: Legion

CS: GO

1440p: 6 Games Average

Like the 1080p gaming results, things are pretty much the same in 1440p resolution as well. Though in this resolution, the load is more on the GPU.

The latest gen products come ahead as expected, delivering the maximum possible Frames Per second in every game. Older-gen parts, however, sometimes bottleneck the GPU, such as 9700K and 8700K.

CPU generation comes into play in such instances, as we talked about earlier. But that being said, i7 CPUs demonstrate its capability, leaving almost no tangible advantage to the superior i9 SKU in gaming.

Power Consumption

Yielding maximum FPS in every game does come at a cost — Power Draw. That being said, the notion everyone has especially for Intel CPUs is that these are power hogs. Which is technically true, but in specific scenarios.

See, for casual tasks and gaming, you don’t need to stress yourself over power consumption. The package power of the i7 typically stays between 80-130W.

Though depending on games, these numbers can fluctuate. Besides, older i7 parts draw significantly lower power compared to the 12th and 13th gen CPUs, even on all core loads.

A Core i7 CPU Can Go Beyond Gaming

A spellbinding fact is that the i7 does not stop at gaming. You have the power at your disposal to swing through core heavy works on the back of this SKU.

See, with the billion dollars gaming industry, streaming and content creation is nothing out of ordinary. It’s not too much to ask from your rig, is it?

And this is where the i7 processor starts to flex its muscle, being the multicore powerhouse.

Even if you compare it with the i9 part, this statement remains as true as the sunrise. The i7 is no slouch, even having fewer cores.

But you already know the major performance boost came with the most recent 12th and 13th gen with the hybrid core architecture.

Let’s have a look at the performance of the i7 CPUs in OBS, boiling down to streaming and content creation capability.

In my testing, I found, the 12th and 13th gen i7 processors take the least hit in FPS with outstanding frame consistency. Things got a bit rough once I switched over to the 8C 16T parts, such as 11700K & 10700K.

But the disappointment hit me hard once I tried streaming with the i7 9700K. Reduced threads really took a toll on the 1% low fps, resulting in a stutter all over the game.

I also tried hardware encoding based on the iGPU, but it simply doesn’t worth it. The image quality is blurry and unusable.

So does that make these CPUs obsolete for streaming? Not a chance!

If you have streaming in mind, the GPU encoder (NVENC, HEVC) is here to save the day with excellent image quality, latency, and minimum hit on the FPS.

But the iGPU has one major advantage that will thrive in video editing — Intel Quick Sync Technology. As a result, i7 CPUs tear through the content creation suits like Premiere Pro, Da Vinci Resolve, and others.

Should You Buy Core i7 For Gaming?

The most common question when picking up a CPU is — Should I go for it? Is it worth my money?

As simple as the question sounds, the answer, however, is not confined to Yes or No. See, the most demanding games barely ask for a current i7 CPU as a recommended component, let alone as a minimum processor to run the game properly.

But why would you take my word for it? Fair enough.

Let’s check some minimum and recommended processors for modern titles.

Do you mind taking a closer look?

See, even with modern titles, the i7 is a luxury for gaming. But how?

Well, in terms of Intel processors, generation matters big time. Take Hogwarts Legacy for an example. Which is currently one of the most popular games out there with stunning graphics.

Surprisingly, the developers are suggesting an i7 10700K CPU to run it with maximum graphics preset at 4K. But the core i5 12600K outperforms this CPU by a long shot in everything — Single Core & Multicore.

So, if you pick an i5 12600K, you are completely geared up for gaming. And it’s a hell of a future-proof chip, thanks to the added cores. An i7 from recent generations such as 12700K or 13700K is simply redundant in such cases.

Not to mention, the i5 13600K outperforms the i9 12900K in gaming. It also goes head-to-head with the i9 CPU with its multicore performance thanks to the increased core count.

Therefore, i5 is the CPU you should opt for gaming. However, when you factor in all the productivity workload as we discussed before, an i7 will serve you like a conqueror. No hiccups, no slowdowns, but rather a blistering fast computing experience.

Ending Remarks

The core i7 is not just good at gaming, it defines the best-performing GPU of a generation. It can handle any gaming workload like child’s play. But there’s no denying, the core i7 is overkill for most people. An i5 from a similar generation is all it takes to do gaming at the highest standard.

What do you think then? Comment below.