Budget CPU for r9 270x: fx 6300 or pentium g3258?

[ElvisOnTheMoon]

Hi, I'm working on a budget PC build, and have recently purchased an r9 270x. I am looking to upgrade in the future but do not want this to affect the build's performance. I was initially planning on an fx 6300, but the g3258 caught my attention. Which should I buy? I intend to use this build primarily to play and develop games.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Then say real performance. Say gaming, say FPS. Blanket statements become 'established fact' when they are not. Hyperthreading does not double the performance of a core, it's only about 50% improvement, so an i3 acts about the same as a three core CPU.

Don't change your claim. At the same clock speed, an i3 will outperform a G3258, but you claimed i3 is far faster than an overclocked G3258 That is just not true.

 

[Speedstang]

Then say real performance. Say gaming, say FPS. Blanket statements become 'established fact' when they are not. Hyperthreading does not double the performance of a core, it's only about 50% improvement, so an i3 acts about the same as a three core CPU.

Don't change your claim. At the same clock speed, an i3 will outperform a G3258, but you claimed i3 is far faster than an overclocked G3258 That is just not true.

I'm not changing my claim, it is true. You will still get higher FPS across all games. You'd have to have the G3258 running on a liquid cooler to match the 4160. If even possible.

 

[ElvisOnTheMoon]

So how would a G3258 overclocked to 4.2GHz play something like Fallout 4? I realise that it has not yet been released, thus there are no benchmarks, but there are the graphics requirements and I notice that the minumum CPU is a 4-core i5, albeit a bad one. Thanks for all the answers, BTW.

 

[NightAntilli]

http://www.techspot.com/review/1017-best-budget-gaming-cpu/page7.html

An X4 860K is slower regardless of being a quad core. As for the PCs I currently own my strongest one is an i5-4690k with a GTX 780 my third is an i5-4590 with a GTX 750 Ti (and of course the G3258 @ 4.5 Ghz with a GTX 960). I notice very little real world difference in gaming between them (current, older, whatever) on a 60 Ghz 1920x1200 monitor. Using a 1680x1050 monitor there's no difference at all between the three when swapping the same graphics card between them.

Any of those three are better than the FX-6300 @ 4.5 Ghz I sold or the Phenom II X4 980 BE @ 4.1 Ghz I still own (but currently no long use).

Being slightly slower on a few older games is better than newer games being completely unplayable. Also;

But once we hit 01:12 – a tour of Novigrad City on horseback… well, then we see some big changes. This area can hit 80% utilisation across all eight threads on a Core i7 4790K! The less powerful the CPU here, the more CPU stutter you encounter. The G3258 – overclocked to 4.5GHz – doesn’t work out too well.

Also, check out the performance of the FX-6300 and FX-8350 starting from 01:26. In the initial cut-scenes they fall a little short of the Core i3 and i5, but once we hit the heavy Novigrad area, they compete very nicely – the FX 6300 moves ahead of the i3, while the FX 8350 is very close to the 4690K

Read more: http://wccftech.com/witcher-3-cpu-benchmarks-fx-63008350-i7-4790ki5-4690ki3-4130g3258-oc/#ixzz3oPRnBLYq

 

[ElvisOnTheMoon]

Would it make sense to get a 6300 intitially, and then upgrade to an 8350? It seems that the 6300 crushes the G3258 in almost all modern games, and this PC is for running primarily new releases (with a bit of Fallout New Vegas in the mix, which shouldn't be taxing at all). Also, I want to get as much out of this build as I can initially, and I want to get it as soon as humanly possible - an fx 6300 seems like a good price/performance CPU. Am I wrong?

 

[odditey]

fx is dead at end of the year if u already have mobo go for it cause fx are getting old and require crazy amounts of power If u can afford it go intel

 

[odditey]

buy ur cpu's from microcenter they almost always have free mobo deals

 

[Random_tech]

you should look at the price to performance ratio. in that case, the pentium wins.
the g3258 is $70, where as the i3 is about $130+, which is nearly double the price.
you might be lucy to get a few frames difference, for about $60 more

 

[jeffredo]

Would it make sense to get a 6300 intitially, and then upgrade to an 8350? It seems that the 6300 crushes the G3258 in almost all modern games, and this PC is for running primarily new releases (with a bit of Fallout New Vegas in the mix, which shouldn't be taxing at all). Also, I want to get as much out of this build as I can initially, and I want to get it as soon as humanly possible - an fx 6300 seems like a good price/performance CPU. Am I wrong?

You're wrong. Firstly, the FX-6300 doesn't "crush" the G3258 in modern games. FFS I own(ed) both overclocked. If you don't want to listen to/believe an owner of said hardware that's fine. Secondly if you don't want a G3258 don't get an FX-6300. Its GIMP. Get an i3 4170 for $15 - $20 more. Its faster in almost all games and your upgrade path on an 1150 motherboard will be much more viable.

Actually, I get the feeling your intention was to get the FX-6300 all along and this thread is nothing but a time-waster to make you feel better about your decision. By all means, go ahead and invest in a dead end.

 

[madmatt30]

If youre going Intel an i3 minimum - the Pentium is just an absolute waste of time & money for current gaming.
2 threads does not cut it with newer titles & for anyone to state the pentium is better than a 6300 you must be kidding me seriously - the onkyvthungbut has going for it is the upgrade path on that socket (which is also now outdated or will be in a year)

For pairing with a 270x both a 6300 & an hyper threaded i3 will do a grand job - they're both more than capable of powering stronger cards than that.

 

[NightAntilli]

The only thing the Pentium has going for it is the ability to play old games from 2012 and earlier very well, and the upgrade path.

Right now I would personally prefer to invest in an Athlon 860k rather than an FX-6300, due to the newer supported technologies. FM2+ supports higher memory speeds and has support for PCI-e 3.0. The memory speed helps the CPU since all CPUs with bulldozer-based architectures are kind of memory starved, and the higher speeds really help these CPUs out during heavy loads. PCI-e 3.0 seems to matter a bit in Ashes of the Singularity, but nothing else as of right now. It's good to have it for the near future though.

There is really no upgrade path at all for the 860k. The FX-6300 only really has an FX-8 as an upgrade path, and well, generally the difference between those two for games is not really worth it. The investment in an Athlon 860k is smaller than for the FX-6300, and the upgrade to Zen in ~1-2 years is the main thing to be looking at. Maybe Zen+ in ~3-4 years, or any Intel equivalent. Yes I think both these CPUs can perform well enough for that long.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Would it make sense to get a 6300 intitially, and then upgrade to an 8350? It seems that the 6300 crushes the G3258 in almost all modern games, and this PC is for running primarily new releases (with a bit of Fallout New Vegas in the mix, which shouldn't be taxing at all). Also, I want to get as much out of this build as I can initially, and I want to get it as soon as humanly possible - an fx 6300 seems like a good price/performance CPU. Am I wrong?

It would not make sense to get a FX6300 then upgrade to a FX8350 (or FX8320, or FX 8370, or fX9590 either) None of them are enough of an improvement to be worth the money.

If you want to try and play modern games on an about $100 CPU, you have four choices worthy of consideration.

Intel G3258. Overclocked, it is fast and powerful, but it will not play many modern games well at all because it has only two cores and that is no longer enough. It's a great legacy processor for 'blast-from-the-past' games.

Intel i3 4160 Fast and powerful, two cores and Hyperthreading allows it to run all modern games, although it may not be powerful enough for the most intense multi-person situations and Ultra setting (especially population and sight distance). It has a viable upgrade path to something like the Xeon 1231v3. I'm not suggesting an i7 4790K because the original i3 motherboard may not support it properly.

AMD FX 6300. Overclocked, it is fast and powerful, and it's three modules allow it to play modern games. Even overclocked, it's modules are less powerful than the G3258 cores when overclocked. There will be more CPU heavy games where the settings might need to be turned down to achieve good performance. This is almost an obsolete CPU with no meaningful upgrade path.

AMD Athlon X4 860K Overclocked, it too is fast and powerful and it's modules are more modern and powerful than those in the FX 6300 (but it still has one Fetch and two decode, and one L2 cache shared by the two Int units and the one FP unit) Steamroller is faster and more efficient than Piledriver (in FX6300) so in many cases where two modules are enough the 860K may be superior. It is a more modern technology, but reaching the end of obsolescence, and there is not upgrade path at all.

I would eliminate both the G3258 and the FX6300 from consideration for what you are doing. The i3 is the good powerful choice with a future (of a sort), the 860K is the interesting budget choice (but you must overclock it)

 

[madmatt30]

^ I dunno donkey - personally I'd rate the 6300 as a better CPU than the 860k even at stock speeds.
Between those 2 for an amd build it purely comes down to price IMO

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK AIDOS BLACK 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus A68HM-Plus Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $142.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:51 EDT-0400





PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK AIDOS BLACK 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $175.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:50 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $179.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:54 EDT-0400

To me those are the 3 choices on a budget basis while maintaining good quality parts.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

^ I dunno donkey - personally I'd rate the 6300 as a better CPU than the 860k even at stock speeds.
Between those 2 for an amd build it purely comes down to price IMO

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK AIDOS BLACK 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus A68HM-Plus Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $142.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:51 EDT-0400





PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK AIDOS BLACK 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $175.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:50 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $179.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 09:54 EDT-0400

To me those are the 3 choices on a budget basis while maintaining good quality parts.

The FX has the third module and it is better when that module is used effectively. How often is that? I'm also looking at the whole 'technosystem' factoring in motherboards, memory, lanes and all the other 'invisible' stuff.

EDIT: took me a while to check my facts.

The 860K has the newer Steamroller architecture that gives it both better multi-process scaling characteristics and better single threaded performance, so the 860K is about 10% faster per module while the FX-6300 is about 10% faster when work saturates on all three modules. If you have to choose between a 10% stronger per module performance or 10% stronger combined execution throughput spread out over more modules, the former will always win in real-time workloads like gaming where the load does not saturate the resources close to 100% of the time.

 

[madmatt30]

^ I understand what you're saying but essentially to me as long as a board & chipset has sata 3,usb3,PCI express 2x16 , & ddr3 1600mhz ram compatibility anything else is largely bells & whistles to the average user.
I see people spending monstrous amounts on boards with sata express/m2 chipsets , PCI express 3 etc & numerous stuff they don't understand or are very unlikely to use.

Regarding games etc using more than 4 threads - I've seen an awful lot lately that do if the threads are available - not uncommon to see 40% usage on threads 5 & 6 on a 6300 nowdays at all & the first 4 threads split more evenly.
The days of multii threaded games are upon us mate seriously now.
2 years ago you'd see threads 1 & 2 saturated to 80-90%,& the remaining ones sitting around 15-20% max , not anymore though.

Don't get me wrong a quad is still enough but to me the 6300 still has more reserve grunt than the 860k available when needed.

Neither amd setups are upgradeable to any real extent , if he really plans to sink more money into upgrades in the future then the i3 would probably be the better choice but I personally don't think the i3 is particularly good value when an i5 could be had for another $60.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The ability to use faster memory is very helpful and will result in better performance at a cost effective level. Games can use the extra module, but the processor is not often saturated.

In the end. it's going to come down to money, and specific games.

Yes, i5 is the 'real' answer.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $241.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 10:49 EDT-0400

Microcenter has the 4170 for under $100, walk-in, and some cheap i5 prices too.

 

[NightAntilli]

The thing is, for an additional $60 you can always get something better. For an additional $60 you can get the 4690k over the 4460, for an additional $60 you can get the Xeon E3-1230V2, for an additional $60 you can get an i7 and so on.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The thing is, for an additional $60 you can always get something better. For an additional $60 you can get the 4690k over the 4460, for an additional $60 you can get the Xeon E3-1230V2, for an additional $60 you can get an i7 and so on.

Intel are EVIL that way

G3258 $70
4160 $105
4460 $175
4690 $215
Xeon 1231v3 $235
4790 $290

Can't go for K chips because of motherboard cost increase.

To me, the i3 4160 or the cheaper 860K seem to be the best budget choices.

 

[LookItsRain]

The thing is, for an additional $60 you can always get something better. For an additional $60 you can get the 4690k over the 4460, for an additional $60 you can get the Xeon E3-1230V2, for an additional $60 you can get an i7 and so on.

Intel are EVIL that way

G3258 $70
4160 $105
4460 $175
4690 $215
Xeon 1231v3 $235
4790 $290

Can't go for K chips because of motherboard cost increase.

To me, the i3 4160 or the cheaper 860K seem to be the best budget choices.

G3258 $70
4160 $105
4460 $175
Xeon 1231v3 $235

Fixed the list for relevant chips only.

i3 is the best budget choice for gaming, it can play older single threaded titles much better, while it can play newer titles well enough with a matching gpu, no one is going to buy an i3 and a 390(unless your me).

 

[DonkeyOatie]

What's with the downvoting Palladin 9479?

jeffredo and I are fine with downvoting if you disagree, but I'm sure the other posters and the OP would like to know why.