Intel 265K E Cores good for gaming on or not?

[The_Nephilim]

Hey guys,

I just purchased a 265K and it seems to be working well. now I do some gaming with it and was wondering since I seen so many things users have said about the ECores are not good for gaming on, I also seen some say they are..

Now I was looking around Intel.com for some more offical word on this matter but came up short. So I decided to put this post up to see if others have any official worrd on what I can use the E Cores for and how?

I also know they say Win11 is supposed to do this assign the cores but I noted that while gaming this is not true by default. now I am not sure if it is because of the game itself or Win 11 but either way I noted the game I play I need to use Process Lasso to assign affinity to the P Cores to make sure it gets used..

If you have any official liteture on what to use the E Cores for I am all ears..

Thank you and look forward to some responces..

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you for posting in Intel community Forum.

Before we proceed, let check the following details:

1. Are you having issues while gaming?
2. Can you tell us what are those issues?
3. What are the games that you are currently playing?

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The_Nephilim]

1. Are you having issues while gaming?  

          a. Yes I am having issues while gaming

      2. Can you tell us what are those issues? 

          a. When I play games most of the work is put on the E Cores and only a few of the P Cores seem to be getting work from the game.

      3. What are the games that you are currently playing?

           a. DCS

           b. Mechwarrior 5: mercenaries..

       I thought when playing a game or intensive work the P cores are supposed to be assigned that work. I noted in one game I was getting maybe half the P cores and about 6-8 E cores getting work. I thought the Ecores are for I/O and smaller processes, when they are also pegged at 100% usage..

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you for the update

Let me gather additional details about this inquiry

1. When you say you are having issues with the game, is it slow? is it lagging?
2. Can you share screenshots and videos of the game issue and E-Cores, P-Cores load while playing?
3. Please help generate the SSU logs of your system. Please refer to the link below on how to generate the logs:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The_Nephilim]

Hello Mike_Intel,

I appreciate you trying to help but I am just looking for an answer about the E Cores and can they be used for gaming.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you for the update

Technically speaking, this processor's specification is capable of gaming. I suggest you pair this processor with a good Graphics controller for optimized performance since the integrated Graphics of the processor does not have a good specification. here is the link of the complete specification of the processor:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/241063/intel-core-ultra-7-processor-265k-30m-cache-up-to-5-50-ghz/specifications.html

I was asking for the information in my previous post so that I can further investigate if your system has an issue.

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The_Nephilim]

Hey Mike,

No, the system seems fine and it is running the games great. I was just curious if it was wise to throw some work on the E Cores as I use Process Lasso.

I also have a Discreete GPU a 4070Ti to be exact which works well with this CPU.

Thank you for the assistance I guess I will experiment with the E Cores and see how it goes..

[ManCaveMike]

Hi, please keep us posted,  I also have a u265K and noticed the same.

The cpu seems to perform much better at higher resolutions.  4k, 1440p 180hz.  But at 1080p, it really seems to put everything towards e core.  Sadly intel did not address your question, so I wont bother asking them in my own thread.   But if you could keep us posted on your findings, I personally, would appreciate it!!!

[The_Nephilim]

Hey MCM,

What I ended up doing was use Process Lasso and I put all other Processes on 4 e Cores the ones that can. I also put them in Efficiency mode. I then used All P Cores and 8 Ecores for gaming it seems to work really well..

I also have my CPU OC to 5.5Ghz on P Cores and 48 on e Cores.. I did notice a slight improvement in Frametimes while doing this.. When I put all gaming on the P Cores it still runs good..

You might have to do some testing but I found the above method with the 265K worked well.. let me know how you make out..

[ManCaveMike]

Thanks for the info!

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you for the update

Do you have any additional questions or clarifications?

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you are having a good day.

Just checking if you still have questions or clarifications for me?

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The_Nephilim]

Well I was looking for a whitepaper on the matter that I could read up on about it.. but if that does not exist I guess that is all.

Just thought I could have something to point too as most intel users are under the beleif that e cores are not good for gaming?.

thank you.

[JedG_Intel]

Hi The_Nephilim,

I'll be handling this thread temporarily and after review, I perfectly understand that you'd like to have more information about the E-cores. I'll be checking this matter internally and I will give you an update as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Thank you for patiently waiting for our update.

First, let me share these links that discuss similar topics:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091896/processors.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097053/processors/intel-core-processors.html

Intel thread director works as and advisor mechanism, OS process manager is responsible for assigning them to appropriate cores and developer should be aware of that and optimize game for cores which they want to be played.

My recent example would be Ghost Recon Wildlands - with or without Process Lasso, game started on P-cores. E-cores were not used by the game, but were utilized by other background apps.

Because of performance of E-cores they're not great for more demanding games. But if tried to run some old games which were designed for older CPUs (less threads were used or required) then I think performance would be okay.

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[The_Nephilim]

Thnx, that is what I was thinking so good answer.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

I hope this message finds you well. 

Were you able to check the previous post?

Please let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello The_Nephilim,

Appreciate the confirmation.

Since you already marked the case as "Solved", I need to close this inquiry. 

If you need further assistance, please post a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician