I3 2100 or AMD 955 BE? Not for gaming...

[vdulgerian]

Hello all,

I need advice on whether to go for a i3 2100 or amd 955 be. Both come to about the same money with the boards I chose. This build is for my dad who WILL NOT GAME and will only use for email, surfing the net, emailing and organizing his picture, and recording music from cassettes he has. Seems like pretty simple tasks but I want to make it will fly when he's watching youtube videos while emailing and viewing pictures at the same time (so its got to be a great multitasker). I really don't plan on upgrading this PC for 5 years so its got to be a good system to last that long. i5 2400 or other amd chips are out of the budget. What do you guys think?

 

[simon12]

The 955BE is better than the i3 in most things that are not gaming (especially multitasking).

 

[vdulgerian]

That's what I would figure considering it has 4 cores however looking at benchmarks they are just about even and, as pointed out, the i3 does use less power... I'm confused

 

[simon12]

My summary:
i3 Advantages
Better performance when your only using 2 cores
lower power consumption
955 Advantages
Better muti thread performance
Cheaper motherboards especially if you want more than the basic features
You can overclock it either now or when it gets to slow

For the uses you state both will be great you could just get an Athlon x3 and save some cash.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

^ i agree, an athlon x3 or x4 would be a good idea over the phenom, they use a bit less power too. Just make sure you pair it with a good, efficient PSU and a good amount of RAM (4gb+). If your thinking of upgradeability, the i3 platform can be upgraded to better i5/i7 processors. For the AMD system to be upgradeable you need a motherboard that is AM3+ ready to support the upcoming bulldozer cpu's.

 

[kajabla]

The benchmarks are for gaming, in which the 2100 is probably better. Yep, get plenty of RAM, probably 6-8gb.

 

[edgaraslt]

For gaming just get a proper gpu and u see no diff between i3 and 955.

But for those needs i'd go with athlon x3. And I think that athlon II x2 would be overkill for surfing

 

[Raidur]

Your dad isn't going to tell the difference between any newer CPU out and the next. I'd go with Athlon II X3 + an expensive SSD depending on your budget. If you can afford SB i3 and an SSD then go for that, but an SSD is what is going to make his PC fast for those uses, everything else is already overkill these days.

 

[walterm]

The I3 2105 is out with HD3000 video if you are not planning on a video card.
The 955 is the better all purpose processor.

 

[vdulgerian]

Best answer selected by vdulgerian.

 

[vdulgerian]

Thanks for the responses guys. I think i'm going i5 2400 and i'm going to chip in a few bucks for fathers day. I like the SSD idea, however, I wouldn't get one less that 60gb and anyway I slice it, one of those is more than I would like to chip in, even with an amd athlon x3 (which I wouldn't want to go with cause it feels like buying technology from 5 years ago). I going to wait maybe till his bday and get him a SSD. Maybe they'll be cheaper by october...

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey