i7-4790 equivalent to i3-8100?

[rcald2000]

Friend of mine currently own a FX-8350 and wants to upgrade. She found a used i7-4790 (non 'K') + motherboard (not sure of chipset or model) for $200 even. GPU userbench states that the i3-8100 has a 6% performance lead. Is that a gaming comparison or something else? (link below)

GPU userbenchmark i7-4790 vs i3-8100
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4790-vs-Intel-Core-i3-8100/2293vs3942

FYI: I'm not a fan of purchasing an EOL platform, hence why I'd rather find justification for her to buy coffee lake.

 

[WildCard999]

Gaming performance is pretty much identical unless the game requires the extra threads on the 4790, but considering she has RAM that will work with the 4790 and the price is decent (I see 4790 for around $180 for just the chip) it may not be a bad buy. If you want to consider a newer gen then look at the 8400/H310 or B360 motherboard, another option is Ryzen if you or her don't mind overclocking but having to get RAM will put her around the $300 mark.

Personally I'd go for something like this... it may not have the extra threads like Ryzen or the ability to overclock but the performance per core is better and you won't need to bother with overclocking, just plug & play.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot - Viper Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $318.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-30 21:15 EDT-0400

Then sell off the FX/MB/DDR3 and use part of that money to upgrade RAM to 16gb and get a M.2 SSD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-30 21:17 EDT-0400

 

[rcald2000]

WildCard999 I agree with all your bullet points. I know that she plans to sit on her old setup after the upgrade. So my logic is that if she were to sell her CPU and motherboard combo on Ebay, she'd gross $80 - $150 (plus an additional $50 for the included 8GB DDR3). A replacement DDR4 8GB DIMM would cost about $80 - $90, which she could surely purchase with her proceeds. Honestly I think she'd have enough for an i5-8400 / B360 / 8 GB DDR4, but I'd settle for her at least getting an i3-8100, just so she'd have a platform that isn't end of life. Also, I like the idea of her having one or two M.2 slots, plus something that is Intel Optane compatible.

 

[4745454b]

User bench has no games listed. How do you know the 8100 is 6% faster gaming than the 4790?

 

[rcald2000]

I don't. That's why I posted this inquiry.

 

[Tolis_GR]

In single-quad core games they perform almost the same. Games that are cpu instensive and the engine uses multiple threads, the i7 will smoke the i3. It depends on the use and the game.

 

[rcald2000]

WildCard999 / 4745454b / Tolis_GR I thank you all for your input.

- Rob (rcald2000)

 

[mdd1963]

save money for i5-8400?

 

[4745454b]

Looking up the raw specs, the 8100 is basically a 7450. Clock speed is between the 7400 and 7500. I'm not sure about the cache amounts. But if you were wondering about how the 8100 fits against older CPUs, look for the 7500 and figure that to be the 8100.

Gaming performance should be rather similar between them. Unless you want to stream also or are OCing the 4790. The idea of running the 4790 is a sound one, but you need to make sure you don't overpay. If $200 is too close to what a new setup will cost you, talk the seller down.

 

[rcald2000]

mdd1963 Yes. My friend opted for the i5-8400 / Asrock B360 MB / 8GB 2600 DDR4

* Shockingly, someone gave her the 8GB DIMM, so that sealed the deal for her.

With the money saved, by not having to buy the RAM, I'm now suggesting that she buy a Intel Optane 32GB storage cache: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167427

I mentioned that she could have used the saved money to upgrade the CPU further, but she was content with the i5-8400, and has no desire to run a overclocked CPU. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[WildCard999]

I'd probably spend the extra $10 and go with a WD Blue 250gb M.2 (if MB supports) over that Intel Optane.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-04 15:55 EDT-0400

 

[rcald2000]

WildCard999 I've read that Intel Optane now supports secondary drives. Do you know if that's true? I'd prefer for her to have the best of both worlds: SSD + HDD (optane cached).

 

[WildCard999]

WildCard999 I've read that Intel Optane now supports secondary drives. Do you know if that's true? I'd prefer for her to have the best of both worlds: SSD + HDD (optane cached).

It does but the speeds are still a bit faster on a dedicated SSD. The biggest advantage of Optane IMHO is that if she is going to utilize over like a 1TB worth over storage and wants to speed up the system over a standard HDD. But I'd still go SSD if most of her games/software doesn't make much of a difference between SSD/HDD but yet wants the SSD for faster speeds over the Optane and still have some space for games with exceptionally long loading screens where time is valuable, such as loading into a game of Battlefield for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulzlWgOg5k