AMD quad-core vs. Intel dual-core

[thomas_woods]

hey guys, I've just been given a couple systems that are kind of old but are still usable and I'd like to build them up to be decent machines. my question is which one of these processors are going to perform better? I know Intel makes the most powerful processors out there but is that still the case when a dual core intel is up against a quad core AMD processor? or is the intel dual core still more powerful? I plan to do some work and light gaming on it probably some skyrim SE. Thanks for reading your input would be appreciated.

HP Pavillion p7-1225:
AMD A8 3820 / 2.5 GHz

Dell Inspiron 3847:
4th gen Intel Core i3 4130 / 3.4 GHz

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Well, if we were talking about brand new CPUs then AMD and Intel match up fairly well core for core, it is just clock speeds where Intel takes the lead. However, on older CPUs like the ones you've shown here, the i3 will stomp all over that A8 all day long... unless you are gaming on the integrated graphics. Even though the i3 is a faster CPU, the A8 has integrated graphics at least twice as fast.

Though, I'd recommend getting the i3 and dropping something like a 750 Ti or 950, or maybe even a 1050 or 1050 Ti, into it and calling it a gaming machine. You'll get reasonable performance out of it for what you need it for.

 

[thomas_woods]

Well, if we were talking about brand new CPUs then AMD and Intel match up fairly well core for core, it is just clock speeds where Intel takes the lead. However, on older CPUs like the ones you've shown here, the i3 will stomp all over that A8 all day long... unless you are gaming on the integrated graphics. Even though the i3 is a faster CPU, the A8 has integrated graphics at least twice as fast.

Though, I'd recommend getting the i3 and dropping something like a 750 Ti or 950, or maybe even a 1050 or 1050 Ti, into it and calling it a gaming machine. You'll get reasonable performance out of it for what you need it for.

i'm not sure what GPU im going to get yet but i'm getting one for each. The AMD cpu supports crossfire and dual graphics so if i got a decent AMD gpu and crossfired it with the integrated 6550d graphics would it out perform the intel i3 with an equal gpu? or is the i3 still more powerful?

 

[jeremyj_83]

That 3820 is from mid 2011-early 2012, and is based on the K10.5 core. In other words it is ancient by computing standards. That CPU would have been comparable to a 1st Gen i3 at absolute best. The i3 4130 will still be fine for doing a lot of gaming. In some newer games that are able to use more threads/cores it will be a bit slower than a i5, but it would ALWAYS be faster than the A8.

 

[bignastyid]

Well, if we were talking about brand new CPUs then AMD and Intel match up fairly well core for core, it is just clock speeds where Intel takes the lead. However, on older CPUs like the ones you've shown here, the i3 will stomp all over that A8 all day long... unless you are gaming on the integrated graphics. Even though the i3 is a faster CPU, the A8 has integrated graphics at least twice as fast.

Though, I'd recommend getting the i3 and dropping something like a 750 Ti or 950, or maybe even a 1050 or 1050 Ti, into it and calling it a gaming machine. You'll get reasonable performance out of it for what you need it for.

i'm not sure what GPU im going to get yet but i'm getting one for each. The AMD cpu supports crossfire and dual graphics so if i got a decent AMD gpu and crossfired it with the integrated 6550d graphics would it out perform the intel i3 with an equal gpu? or is the i3 still more powerful?

Only the low end GPUs support dual graphics mode. Only the HD6450,6570,6670,7450,7570 and 7670 can run in dual graphics mode with the A8 3820.
http://www.cpu-world.com/info/AMD/Recommended_graphics_cards_for_AMD_dual-graphics.html

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

With a discrete GPU of equal power the i3 will be noticeably faster than the A8 in every way you could use it.