[Adam] The Pentium G3258 Cheap Overclocking Experiment

[cangelini]

You wanted a comparison of Intel's Pentium G3258 using low-cost platform components. Can an entry-level motherboard and bundled heat sink still deliver a satisfying overclocking experience, or does going cheap ruin this dual-core CPU's value appeal?

[Adam] The Pentium G3258 Cheap Overclocking Experiment : Read more

 

[Someone Somewhere]

First page (in bold heading):

Wait, Did You Say B81?

You mean either H81 or B85, I'm guessing.

 

[Nuckles_56]

so 2x4GB=16GB RAM and also 2x4GB=32GB RAM

Maths fail?

 

[vertexx]

Are you seriously running the Athlon on DDR3-1600 RAM? Please confirm as it's too difficult to be sure with all of the ridiculous adware you have baked into this article.

 

[blackmagnum]

Spoiler: Old girl Athlon gets whipped by jock strap Pentium.

 

[edlivian]

athlon whimpers into the corner, and pentium flexes its skinny little arms

 

[LucoTF]

First page (in bold heading):

Wait, Did You Say B81?

You mean either H81 or B85, I'm guessing.

LOL

they were offered both and settled on the H81

 

[tomfreak]

U guys should throw in Core 2 quad 9550/9650 and bench together or even the Nehelem quad core to compare.

 

[cangelini]

@ Nuckles_56: the modules we used came from one standardized kit. Because the H81 and A78 platforms only offer two slots, we pulled two modules from the kit. The other boards gave us four slots, so we used four modules from the same kit. On an X79- based board, you'd see all eight in play.

 

[Traciatim]

@TomFreak, Tom's have already done an old vs new article that tested the core2duo and Quad vs newer i3's an i5's. No reason to redo the tests since you can pretty much extrapolate about where your performance would sit if you look over both articles. Bottom line is it's probably not worth going from a Core2Quad that overclocks pretty reliably to an i3 or Pentium, but in most cases the i3 and newest unclocked Pentium would perform slightly better and use less power.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487-9.html

 

[bdiddytampa]

If you are in the US and are close to a Microcenter, they offer a G3258 and MSI Z97 board bundle for $99. Killer deal for a cheap starter system.

 

[envy14tpe]

Just to be clear. the Pentium is on a H81 with stock intel fan, right? I'd really like to see what each CPU has...mobo and cooler for this testing..it just isn't clear.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Very interesting article, the Pentium G3258 defiantly does show it's value in gaming and other areas on a budget.

 

[LucoTF]

Just to be clear. the Pentium is on a H81 with stock intel fan, right? I'd really like to see what each CPU has...mobo and cooler for this testing..it just isn't clear.

"The Pentium, also topped with a bundled cooler and factory grease, ran exceedingly warm, too."

 

[mrmotion]

So when are you going to put the little guy on nitrogen and see what it will really do?

 

[elbert]

This is all well and good but with DX12 and Mantle. Will these dual core wins be disappointing? Once Intel tunes mantle will the i3 blow away the Pentium?

 

[mamasan2000]

Stutter stutter stutter!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-pentium-g3258-review

Who cares how many FPS its pushing if its a stuttering mess.

 

[bhauck]

Is there a reason the 760K is never included in these types of articles?

 

[James Mason]

While I can understand that using a high GPU and SSD and tons of RAM makes it so we're only seeing the CPU's impact, I feel that such a high system with a low end chip doesn't make sense, or that it somehow doesnt show the real results

 

[bhauck]

While I can understand that using a high GPU and SSD and tons of RAM makes it so we're only seeing the CPU's impact, I feel that such a high system with a low end chip doesn't make sense, or that it somehow doesnt show the real results

Well have I got the article for you then!

 

[LucoTF]

Is there a reason the 760K is never included in these types of articles?

because it OCs just the same as a 750k?

 

[bhauck]

Is there a reason the 760K is never included in these types of articles?

because it OCs just the same as a 750k?

Does it? There's no review when it launched, I can't find any 2014 CPU charts, and it's never even mentioned in any articles. Can you point me where I should be looking?

 

[-Fran-]

Well, thanks for the update, but I'll keep recommending the FX4300 where budget allows instead of the unlocked Pentium.

Cheers!

 

[silverblue]

It doesn't look good for the 750K. In the UK, pricing the same CPU and motherboard combinations on www.dabs.com yields a sizeable price advantage for the G3258:

AMD Athlon II X4 750K Black Edition 3.4GHz FM2 4MB 100W £54.09
MSI A78M-E35 AMD FM2+ A78 DDR3 mATX £39.99
Total £94.08

Intel Pentium Dual Core G3258 3.20GHz 3MB S1150 Pentium K Anniversary £47.98
MSI H81M-P33 S1150 Intel H81 DDR3 mATX £29.41
Total £77.39

In fact, these prices are significantly lower than the Amazon ones in this article...

AMD only has productivity as an advantage (and, I guess, the fact it's not lacking any features found in higher models), and the 760K won't change the performance for price result. They really needed a 770K Steamroller-class CPU; I would find it hard to believe that yields are so good that no throwaways exist. With the 750K and 760K being failed parts, AMD would get no money for them otherwise, so I think they can drop prices to beat Intel here.

One saving grace is the generally more consistent frame latency.

 

[RedJaron]

Thank you for investigating this. It's always nice to benchmark components and remove every limitation, but I like to see real-world scenario applications even more. The H81 boards are too stripped down for what I typically like in a system, but pairing this with a nice $80 H87/97 board still keeps the budget happy. Now we just need to compile a list of all non-Z boards and their proper BIOS revs that support OCing.