Core i3 2100 3.1 Ghz vs Core i5 2310 2.9 Ghz (3.2 Turbo)

[pcn00bie]

i was looking into the intel core i3 2100 when a friend told me that i should go with the i5 line. the cheapest i5 i could find (i5 2310) runs for around $180 as opposed to the i3 i found which i found for $110. Both have comparable processing speeds - is the $70 difference worth it... esp if i'm a non-gamer? my predominant computing needs are for running multimedia (streaming shows/movies, running music programs, etc..), photo editing, microsoft office suite, and the internet.

this is my first pc build so any insight is much appreciated!

thanks

 

[Plasmid]

i was looking into the intel core i3 2100 when a friend told me that i should go with the i5 line. the cheapest i5 i could find (i5 2310) runs for around $180 as opposed to the i3 i found which i found for $110. Both have comparable processing speeds - is the $70 difference worth it... esp if i'm a non-gamer? my predominant computing needs are for running multimedia (streaming shows/movies, running music programs, etc..), photo editing, microsoft office suite, and the internet.

this is my first pc build so any insight is much appreciated!

thanks

If you are going to do things like heavy Photoshop then a get an i5 it will help a lot. If by photo editing you mean removing red eyes from pictures then get an i3.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, if you use PhotoShop a lot or have any interest in encoding video, then you should opt for the i5 CPU. Otherwise any of the Core i3 CPUs should be fine.

 

[rds1220]

I think the I3 would be fine for what you want to do. Yes it's only a dual core but with hyperthreading is works like a quad core CPU so it should be able to handle most of what you want to do.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

This should give you an idea of the strengths of a quad vs dual. Yeah it's an i3 2100 vs an i5 2400 but there was no 2310 on the chart. This is actually a better comparison since the 2 chips have an identical clockspeed.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=363