Can't decide i3 or 8320E for new system

[FinneousPJ]

Hey guys,

I'm building a new system for a family friend. He's 12 years old, and won't be overclocking or upgrading the system. If I go with the 8320E I will dial in a mild overclock and leave it at that, as the family lives in another city and I can't offer support. Upgrade paths are irrelevant as this build must last for years, at which point they will get a new system. This is why I'm not sure if I should pick the i3 or if the FX will be better as more and more games require more cores.

Thx,
FinneousPJ

 

[king3pj]

@JonnyDough I'm not here to argue processor architecture come on. The point is AMD has a better multithreaded performance. Do you guys think that will make a big difference in the future?

Here is the thing. The i3 is the better CPU right now. You can check out benchmarks to confirm that. Would you rather have something we know works better now or buy the alternative and hope it works better in a few years? I personally would go off benchmarks that exist today instead of trying to speculate on the future.

 

[FinneousPJ]

@logainofhades Unfortunately not, as even a locked i5 costs significantly more than the i3-4150.

@king3pj Yes, that is a good point. However, I am concerned more and more games are listing quad cores as minimum requirement. It would be pretty shit if the computer I build doesn't run most games in 2016. Wasn't there a thing where Far Cry wouldn't even launch on dual cores without an unofficial patch? A 12 year old won't know how to fix that kind of stuff.

 

[logainofhades]

Far Cry's issue was with Pentiums, not i3.

 

[FinneousPJ]

@logainofhades I see. Does it detect thread count or simply processor make and model?

 

[king3pj]

The i3 has hyperthreading to make it function like a quad core.. While it isn't the same as a real quad core like the i5 it's better than a standard dual core CPU like the Pentium Logainofhades mentioned.

 

[JonnyDough]

@logainofhades Unfortunately not, as even a locked i5 costs significantly more than the i3-4150.

@king3pj Yes, that is a good point. However, I am concerned more and more games are listing quad cores as minimum requirement. It would be pretty shit if the computer I build doesn't run most games in 2016. Wasn't there a thing where Far Cry wouldn't even launch on dual cores without an unofficial patch? A 12 year old won't know how to fix that kind of stuff.

The quad cores typically listed are old ones. You're fine with an i3.

 

[king3pj]

The i5 4460 is better than an i3 but I suspect your friend's game settings will be limited by the 960 more often than the i3.

If you are really set on a quad core I would hold off until you can get the extra $60 together for an i5-4460. I had an FX 6300 in the past and I won't make the mistake of going with an AMD CPU again unless things change drastically in the future.

 

[FinneousPJ]

OK, thanks. Frankly the i3 was my first choice but I started to doubt a bit. I will go with that.

 

[JonnyDough]

You're welcome. I probably have the most experience here and that's precisely what I said. 😛

 

[logainofhades]

@logainofhades I see. Does it detect thread count or simply processor make and model?

Thread count, just like Windows does.

 

[FinneousPJ]

@JonnyDough Indeed you did.

@logainofhades That's great news.