i3 4170 or which i5 instead?

[lzeng95]

I currently have a z97m motherboard and I was wondering if I should just pick up the i3 4170 or spend a little more and pick up the i5's ? Which one would anyone recommend ?

My finished build will be this http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Zdtv99

 

[rgd1101]

budget?

 

[littleleo]

IF you can afford the i5 get the i5 it is a better chip.

 

[lzeng95]

I dont want to spend more on the cpu then my gpu. Im going to get the 960gtx so whatever is less than that. Around 200-250 bucks on ncix.com I am using Canadian Currency btw

 

[Jesus_In_Adidas]

Hey

Remove the parts and accessories you don't need at all, but in general, it's the best build for 1080p gaming.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Ft68NG

Let me know if you have any questions

 

[Cryio]

Buy the 380 and an i3 and be done with it. You don't need i5 with GPUs like 960/380. Also, don't buy a 960, it's not worth it compared to the superior 380.

 

[Jesus_In_Adidas]

Cryio, can you please back up your statement, that a two core i3 cpu is enough (also - is it worth it to save around 50$). You can get a skylake - much more efficient, lower TDP etc.. Comes with the new chip, new modern mobos, DDR4 ram.

Why is 380 superior in comparison to 960???? It has around 5 FPS on only some games, requires much more power and as always, Radeon drivers will give you a headache.

You will have 60 FPS with the GTX 960 2g video card in 1080p gaming.


IF! you are going for 1440p gamix, then yes - i would personally go with R9 390x and a freesync monitor (both card and monitor are cheaper compared to equivalent Nvidia products)

EDIT: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/CtnLQ7
Just noticed you have a mobo already, go with the i5-4590

 

[Cryio]

Cryio, can you please back up your statement, that a two core i3 cpu is enough (also - is it worth it to save around 50$). You can get a skylake - much more efficient, lower TDP etc.. Comes with the new chip, new modern mobos, DDR4 ram.

Why is 380 superior in comparison to 960???? It has around 5 FPS on only some games, requires much more power and as always, Radeon drivers will give you a headache.

You will have 60 FPS with the GTX 960 2g video card in 1080p gaming.


IF! you are going for 1440p gamix, then yes - i would personally go with R9 390x and a freesync monitor (both card and monitor are cheaper compared to equivalent Nvidia products)

EDIT: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/CtnLQ7
Just noticed you have a mobo already, go with the i5-4590

Quite easy actually. Based on a multitude of benchmarks I won't look for now, GPUs like 380 and 960 are fully fed by CPUs like an i3. It's not a "dual core CPU", it's a quad THREAD CPU. It's not like I recommended a bare bones dual core Pentium. Those hyperthreaded threads actually help performance in games quite a lot.

Also, the 380 is simply much faster than a 960. In current games like Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed Unity, Ryse, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age Inqusition the 380 is usually 10 fps faster. The difference is at most 60W between then, which is irelevant for all intents and purposes. There is no reason to get the slower card really. The drivers issues are myth. We're not even talking about SLI vs Xfire performance. Actually, I'd go farther than that. Nvidia GPUs usually max out performance quiet soon after they're launched, even when using newer drivers. AMD GPUs on the other hand gain quite a lot of performance during their life time. Point of fact, the 680 was faster than a 7970 when it launched and there are some games today that in 1440p, a 280X is as fast or faster than even a 780.

Also, a 2GB is no longer enough, not even for 1080p gaming if we're talking about max settings, textures and all. And it's certainly not future proof.

As for Skylake ... if you can buy one then, sure, get a Skylake i3. But the cost of motherboard and ram is still significantly more expensive than a cheap motherboard capable of Haswell support and DDR3 ram.

 

[Jesus_In_Adidas]

Yes i kind of agree with you, but besides 380 better utilizes his 4g memory - other than that - there's nothing better about the radeon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESeFXwGfBsI

I love AMD cards, i would love people would chose them more often than nvidia, so they could get the money to be more competitive.
Driver issues aren't myth and the example of the cards getting better during the time is not a confirmation for the future.
It's still not known which will be better with dx12 and optimized drivers.

If the OP is not in a hurry, he could wait for end of october - there's rumours something new will show up from both amd and nvidia. May 2016 - more new cards from nvidia.

I still prefer NVidia, it's a modern card in comparison to the radeon, much more efficient. even gtx950 is enough for 1080p gaming. There's no room for clocking R9 380 and you can clock the GTX a lot ! examples with MSI gaming 2g - you can clock it as much as overclocked evga ftw, still get good temperatures and outperform that R9 380.

 

[littleleo]

I dont want to spend more on the cpu then my gpu. Im going to get the 960gtx so whatever is less than that. Around 200-250 bucks on ncix.com I am using Canadian Currency btw

I don't know what prices are like in Canada but the Intel Core i5‑4590 is about $200, and the i5-4690 is about $229.99 to $239.99 here in the USA.

 

[nikaldro]

The cheapest i5 you can find + a 380 would absolutely maul an i3 + 960, for just a bit more $$