Intel i3 with SSD, or Intel i5 without SSD?

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Christopher Aubert

Christopher Aubert

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Oct 7, 2013
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Ok so I am going to build this PC for my family with a budget of about $700 with OS (Windows 8). I found that I could either have an Intel i3 with an SSD (Samsung EVO 120gb):
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BY7pRB
OR an Intel i5 without an SSD:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dnJmBm
Either will drive the price up to $700 so I can't get both. Now this is important. This is a Family PC, so it doesn't have to be crazy. An i5 would be awesome!... But an SSD would also be awesome! So which one is more worth while? An i3 with SSD, or an i5 without SSD?
Let me know what you think!
-Chris
 
Solution
K
I think that the I3 with the SSD is the best for your uses (Provided capacity is not an issue). I feel that for general use computing, you will get better performance with this combo.

Mechanical HDDs tend to be slower to begin with and just get slower as you install more programs. More often than not, I see them bottleneck a computer's performance.

So yeah...I'd go with I3 + SSD.
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($186.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($136.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $704.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-16 20:30 EST-0500

Mainly cause kids are gonna wanna game~
 
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The PC would pretty much be used for browsing the web, typing word documents, making PowerPoints, and some very light gaming here and there (I'm pretty set on the graphics card). I'm not actually the one that will be using the computer that much, it's mostly my parents and little brother, as this is a Family PC, but I wanted to get the best experience for them, and that's why I'm asking this stuff. I don't have any experience with SSD's, so I don't know if it benefits that much, nor do I have experience with mid-range desktop processors (pretty much low-end processors), so I don't know which will give the best experience. Something tells me the i3+SSD, but I don't know for sure.
 
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Ok here is a high quality i5 + ssd build with a much better psu and motherboard for under $700


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JLWB99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JLWB99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M550 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Solution (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($26.97 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $693.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-16 20:58 EST-0500
 
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belive me, i have a core i5 and a SSD, intels AHCI is great for both, SSD and HDD
now i have an intel drive, a dont know why is so fast if it is an "old" one (520) but after the bios screen it starts in only 5 secs!!! and everything is crazy fast, it feels much more faster and responsive than the same intel core i5 3570 OC 4.0GHz with a seagate barracuda, one of those "fast" units...

if you ask me you should try a used core i5 2500K system with a SSD or try a AMD 6800K, belive me CPUs of this days are so powerful that any one has a massive bottleneck due to HDDs you dont really need a independent GPU for light gaming and if its the case, well you can buy a good one latter.... if theres a used 2500k at a good price in your city its a good option to go

other option is going with a pentium G3258, are very easy to OC (you dont need and aftermark cooler or any voltage rise) and if you need extra power you could find an i5 used at a good price and new intels CPUs are next door so you shuld try a cheap z97 motherboard also (belive me most tasks dont need more than 2 cores and since it will run at 4.0 GHz at last, your system should boot in 5 secs, to boot just needs one core as well as open programs also mooving big amounts of data is crazy fast with a SSD+HDD system)

for me i3 are useless right now ansd for light gaming which could be the most demanding task there wont be any difference between the i3 and the pentium
 
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I think that the I3 with the SSD is the best for your uses (Provided capacity is not an issue). I feel that for general use computing, you will get better performance with this combo.

Mechanical HDDs tend to be slower to begin with and just get slower as you install more programs. More often than not, I see them bottleneck a computer's performance.

So yeah...I'd go with I3 + SSD.
 
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Solution

Well to be clear, I will be using an SSD along with a Western Digital Blue 1TB Hard-drive for mass file storage. I thought the build links were clear.
 
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usssing a build with both, SSD+HDD or 2 HDD, using one for system, and the other HDD for some programs and games and masive storage boost up your system in a way you cant imagine, multitaskingn improoves a lot this way too since you have 2 phisical storage units, some times if you use one drive with multipe partitions, the system needs to buffer to the HDD and one HDD cannot do much tasks at the same times.
This, of course, never happends with a SSD since they are as fast as DDR2 memory (thats insane fast!!!) and also, you will have another drive

just remember use INTEL's SATA AHCI mode before installing windows
 
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Not a great idea to go with an anniversary board for i5. Only go with Anniversary boards if It's for a dual core CPU.
 
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