Is this i3 3240 a good deal?

[Berlights]

Hello comunity!

I have found a used i3-3240 (3 months usage time) selling for 75 euros. I have asked for CPU-Z screenshots and everything seems to be running smooothly. Would this be a good deal? I am running on a really tight budget at the moment and plan to upgrade later this year to a more modern build.

The rig I am planing to build is:
i3-3240;
8 gb RAM;
Radeon HD 7790 (scraped from my old desktop);

Would this hold on for most of the current games? (I don't demand super ultra high settings!)

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[turbopiki]

Yes its a good deal. You will be able to run most games on High settings. BTW CPU-Z screenshooot doesnt proofs nothing tell him to run PRIME95 for couple of hours and than send you the results if there will be any errors or crashes in results dont buy it

 

[neiliohep]

It's an OK deal... however the multithreaded performance of the i3 is only slightly better than that of a Pentium G3258 because of hyper threading. Single core performance is below that of the Pentium and both are dual core. And pentium is also an unlocked CPU with INCREDIBLE overclocking ability with very low TDP and cheaper, should be around 55 to 60 euros. IMO get a Pentium G 3258 and if you are using an HD7790 (had one myself, great previous gen mid range card) the i3 will give you next to no performance increase (maybe worse).

 

[turbopiki]

G3258 is not worth buying for gaming because it doesnt have hyper threading and only 2 cores so you cant play games like Far Cry 4

 

[neiliohep]

G3258 is not worth buying for gaming because it doesnt have hyper threading and only 2 cores so you cant play games like Far Cry 4

The hyper threading does next to nothing, without hyper threading the i3 would score well below the Pentium and with it...well it barely edges out the pentium in over all performance. Also, there is a fix for Far Cry 4's dual core problems, hardly a reason to pass it over.

Passmark benchmark scores
i3 3240:
Rating: 4319
Single Thread Rating: 1816

Pentium G 3258:
Rating: 4010
Single Thread Rating: 2180

That single threaded performance DOMINATES the i3, so much so that any game that makes good use of multiple cores/threads will still perform better with the pentium.
Also, the pentium can overclock to 4.4ghz ON AIR using a cheaper B85 motherboard while the i3 requires at least a Z series board to overclock and still can only reach about 3.6ghz max because it is a locked CPU and HARD to get anything out of.

There is no contest here...

 

[turbopiki]

Who cares about 3dmark scores all that matters is how they perform in games.

And dont forget he is looking just for CPU that means he already has the board and its probably not Z97 . And lets say you go with g3258 you need good Z97 the cheapest Z97 wont do because they dont have enough power phases. and you will need very good CPU cooler. while you can get I5 4460 and H97 board cheaper now what would you take

 

[Berlights]

Thank you for your answers guys. Actually I was planning on geting the G3258 but I have a spar LGA 1055 mobo (forgot to mention it) so I just need the CPU. Buying the G3258 in this particular would be more expensive, but it crossed my mind.

Thank you very much for your support. I think i'll stick to this deal.

EDIT: I also don't plan on overclocking and yes, it is an entry-level board. As I said I am on a really tight budget so for now I just need a small refresh as my Q9550 mobo died unfortunately so I'll try to sell the CPU (it is still worth a few euros from what i've been studying)

Cheers!

 

[RobCrezz]

G3258 is not worth buying for gaming because it doesnt have hyper threading and only 2 cores so you cant play games like Far Cry 4

The hyper threading does next to nothing, without hyper threading the i3 would score well below the Pentium and with it...well it barely edges out the pentium in over all performance.

This is quite wrong. Hyper threading on dual core CPUS boosts performance significantly on games and applications which can properly utilize 4 threads.