i3 or i5 or i7

[King Akash]

hi

what cpu would be better for me...i'm totally confused.

An i3 or i5 or i7 (3rd gen only)??

i want a 64 bit windows and i want to watch hd movies, and for medium gaming.

Please help!!

 

[lucasz]

i5 4430 would be good for you

 

[adimeister]

i3 would be best for you bro. The i7 has the most cores, it's best for workstations. The i3 has the least cores, it can still perform very well even in games and it does an excellent job in general applications. The i5 is the balanced performer of all.

 

[photonboy]

Ummm...

It really comes down to your TOTAL BUDGET. At about $700 or less an FX-6300 actually makes a lot more sense overall. It's not as good per core as the Intel so in some cases the i3 with two cores can beat it's 6 cores but that's going to vary and the FUTURE will increasingly favor the FX-6300.

It also matters if this is meant for the LIVING ROOM, and how critical size of case and noise are.

My advice is to give a BUDGET of between $700 and $1000 (not a range, but a SPECIFIC number) and state what hardware and software that includes such as: the CASE and all internal components, as well as WINDOWS.

Also, please state what you mean by "medium" gaming by listing games you'd like to play as even "medium" gaming might really need an $800 plus PC to perform well.

Finally, there MAY be better options if this is meant for the living room such as a PS4, or for movies, a Western Digital TV Live player ($80?) that can play Netflix and stream movies locally (or via USB hard drive).

I'll help more if I can...

 

[jacobian]

If you can afford to spend $200-ish vs $130-ish, jumping to i5 may be worth it IMHO. You get turbo and more cores, but i3 is a good part for the money though.

 

[King Akash]

i5 4430 would be good for you

Ummm...

It really comes down to your TOTAL BUDGET. At about $700 or less an FX-6300 actually makes a lot more sense overall. It's not as good per core as the Intel so in some cases the i3 with two cores can beat it's 6 cores but that's going to vary and the FUTURE will increasingly favor the FX-6300.

It also matters if this is meant for the LIVING ROOM, and how critical size of case and noise are.

My advice is to give a BUDGET of between $700 and $1000 (not a range, but a SPECIFIC number) and state what hardware and software that includes such as: the CASE and all internal components, as well as WINDOWS.

Also, please state what you mean by "medium" gaming by listing games you'd like to play as even "medium" gaming might really need an $800 plus PC to perform well.

Finally, there MAY be better options if this is meant for the living room such as a PS4, or for movies, a Western Digital TV Live player ($80?) that can play Netflix and stream movies locally (or via USB hard drive).

I'll help more if I can...

I'm building a pc for the first time with these parts:
>MSI Z77-GA45
>Intel i3 3220 3.3GHz 3Mb
>8Gb Corsair Vengeance Pro Red
>3.5" 500Gb Hitachi 16Mb Sata 3
>Corsair Carbide Series 500R
>Corsair Enthusiats Modular TX750M
>Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo
>LG DVD Writer 24X Double Layer

Any suggestion is most welcome.

I want to play Batman Arkham Origins.
I will take the GPU later on.
My board would only support 3rd gen cpu.

 

[vinaykumar5320]

Are you planning to upgrade that i3 later ti i5/i7 (K versions)?
And, don't expect much from the HD 2500 Integrated graphics. Discrete GPU is recommended.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_5.html

 

[Antaredja Kartasasmita]

Low-mid: i5 3450
Mid-high: i5 3570
High: i5 3570k
I'd not reccomend i3, it has only 2 cores, which is hurtful for a gaming setup

 

[King Akash]

Are you planning to upgrade that i3 later ti i5/i7 (K versions)?
And, don't expect much from the HD 2500 Integrated graphics. Discrete GPU is recommended.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_5.html

Yeah i do intend to upgrade, but maybe after a year. If i upgrade i will probably take a 4th gen mobo.
But the problem is what will i be doing with the old z77 mobo in the future, it seems it will be a loss, isn't it?

 

[vinaykumar5320]

Are you planning to upgrade that i3 later ti i5/i7 (K versions)?
And, don't expect much from the HD 2500 Integrated graphics. Discrete GPU is recommended.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_5.html

Yeah i do intend to upgrade, but maybe after a year. If i upgrade i will probably take a 4th gen mobo.
But the problem is what will i be doing with the old z77 mobo in the future, it seems it will be a loss, isn't it?

Yes. That's exactly what I wanted to point out. You don't need such an expensive Z77 Mobo for an i3, unless you will be upgrading to a 3rd Gen i5/i7 (With K).

If you will be upgrading to 4th gen i5/i7 later, right now you should buy an Z87 Mobo with a Pentium 4th gen CPU, i.e., G3220. ThE Main difference between the i3 & Pentium series is that Pentium lacks Hyper-Threading (HT), which is present in i3. In gaming, you won't notice a significant performance difference between an i3 and Pentium, since modern games aren't designed to take the benefit of HT.

 

[King Akash]

Are you planning to upgrade that i3 later ti i5/i7 (K versions)?
And, don't expect much from the HD 2500 Integrated graphics. Discrete GPU is recommended.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_5.html

Yeah i do intend to upgrade, but maybe after a year. If i upgrade i will probably take a 4th gen mobo.
But the problem is what will i be doing with the old z77 mobo in the future, it seems it will be a loss, isn't it?

Yes. That's exactly what I wanted to point out. You don't need such an expensive Z77 Mobo for an i3, unless you will be upgrading to a 3rd Gen i5/i7 (With K).

If you will be upgrading to 4th gen i5/i7 later, right now you should buy an Z87 Mobo with a Pentium 4th gen CPU, i.e., G3220. ThE Main difference between the i3 & Pentium series is that Pentium lacks Hyper-Threading (HT), which is present in i3. In gaming, you won't notice a significant performance difference between an i3 and Pentium, since modern games aren't designed to take the benefit of HT.

I think i won't upgrade to a haswell in the near future, its not worth it. I will take the MSI Z77-G45 mobo and an i5 3570 3.3Ghz. If am right, this cpu can't be overclocked? So i won't need an aftermarket cpu cooler?

 

[vinaykumar5320]

If you don't want an OCing CPU, why are you buying a Z77 Mobo. Just buy a H77 or B75 Mobo. Or, you can also buy 4570, which isn't much expensive from 3570 with H87 or B85 Mobo. Z series chipsets are only good for K-series CPUs.

 

[King Akash]

What are the advantages of overclocking?? Isn't that harmful for the mobo components?? I thought it would drecrease the lifespan of the processor.

If i overclock the 3570k, would it be better than the 4570?

 

[vinaykumar5320]

What are the advantages of overclocking?? Isn't that harmful for the mobo components?? I thought it would drecrease the lifespan of the processor.

If i overclock the 3570k, would it be better than the 4570?

OCing can give you quite a boost in performance. Unlocked CPUs make it very easy to accomplish. But, for OCing, you have to get good Mobo and CPU coolers (to keep the temp in control), which will be expensive. e.g., i5 3570k + Z77 + Aftermarket CPU Cooler will cost you much more than i5 4670 + B75/B77 Mobo.

OCing can be harmful if you do it without complete knowledge of it and the risks involved.

 

[photonboy]

What COMPONENTS to buy really comes down to BUDGET:

1) LOW budget - AMD FX6300 CPU (non or slightly overclockable motherboard)

2) MEDIUM BUDGET - i5-HD4570 or similar (and non-overclockable motherboard)

3) HIGH BUDGET - i5-4670K (or i7-4770K) and a good Z77 motherboard

The goal for GAMING is to balance the CPU and GRAPHICS components, as well as having enough System RAM (DDR3) and reasonable QUALITY for the remaining parts.

If you spend too much on the CPU/Motherboard, there's not enough for the GRAPHICS (and vice versa).

So the question can ONLY be answered with a budget given. $600 for hardware only (case and internals) can give a half-decent medium gaming PC. I consider this really the MINIMUM. If your budget is any lower it's best to just get a pre-built with a good AMD APU.

I also like to have a reasonably good CPU as that extends the lifetime a lot if you add a better graphics card in the future, but a low-end CPU or APU will bottleneck things.