Is I3 7100 Good?

[prottayariyan]

Hey. I was thinking about building a budget gaming pc. I'm planning on buying a gigabyte Rx570 4 gb. I initially thought of getting an i5 7400 but that exceeded my budget. I have a freesync monitor so I'm getting an amd gpu, but i'm kind of stuck on the cpu.
I heard that 2 cores are not enough for modern AAA titles so I'm looking for some help. Any replies will be appreciated.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I would suggest getting a Ryzen 3 1200/1300X instead with 3000MHz memory and a B350 motherboard for overclocking.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

I would not go for the 7100. If I were you I would look at the i3 8100. It is basically the i5-7500 for $120. AMD has really forced Intel to increase performance and keep their pricing the same. The 8100 will be a very good budget CPU. AMD will have to make some big price drops to the Ryzen 3 lineup to compete in price vs performance against the 8100.

 

[prottayariyan]

Mr fellingfroggy777 8th gen CPUs are not released in our country yet, i have to wait for 17 days to buy one.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Motherboards for 8th-gen Intel make the setup more expensive.

 

[prottayariyan]

Just looked it up z270 motherboards are really expensive. Might have to go with Ryzen 3. Thanks anyways

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Just looked it up z270 motherboards are really expensive. Might have to go with Ryzen 3. Thanks anyways

I don't know anything about availability or pricing in your country. The new 8th gen CPUs were released last week, so with any tech launch availability will be in short supply and when supply is low cost go up. It will take at least a few weeks and probably a couple months for things to settle down.

In the US the cheapest z370 board is $111. A midrange B350 board for Ryzen cost around $80. So here, the pricing is not too different. You will also need higher speed RAM for Ryzen to perform as it should, so there will be an additional cost.

Additionally, the 8100 will be in the Ryzen 3 price range, but it will beat or tie the Ryzen 5 lineup in gaming performance. So if your in a hurry (and I understand I love to game), go for the Ryzen 3. But if price vs performance is more important, the 8100 is a better buy (when it is available of course).

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yrZRr7
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yrZRr7/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($128.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $240.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-20 13:08 EDT-0400

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

i3-8100 is quite a bit more expensive when you factor the cost of the Z370 motherboard. Yes the i3-8100 will outperform Ryzen 3, but it will also cost more.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.87 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.33 @ OutletPC)
Total: $184.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-20 19:52 EDT-0400

 

[feelinfroggy777]

i3-8100 is quite a bit more expensive when you factor the cost of the Z370 motherboard. Yes the i3-8100 will outperform Ryzen 3, but it will also cost more.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.87 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.33 @ OutletPC)
Total: $184.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-20 19:52 EDT-0400

Very true, the Z boards are more expensive. Buy you can get a budget Z370 for $110. So its not that much more. Then you have to consider RAM speeds. Ryzen performs much better with high speed RAM. High speed RAM cost more. Whereas Intel sees little performance increase from high speed. So there is a savings there.

Additionally, the Z boards wont be the only option for ever. In a few months H and B boards will be available at a similar price as a b350.


PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XCVsd6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XCVsd6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($128.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.81 @ Amazon)
Total: $320.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-20 20:27 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kpqGTH
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kpqGTH/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.87 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.33 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($90.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $275.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-20 20:28 EDT-0400

So the price difference is $45 between the two builds today. And that number will go down when Intel 8th gen supplies increase and H/B boards are available.

Here is a review of the 8100 and it compares the CPU to several of AMD's options.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1499-intel-core-i3-8100-i3-8350K/page5.html

The 8100 averages about 20% faster than the 1200 in the games tested. In my opinion, a 20% boost is definitely worth a $45 dollar raise in price. With that being said, I live in the US and prices hear are generally much cheaper the other areas of the world. These differences may not be the same in your area.

I am in no way knocking the Ryzen CPUs. I month ago I would have recommended easily recommended the 1200 for a budget system. But as new tech is released, it gets better. AMD is releasing a Ryzen refresh in Q1 of 2018. I highly suspect that they will get much better on clockspeeds which will improve their performance by a good bit.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

It does look good. If I had the money I would definitely get the Intel for gaming. I was suggesting the Ryzen 3 because OP said he couldn't afford the i5-7400. Having to buy the Z370 mobo would put the price of the i3-8100 the same as the i5-7400.

If OP has to wait on the B and H series boards, maybe he could afford it the Z370 board or the i5-8400 by then.