I3-4130 vs AMD A10 6700 for gaming

[guitarmanx11x]

I3-4130 with 3.4 Ghz and 8gb RAM- Or AMD-A10 6700 Quad core 3.7 Ghz 8gb RAM . If you could please explain why . The I3-4130 has only two cores but hyper threading so do the cores not matter much in this comparison. Sorry for the elementary question .

 

[FinneousPJ]

AMD is better if you don't have a GPU.

 

[guitarmanx11x]

Thank you for the response, I plan to buy a dedicated graphics card. Does that mean the I3 would be a better choice?
Also, if you know of any graphics cards that would pair nicely with the i3?

 

[Somasundaram Sathiyathasan]

If you are going to use an AMD dedicated graphics card, you should get the A10 and run a Dual-Graphics setup (you use both the APU power and the GPU power). If you are getting an NVIDIA GPU or if you are looking for hyperthreading and a better, more advanced architecture (as well as upgradability) then go for the i3. Instead of getting either of those, you could get a £50/$60 Pentium G3258 and overclock it. You can get near gaming performance to an i7!

 

[barto]

Let's stop guessing here. What's your budget and what's included in the budget (Country of residency)? An i3 is going to be far superior than an AMD FM2+ processor. And Hybrid Crossfire is pretty weak.

 

[guitarmanx11x]

Thank you for the responses. I am a college student in socal that loves pcgames, however my grad school program sucks up a lot of my money. My set up is:
Microsoft Windows 8.1
Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz dual-core processor
8GB RAM
1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

What graphics card Could I get in the $80-120 price range, that won't bottleneck and really give me the most bang for my buck.

Thank you very much in advance everyone.

 

[barto]

That price range leaves you with either the Nvidia 750 GTX 1GB or the AMD 260x 2GB.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($103.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $103.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-22 17:10 EDT-0400

Before it's set in stone, what does the rest of your build look like? (Motherboard, case, PSU)

 

[guitarmanx11x]

To be honest, I am not the savviest of tech lads. I am going off of a prebuilt system that has room for expansion. In my case it's an HP rig.

Some games call for 2 gb of RAM in their recommended specifications. How does ddr5 memory (in the Nvidia 750 GTX) compare with the AMD's 2gb ddr3 memory? And do you prefer Nvidia or AMD? I'm sure there are many variables to that question haha. Thank you very much i appreciate it.

Also, my computer has a 300 watt A/C power supply, will that suffice for these graphics cards?

 

[Somasundaram Sathiyathasan]

The question about NVIDIA or AMD depends on various opinions. IMHO, AMD's options have better value but NVIDIA's options are normally better quality and more powerful, but more expensive. Both the GTX 750 and R7 260X should come with GDDR5 memory and not DDR3. But I might have to check on that. 300W is enough for these graphics cards, but you will need to upgrade your PSU if you want to go further than these options. For example the GTX 750Ti and R9 270 will need a PCI-E 6 pin connector. This isn't available on HP OEM PSUs. But in this case, if the GTX 750 is the same price as the R7 260X, I would go with the R7 260X.

 

[barto]

Without upgrading the PSU, the 750 GTX is your option. If you upgrade the PSU to a higher wattage (and quality), you could get the 260x. I say that because the power supplies in prebuilt computers are trash. The 750 GTX doesn't require a PCI 6 pin connector. The 260x does. So just as Somasundaram Sathiyathasan stated, you'll have to check the PSU for connectors if you want the 260x.

Both GPUs use DDR5. As for the recommended amount of VRAM, you also need to take into consideration what you're buying into. The cards suggested are entry level cards. The series (aka power) of the card is a little more important than the VRAM amount. You're not going to be playing games on High/Ultra @1080 with these cards. The 2GB would be better, but not with that power supply.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Superclocked Video Card ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $99.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-22 18:22 EDT-0400

 

[guitarmanx11x]

Thank you Barto & Somasundaram Sathiyathasan you both have been helpful beyond measure. I'm learning a lot by researching and getting helpful advice.

 

[barto]

Glad we were able to help. This community is full of info. I sometimes simply follow threads to read them and learn.

 

[Somasundaram Sathiyathasan]

Glad to help