Quote (Deny @ Feb 9 2016 05:47pm)

Stop misinforming people. 4 cores is enough to run each instance. 1 core per instance. Threads will not run the game correctly, so Hyperthreading does not even come into play. Hyperthreading uses residual cycles of a core to free up useful cycles. Why would you even begin to say such a thing? Also 8 Gb would be plenty still as it requires only 1 GB to run each instance and 1 GB for the OS. Unless he's doing a lot of background applications then he shouldn't see anything higher than 5 - 6 Gb used. So, theoretically, 8 GB should work. However, I recommended 16 because of performance loss when using over 50% of RAM.

@ OP there's more than enough performance in an I5 to run 4 instances without any issues.

Quote (maulepan @ Feb 9 2016 12:00pm)

I brougth it up because it belongs here. Hyperthreading gives you more threads that your games can work with. I dont know if 1 thread is enough to run a diablo 3 application, but 2 threads are better, even if the second thread only performs at 25% of the main thread.

Quote (Deny @ Feb 9 2016 06:20pm)

It only requires 1 core to run. Threads are unused cycles from cores.

Quote (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/)

A thread is a single line of commands that are getting processed, each application has at least one thread, most have multiples. A core is the physical hardware that works on the thread. In general a processor can only work on one thread per core, CPUs with hyper threading can work on up to two threads per core.

Quote (maulepan @ Feb 9 2016 12:35pm)

A thread is what your programms are using. A core is the physical component.

Quote

2 instances: 2 CPU Cores, 4GB RAM, 1GB video card
3 instances: 2-4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 2GB video card
4 instances: 3-4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 2GB video card
5 instances: 4-6 CPU cores, 16GB RAM, 4GB video card
6 instances: 4-6 CPU cores, 16GB RAM, 4GB video card

Quote (maulepan @ Feb 9 2016 12:58pm)

That is a "general rule of thumb". Nevertheless you will profit from the extra threads of an i7. Not to the extend of a 8 core prozessor since the hyperthreads dont have their own ALU's but they still deliver computing power that the games can use.

Quote (yupitsmeh @ Feb 9 2016 07:02pm)

then why does hyperthreading actually hurt performance alot?

Quote (maulepan @ Feb 9 2016 01:08pm)

Hyperthreading does not always hurt performance. If you compare a dual core pentium to a dual core hyperthreading i3 you will see that the i3 benefits a lot from hyperthreading in gaming.
There are two effects. Hyperthreading doubles the amount of threads the cpu can process at the same time, but the hyperthread only performs at around 25% of what the main thread can. Thats because the main thread can use all of the cores ALU's whenever it wants, and the hyperthread is only using the ones that are currently not needed.

The problem comes when you compare the quad core i5 to the quad core hyperthreading i7. Most games dont use moren then 4 threads. Hence the i5 has 4 main threads that can do everything that the game needs. This means that the additional 4 threads on the i7 wont give you any performance increase. Rather will the slower Hyperthreads hurt your performance. When the game now thows heavy task on one of the slower hyperthreads it will decrease performance.

Quote (maulepan @ Feb 9 2016 01:23pm)

Did you even read though my post?
Almost every games take advantage of hyperthreading if you have a dual core processor.
Most games dont benefit from hyperthreading on quad core CPU's
Some games like Fallout 4 take great advantage even of quad core hyperthreading.