I3 worth the it?

[yobdab]

Hello,
Im planning on buyin a i3 2120... Mostly for wow diablo3 quakelive quake3 tf2... And tye usual youtube skype etc. My old e7200 just died and i was about to buy the amd fx 8150 but i read that it wouldnt do ot for me. That i5 2500k is better and i read somewhere else i3 2120 can go toe to toe and even better for fps on games... I
ma run it with my ild 9600gt... My questions are... I3 or i5? Is it gonna handle my needs? What board is good/cheap enough for me? Considering future games and add up sc2. Ty

 

[LokalHero]

The i5 2500k is superior to the i3 2120, no question about it.

 

[jaguarskx]

Depends on your budget. Yes, the i5-2500k is the better choice, but it costs more and an appropriate P67, Z68, Z77 chipset motherboard that will allow you to overclock the i5-2500k will cost more than a H67 or H77 motherboard which lacks overclocking abilities. Also, you would need to spend money on a heatsink/fan to cool an overclocked i5-2500k.

On a budget an i3-2120 would be fine. If you want to spend a little more money, but have no desire to overclock, then you can consider the Core i5-2400 currently selling for $180 with a promo code (same price as the i5-2300).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074


If you live near a MicroCenter, then you have better options since they currently sell Core i5 CPUs at pretty good prices, but you must go to the store to buy it.

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294966995+4294930330+4294932574

Here are prices for Core i3 CPUs

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294966995+4294930330+4294960889

 

[InvalidError]

i3 is fine for most uses including gaming, you just won't be setting world records in benchmarks. If you want to be ready for potentially beefier games in the future, i5 would be better.

fx8120/8150 gets the job done as well but no game is anywhere near heavily threaded enough to allow them to catch up with i5 gaming performance.

 

[HostileDonut]

The i5 2500k is far better than the i3, but the i3 is a great budget CPU. Some benchmarks: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=289

As you can see, the i5 is far better. If you are on a budget though, the i3 would do a great job too. If you plan on OCing, you shouldn't even consider the i3 though.

 

[XmortisX]

Start with the i3 if your on a budget, i5 2500k is far superior but its not worth getting if your not in overclocking and stuff. AMD FX are not bad but i3 seems like smater choice. Later on if you like you can always upgrade to i5/i7 if needed. But for the games you want to play i3 is enough

Check this out: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/diablo-iii-performance-benchmark,3195-6.html

It was posted here a few days ago. Hope this helps.

 

[geekapproved]

The 2120 is a very fast cpu. The only place your going to see a difference between it and a i5 is in applications and games that utilize more than 2 cores.

It's also very efficient with a 65w tdp (including gpu which your not going to use).

I think you'll be very happy with it. If you don't plan on overclocking in the future either, you can go with a H61 and be happy.

If you do plan on overclocking a future chip, go with a Z68 or Z77.

 

[amuffin]

i3-2120 is perfectly fine to play D3!

 

[Raidur]

2 cores is plenty for D3 and your other games.

With a mere 9600GT, the CPU isn't going to have to work very hard to keep.

Get the i3 now, save up for a new GPU sometime soon, then later down the road you have an upgrade path (IvyBridge quad) for your CPU if you need it.

Hopefully the 9600GT isn't too lacking, can definitely get better performance with something faster. May just need to use lower settings to be playable.

 

[geekapproved]

OMG I missed the 9600GT part. If that's all you have, it doesn't matter what cpu you get, the video card is going to be the bottleneck.

 

[stevetheutilityman]

Should be fine as i3 SB is much faster than e7200, can save to buy a new graphic card laster.