Intel i5 6400 vs i3 6320

[cowboi123]

Hi all! I'm building a budget gaming rig and I'm contemplating between either the Intel i5 6400 or the i3 6320 CPU. Both currently cost the same here in amazon UK. What do you guys think?

 

[RCFProd]

You'll be wasting money with the i3-6320, if you bought it over the i3-6100 for gaming. The performance between the i3-6100 and 6320 will already be identical, whilst the 6100 costs about 50 dollars less. It depends on which games you'll play. The i3-6100 is quite strong. What's your budget for the motherboard? It can be decisive.

 

[Geekwad]

There are some games now that are recommending four cores, though currently can be made to work with the i3's (if any workaround is needed at all). i3's having a faster single-threaded performance has advantages in other games though, so I would say it depends on the type of games you typically play. Unless faster single-threaded performance it high on your list, I'd recommend the i5.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

The new 6xxx series from Intel also requires new DDR4 RAM which is expensive, and the PSU would need to be addressed (need the right connectors and enough power for the Mobo for a 6xxx series which is different than any series before), and most of all IF your current PC is a OEM (i.e. Dell, Gateway,etc.) you can NOT swap the CPU / Mobo out as Windows license detects this and blocks Windows from running, installing, repairing, etc. until you go back to the hardware you were originally sold. You would need a new copy of Windows 'off the shelf' (aka Walmart, Amazon,etc.) and WIPE and CLEAN INSTALL FROM SCRATCH Windows and all your programs, games, and data.

If your really a tight 'budget' (usually means people trying to stick under $400US) than buy a console (PS4) to get the best BANG for BUCK in performance of cost as you can play HIGH graphics (1080P) while at 30FPS to 60FPS on almost ALL titles (depends on the game). Otherwise you would be focused on $750+ costs for a PC gaming system, usually with a i5 (would stick with the 5xxx series) and say a GTX 970 as the best Bang for the buck. I personally just had to build / buy my system, and settled on a Xeon with GTX 970 new Mobo, 16GB RAM, etc. totalling just over $1K US.

 

[cowboi123]

You'll be wasting money with the i3-6320, if you bought it over the i3-6100 for gaming. The performance between the i3-6100 and 6320 will already be identical, whilst the 6100 costs about 50 dollars less. It depends on which games you'll play. The i3-6100 is quite strong. What's your budget for the motherboard? It can be decisive.

Thanks for the reply, the price difference between the 6320 and the 6100 is around £10-15 here in the UK, that's the reason why it was in my list of choices. My budget for the motherboard is around £70 (~US$115), I'm thinking of the
MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX motherboard..

 

[cowboi123]

There are some games now that are recommending four cores, though currently can be made to work with the i3's (if any workaround is needed at all). i3's having a faster single-threaded performance has advantages in other games though, so I would say it depends on the type of games you typically play. Unless faster single-threaded performance it high on your list, I'd recommend the i5.

Thanks for the reply.............Yes, I've read that the i3 is considerably faster in single-threaded applications. I usually play some modern/older FPS games like Fallout 3/4, Battlefield, COD etc..

 

[Tom Tancredi]

<<SNIP>> Duplicate OP answered.

 

[cowboi123]

The new 6xxx series from Intel also requires new DDR4 RAM which is expensive, and the PSU would need to be addressed (need the right connectors and enough power for the Mobo for a 6xxx series which is different than any series before), and most of all IF your current PC is a OEM (i.e. Dell, Gateway,etc.) you can NOT swap the CPU / Mobo out as Windows license detects this and blocks Windows from running, installing, repairing, etc. until you go back to the hardware you were originally sold. You would need a new copy of Windows 'off the shelf' (aka Walmart, Amazon,etc.) and WIPE and CLEAN INSTALL FROM SCRATCH Windows and all your programs, games, and data.

If your really a tight 'budget' (usually means people trying to stick under $400US) than buy a console (PS4) to get the best BANG for BUCK in performance of cost as you can play HIGH graphics (1080P) while at 30FPS to 60FPS on almost ALL titles (depends on the game). Otherwise you would be focused on $750+ costs for a PC gaming system, usually with a i5 (would stick with the 5xxx series) and say a GTX 970 as the best Bang for the buck. I personally just had to build / buy my system, and settled on a Xeon with GTX 970 new Mobo, 16GB RAM, etc. totalling just over $1K US.

Thanks for the reply Tom! Im planning to get 16GB of the HyperX furry ddr4 2133 MHz ram which is around £52 here in the UK (~US$75) which I think is reasonable for DDR4 memory. Thanks for the heads-up about the PSU connectors, didn't know they were different for Mobo for a 6xxx series. I'm aware of the fact that I require new windows-I can get if free from my collage using microsoft's dreamspark program. I'm not a 'hard-core' gamer hence the reason why im not going for any 'amazing' specs. I'm going to use a 750 ti which I have laying around and probably upgrade it to a new GPU when the pascal series come out.

 

[RCFProd]

i3-6100 is only 91 quid, compared to the lowest price of 122 quid for the i3-6320 I think.

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£96.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £96.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 21:53 GMT+0000

However, for the games that you play, i5-6500 would be better.

 

[cowboi123]

i3-6100 is only 91 quid, compared to the lowest price of 122 quid for the i3-6320 I think.

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£96.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £96.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-20 21:53 GMT+0000

However, for the games that you play, i5-6500 would be better.

Cheers! Flubit created an offered the 6320 for 104 quid, 6 less then amazon's £110 (this price is not shown in PCPartPicker)

Probably going to get the 6500..