Which of modern (desktop PC) CPUs would provide best performance in single-threaded applications?There are some games that haven't been optimized for multi-core use, and the CPU speed is their bottleneck (for physics calculations primarily).I know the end of the line in the gigahertz race were Intel's single-core CPUs of over 4GHz, but then the companies began scaling the speed back while adding more cores or features like hyperthreading. Support for these old extra-fast single core CPUs is scarce nowadays, plus older motherboards, slower RAM and AGP cards would create new bottlenecks, so a more modern alternative would be preferred. So, which of modern CPUs is best suited for this kind of operation?
Which modern CPU for best single-threaded performance?
pc;processor
Any overclockable Intel CPU, if you're willing, or the i7 4790K ($317.99@SuperBiiz) if you're not. Don't just look at clock speed. AMD's FX 9590 has a 5 GHz boost speed, but is slower than Intel's offerings because of a low IPC.A good budget option for overclockers is the dual core Pentium G3258 ($64.99@NCIX), at a mere U$65. Intel released this unlocked CPU for celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Pentium brand. With decent cooling, it can easily match the frequency, and therefore single core performance (approximately), of the i7 that is U$250 more expensive.Another option, featuring Intel's new Skylake architecture, is the i5 6600K ($248.95@Amazon), which gives an average overclock of 4.5 GHz on air. Because it uses a newer microarchitecture, it is, clock for clock, about 5% faster than the Haswell CPUs like the 4790K and the G3258.It also allows you to purchase more, faster RAM, as the Skylake platform supports DDR4. Because of the newer, less mature technology, the total price of the system is likely to be around the same as one with the 4790K.