Core I5 or Core I3?

[Westpalmdan]

I am getting close to making a purchase this weekend and I have been getting some conflicting Info on which to choose. I had it narrowed down to a Core I5 6500 with 16gb of Ram and people are telling me that that is overkill for my needs. I do not have the need for playing any games.

My uses for a PC is as follows: Multitasking, having many tabs open at a time while searching the internet on multiple monitors. I have photoshop but have yet to use it. I burn DVD's and BluRays and work with Mp3/Flac files. I use MS Office and stream Netflix. Many instances I do all of these at the same time.

Also I have yet to find out about getting USB 3.1 to work on a Motherboard that is supplied with just 3.0. What I mean about that is; can I simply add a PCI type card to the motherboard with usb 3.1 on it and achieve USB 3.1 transfer type of speeds or are they not equipped for that and default to the 3.0 speed?

Please include your recommendations for a CPU and amount of RAM on a Motherboard that will best fit my needs. Cost does factor in but I would be willing to get a Core I7 that is what I needed.

 

[BadActor]

An i5 with 16 GB's of RAM sound ideal for your intended usage. You can simply add a PCie card and achieve 3.1 speeds if the motherboard doesn't have it.

 

[Westpalmdan]

An i5 with 16 GB's of RAM sound ideal for your intended usage. You can simply add a PCie card and achieve 3.1 speeds if the motherboard doesn't have it.

Thanks......that is where I was leaning.....just looking for some final thoughts before I pull the trigger.
And thanks for the answer on the USB question.

 

[refillable]

It's not overkill, it's good for the long run.

 

[aakarshan]

An i3 is enough for your work,but i5 will do the same work in less time. So, a i5 will be better for you.

Plus it will help your PC in longitivity.

So, if you have money, than you should buy an i5.

 

[Hlsgsz]

An i3 will suffice for now. Put the money difference toward an SSD as big as you can afford. In a couple if years, if you feel the need for a better CPU(unlikely unless you start gaming and/or randering/video editing) you can get a second hand i7.

 

[Hlsgsz]

While it's ok to to use an add-in card for USB 3.1, it's better to put that money toward a better MB that supports it natively, because that MB will have other valuable benefits as well.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($140.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $274.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-29 11:05 EDT-0400

 

[Westpalmdan]

While it's ok to to use an add-in card for USB 3.1, it's better to put that money toward a better MB that supports it natively, because that MB will have other valuable benefits as well.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($140.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $274.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-29 11:05 EDT-0400

I can get the
I5 6500,
ASUS H170 PRO GAMING LGA 1151 Intel H170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard,
GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400
at New egg for $293.99 after $10 rebate.
or The I5 6500, 16gb Gskill v for 242.98 and buy the Motherboard seperate.

 

[BadActor]

Do you live near a Microcenter?

 

[BadActor]

Either one of those bundles are pretty good deals.

 

[synphul]

If planning to do all those things simultaneously then you may want to invest in several ssd's/hdd's. In order to burn optical media like dvd's and br you're going to need a fair amount of ram as well as the ability to keep the burner supplied with enough data to avoid buffer underrun's and keep from making coasters. Ssd's are faster than mechanical hard drives but if you're trying to supply video data to a burner (reads) while you're streaming netflix (writes) and you're trying to work with flac and other things, you're looking at creating a data bandwidth bottleneck if relying on a single drive.

Using multiple drives would allow you to do things like supply br data to a burner independent from your os drive so the other things you're doing aren't impacting it and you're not trying to read from multiple areas of the same drive as well as write to yet another area of it.

 

[Westpalmdan]

An i3 will suffice for now. Put the money difference toward an SSD as big as you can afford. In a couple if years, if you feel the need for a better CPU(unlikely unless you start gaming and/or randering/video editing) you can get a second hand i7.

I use an SSD now for my OS. Crucial 256GB

 

[Westpalmdan]

Do you live near a Microcenter?

No. Nothing like that here in South Florida.....we used to have Comp USA/Tiger Direct.......but they are all gone now.🙁

 

[Hlsgsz]

While it's ok to to use an add-in card for USB 3.1, it's better to put that money toward a better MB that supports it natively, because that MB will have other valuable benefits as well.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($140.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *GeIL EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $274.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-29 11:05 EDT-0400

I can get the
I5 6500,
ASUS H170 PRO GAMING LGA 1151 Intel H170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard,
GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400
at New egg for $293.99 after $10 rebate.
or The I5 6500, 16gb Gskill v for 242.98 and buy the Motherboard seperate.

Go for it. Get the MB i linked as it has all the features you need, including USB 3.1. First deal sounds good @$293.
Second one, not so much, as the MB will set you back around another 100.

 

[Westpalmdan]

First deal is gone.

 

[Hlsgsz]

First deal is gone.

Keep an eye out for another or just get the i3. Like i said, it's sufficient.

 

[Westpalmdan]

First deal is gone.

Keep an eye out for another or just get the i3. Like i said, it's sufficient.

It would have been a deal with a motherboard that I did not want so it was just as well. Funny thing though, I tried another combo where It would be those components plus a HD and it turns out that their combo deal ($437) is more expensive than purchasing separately ($408)

 

[Hlsgsz]

First deal is gone.

Keep an eye out for another or just get the i3. Like i said, it's sufficient.

It would have been a deal with a motherboard that I did not want so it was just as well. Funny thing though, I tried another combo where It would be those components plus a HD and it turns out that their combo deal ($437) is more expensive than purchasing separately ($408)

What a wonderful "deal" )