I5 2500k with 7850 or i3 3220 with 7870

[sulabh biswas]

will the i3 be a bottleneck in the future???which combo will give better performance in gaming?

 

[sulabh biswas]

will be gaming at 1600x900 at max/ultra settings with 7850 and 1920x1080 with the 7870

 

[czar1991]

i5 2500k/hd7850

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Will you play Multiplayer? Do you do anything other than gaming, like Photoshop etc?

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

i3 3220 has 2 cores. Hence it will get a little slow in Multiplayer or Photoshop.
But it will still rock!

So get i3 3220 with 7870. Because games depend more on GPU than CPU.

 

[Sakkura]

The i5-2500k/7850 will be more future-proof (assuming a GPU upgrade at some point). The i3-3220/7870 will give better performance in most games today.

 

[envy14tpe]

This question sure gets asked a lot. Quad cores is the future. So, for gaming, it's safer to buy a i5.

Shop for deals. You can find i5s for $50 more then i3s. i5 is future proof.

 

[MajinCry]

I say 965 BE + Hyper 212 EVO + 7870.

Overclock the 965 to 4GHz, then you have the performance of the i5 2500k at stock. And you have the 7870.

 

[maxalge]

I say 965 BE + Hyper 212 EVO + 7870.

Overclock the 965 to 4GHz, then you have the performance of the i5 2500k at stock. And you have the 7870.

No, at 4ghz the 965 trades blows with a i3 2100.


The i3 3220 is just about equal to a stock fx 8350 in non online games.

 

[sulabh biswas]

agreed with maxalge

 

[dennis555]

Intel 2500k is a great card I have one with my 6870 and am planning to upgrade to a 7870 in the foreseeable future.

 

[dheeraj9933]

well yeah 4 cores seem to be more futureproof.
but that largely depends on next gen consoles too.
and i dont get y people say if u want multi-player in general for all games
BF3 is the only one with a noticeable change.
to come back to the orignal topic
U should always put GPU before CPU in gaming pc!!
this is a fact.
as for which one will give u more performance NOW?
i3 + 7870 will beat an i5 + 7850
most games today give gaming performance in quad very close to a dual core.
and u r getting a k model, with a quality mobo and aftermarket cooler.
i say u do this
GPU - 180$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270
cpu - 190$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116781
mobo 55$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157335
no aftermarket cooler for this build.
i say THIS will give u great performance right NOW and is futureproof too.

 

[sulabh biswas]

nope dude i wont be playing multiplayer...photoshop is not my priority....and so can anyone tell me what's the performance difference[in fps] between i5 and i3 on an avg in cpu bound games?

 

[arnoldlouie]

My vote goes for i3 3220 and hd 7870. Most games are gpu dependent.

 

[dheeraj9933]

no multiplayer, no photoshop,
then 4 cores will only come in handy for cpu dependent games like,
skyrim and arma and BF3's multiplayer(which u dont use)
skyrim, minimum FPS is just 3more
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html
arma 2 is another CPU bound game
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/778-11/arma-2.html
there are a few differences, but not HUGE,
it also greatly depends on the optimisation, most games are badly optimised.
if u want a quad go with my previous option, that way u can upgrade GPU in the future, or just go with an i3 with 7870.
u've got the benchmarks its your choice...
i say just go with the i3 option for the best option right now.
it will last a few years too.

 

[Sakkura]

My vote goes for i3 3220 and hd 7870. Most games are gpu dependent.

Sure, but upgrading the GPU is much easier than upgrading the CPU.

 

[dheeraj9933]

Sure, but upgrading the GPU is much easier than upgrading the CPU.

people keep saying upgrading GPU is easier than upgrading to a quad i5.
ofcourse it is \.
but that is not he question
the question is weather a quad core is a lot better than a dual core, even so that u hav to sacrifice a GPU for that.
let me tell u something
when quad cores came out a few years ago (2006) with the core2quad series,
even then people said THIS is the future of gaming.(quads)
here we are after almost 6 years and STILL dual and quad are almost the same in gaming.
and trust me it will be even more few years before dual core cpu's will be BAD for gaming.
then again there is optimisation question, not all games are optimised for quads, so sometimes your cores are just sitting idle(u can't tell me u havn't seen cases)
but games are at-least optimized for dual core's so ur money is being used all the time!!
rather than just sitting and waiting for commands :lol:
maybe a quad would have been a better option in a world without consoles or where PC gaming was very dominant.
but it's not the case... is it?
and also if u get a 7870 u will be playing in 1080p. can't say u dont like that

 

[Sakkura]

people keep saying upgrading GPU is easier than upgrading to a quad i5.
ofcourse it is \.
but that is not he question
the question is weather a quad core is a lot better than a dual core, even so that u hav to sacrifice a GPU for that.
let me tell u something
when quad cores came out a few years ago (2006) with the core2quad series,
even then people said THIS is the future of gaming.(quads)
here we are after almost 6 years and STILL dual and quad are almost the same in gaming.
and trust me it will be even more few years before dual core cpu's will be BAD for gaming.
then again there is optimisation question, not all games are optimised for quads, so sometimes your cores are just sitting idle(u can't tell me u havn't seen cases)
but games are at-least optimized for dual core's so ur money is being used all the time!!
rather than just sitting and waiting for commands :lol:
maybe a quad would have been a better option in a world without consoles or where PC gaming was very dominant.
but it's not the case... is it?
and also if u get a 7870 u will be playing in 1080p. can't say u dont like that

Dual cores and quad cores are NOT "almost the same in gaming". And besides, the clock rate can go much higher with the Core i5-2500k, yielding substantially better per-core performance than the Core i3-3220.

As for the 1080p comment, that's just stupid. A 7850 can run 1080p too.

 

[dheeraj9933]

Dual cores and quad cores are NOT "almost the same in gaming". And besides, the clock rate can go much higher with the Core i5-2500k, yielding substantially better per-core performance than the Core i3-3220.

As for the 1080p comment, that's just stupid. A 7850 can run 1080p too.

so thats your point? more FPS?
well quad core will give more FPS
but a 7870 will give a LOT more FPS.

also i know the 7850 can run 1080p but the guy said if he gets 7850 he will run at 1600x900.
i dont expect u to read the whole thread, but atleast read the first few and the last few

PS: with this one i agree the even if u get 7850 u should still run at 1080p

 

[Sunius]

The answer depends on the motherboard you're getting. For some reason nobody thought about asking it. If you're getting B75 board, get i3 combo. If you're getting P67/Z68/Z77 board, definitely get i5-2500k. HD 7850 isn't a weak card, contrary what SOME people on this thread say.

 

[dheeraj9933]

i actually said that he will have to get a "quality" mobo, i meant expenive
plus a aftermarket cooler on my first reply
and i never said 7850 is a weak card, i wish i had a 7850!!
but a 7870 is so much better.
by the way sunius, what do u think?
a 7850 will definately give more 30+ FPS in 1080p easily
a 7870 will give a lot more, and therefore last longer too!

 

[Sunius]

Depends on game. Though the only game I think that HD 7850 will be reduced to 30 fps is Metro 2033. On other demanding titles, it should at least have 40. It will max out less demanding titles with 60 fps without any problems. HD 7870 would be around 15% faster.

 

[Sakkura]

so thats your point? more FPS?
well quad core will give more FPS
but a 7870 will give a LOT more FPS.

And a Core i5-2500k with a Radeon HD 9870 will get a lot more FPS than a Core i3-3220 with a Radeon HD 9870.

 

[dheeraj9933]

And a Core i5-2500k with a Radeon HD 9870 will get a lot more FPS than a Core i3-3220 with a Radeon HD 9870.

wat is a 9870?

 

[Sakkura]

wat is a 9870?

Just an example of a graphics card from the future. A couple years from now, graphics cards will be more powerful than today, and then the Core i3-3220 will hold back performance a lot more than it does today, compared to the Core i5-2500k.