i3 6100 vs 6300 for gaming?

[Heda97]

Im trying to save a bit of money on the CPU so am considering the i3 6100/6300 over the i5 for now, and then probably upgrading to i5 cannonlake later down the road (if it uses lga1151). So is this a good option for gaming? Is it worth spending a little more on the 6300? Or will the 6100 be fine? Im considering a gtx 960 or 970 gpu. Any other cpu recomendations under the $220 CAD range?

Thanks!

 

[Swordkd]

No, for sure save the money and just get the 6100. 100mhz in clock speed isn't worth the extra money charged for the 6300. It'll play most games really well, and only falling behind the i5 in a handful of titles. I would wait on a video card until the Radeon 480 drops and is reviewed. All information points to better performance than the 970 for much less money.

 

[3ogdy]

To be honest, the difference between the i3 6100 and the i3 6300 is not that important:
The 6300 has 4MB of cache (vs 3MB on the 6100)
The 6300 has a base frequency of 3.8GHz (vs 3.7GHz on the 6100)
The 6300 has an integrated GPU that's 100MHz faster than the one on the 6100 (not that you care about the integrated GPU since you're about gaming here)
They are based on the exact same architecture so their frequencies are directly comparable. Having a bigger cache might actually play a more important role than the 100MHz speed bump. Depending on what the price difference is between these two chips, it might or it might not be worth going for the more expensive model.

If you're on a tight budget, get the 6100. The only alternative would be getting the FX-8350 from AMD, which is a quad core - it might run some games better, but usually the i3 is the better performer.

I have a problem with nVidia's GTX 970 because they marketed it as a 4GB GPU when in fact it's a 3.5GB one plus a 0.5GB fraction that's much slower than the bigger part. It's some dirty trickery. I'd recommend getting the 960 in this specific case, but honestly, I can't help but say you should wait a few days as AMD's RX 480 and RX 470 cards are hitting the market this week - they'd outperform the 980 and the 970 respectively - they're reportedly asking $200 for the RX 480 and $150 for the RX 470.
They also come with 4/8 GB of VRAM, not 3.5GB. I'm not saying "get the AMD card", I'm rather telling you, wait to see what they're coming with and for how much money. If price/performance is better, they would be a better choice and it's only a matter of days.

 

[Heda97]

Thank you! Im hoping the rx480 isnt too expensive in Canada, but I will for sure wait until it releases to buy a new card and hopefully some price drops on some other cards. Im getting the 6100 for $149 and the 6300 for $184, but I think I might spend that extra money towards a better motherboard instead of the 6300.

 

[madmatt30]

$35 difference = absolutely not worth it at all.

 

[3ogdy]

Thank you! Im hoping the rx480 isnt too expensive in Canada, but I will for sure wait until it releases to buy a new card and hopefully some price drops on some other cards. Im getting the 6100 for $149 and the 6300 for $184, but I think I might spend that extra money towards a better motherboard instead of the 6300.

That would be a wise move.