i3-6100 vs i5-6400?

[jkarateking]

Which one is better?

I am building a PC and they are both relatively cheap. I was originally going to go with the i3 but then I decided for the i5. However, then I looked at a website that said the i3-6100 is more powerful than the i5-6400.

So which is more powerful as I dont know whether to trust that website as 5 is above 3 in the number cycle so 5 must be better right?

 

[Archaic59]

In single threaded apps the i3 will be faster.

 

[jkarateking]

In single threaded apps the i3 will be faster.

What about with games?

 

[Xtergo]

In single threaded apps the i3 will be faster.

What about with games?

In gaming i5 will outperform the i3 but if you are running a bit older or dual threaded (games which dont use more then 2 cores) youll find the i3 faster , why not save a few more bucks and get an i5 with a little more clock speed ?

 

[Archaic59]

Many games still use single thread and the i3 will be faster. If you want to play Fallout 4, GTA 5, Arma 3, Battlefront and games like that then an i5 would be better but the i5-6500 or i5-6600K would be better choices.

 

[lodders]

i5 is far better than the i3

i5 has 4 CPU cores, the i3 has only 2 CPU cores.
Your PC does lots of different tasks at once, so double the number of cores is a very good thing. Especially during gaming...

Archaic is technically correct, the i3 you specified runs slightly faster than the i5, so in a race to complete a single task using only one core, the i3 would win by a small amount.

Why not get an i5 6500 or 6600 - best of both worlds

 

[Evil Mastermind]

I would say get i3-6100 or i5-6500 nothing in middle (IF you want get the K that way you can OC)

 

[superninja12]

for games like data league csgo the i3 6100 is better.
however for triple a games mmorpgs the i5 is better.

 

[jkarateking]

Many games still use single thread and the i3 will be faster. If you want to play Fallout 4, GTA 5, Arma 3, Battlefront and games like that then an i5 would be better but the i5-6500 or i5-6600K would be better choices.

I will be playing these games:

- Skyrim
- Arma 2
- Garry's Mod
- Counter Strike: GO
- 7 Days to die
- Medieval 2: total war
- Empire: total war
- Total War: Warhammer
- Mount and blade: warband


Would you still recommend the i5-6500 or will the i3-6100 or i5-6400 be the best?

I mean I am on budget constraints so the i3-6100 or i5-6400 would be better but which would be better for these games or would you just really recommend the i5-6500?

 

[lodders]

i5 6400:- turbo speed = 3.3Ghz. This is plenty fast enough
i5 6500:- turbo speed = 3.6Ghz. 10% faster. Nice to have, but no big deal. Hard to tell the difference when using the PC

i3 6100:- turbo speed = 3.7Ghz. another 3% faster, but only when doing relatively simple tasks or playing less complex games. Much much slower when trying to do a task which needs 4 cores

 

[Evil Mastermind]

get i5 child skyrim would really love that and csgo and skyrim rely on cpu then again csgo doesn't need more than i3 but skyrim does.