IT guy advice: i3 is "not sufficient" for my parents' web browsing/iTunes machine (?!)

[barber surgeon]

My parents have asked me to put together a new home PC to replace the ancient Pentium 4 they have in their workroom. Being in the market for a new processor myself, I offered to throw my i3-2120 (3.3 Ghz) in their build. I sent the PPP breakdown to my father this afternoon, who took it to an IT guy at his firm. I don't know what kind of conversation they had or how long the guy looked at the list, but the guy told him that the i3-2120 was not sufficient for their needs (the email also mentions that he said the 8 GB of DDR3-1333 was "okay").

I can confidently claim that the most technically sophisticated thing either of my parents will do with this computer is stream a Netflix movie, and that too is doubtful. They both use laptops and iPads for 80% of their daily computer use. This machine is intended to replace the aging Dell they only use for balancing the checkbook, storing photos, syncing iTunes, and occasional online shopping.

I consider myself pretty in-touch with technological topics, but this is the first I've heard of these applications being too demanding for fast dual cores. I certainly didn't notice it falling behind at near max settings in BF3 or while mixing 30+ tracks of heavily processed audio in Sonar.

Thoughts?

 

[ethereal essence]

That IT guy is full of it. while the gaming days of the i3 is coming to an end, it is still a very solid day to day processor. Hell a Pentium dual core would do the job your parents need. I really hate when some people think they got great info from a "knowledgeable" person. They cling to it and won't let go of it that easily.

The only thing I'd say an i3 isn't sufficient for is playing new games at the highest settings. And even then there are far worse options out there than the i3 for that.

 

[kookie3010]

That IT guy is full of it. while the gaming days of the i3 is coming to an end, it is still a very solid day to day processor. Hell a Pentium dual core would do the job your parents need. I really hate when some people think they got great info from a "knowledgeable" person. They cling to it and won't let go of it that easily.

The only thing I'd say an i3 isn't sufficient for is playing new games at the highest settings. And even then there are far worse options out there than the i3 for that.

True.my intel core 2 duo e7600 can play almost any modern games at high setting with great fps.things like browsing streaming video is just like childs play.an i3 is obviously way better and saying that it is not enough for these simple task is just unacceptable.

 

[GamerDad]

An i3 is still entirely capable of running a modern game at high/max settings given a good graphics card to go along with it. What that IT guy said is complete bollocks. Make sure that guy doesn't have an ulterior motive like trying to sell them a more powerful CPU for no reason other than to sell it.

If your parents needs are indeed all your parents intend to use their PC for, the i3 is way more than enough.

 

[barber surgeon]

If your parents needs are indeed all your parents intend to use their PC for, the i3 is way more than enough.

If they were to ever try video editing (they never have), it would be a basic Windows Movie Maker effort, which I can attest to no one's surprise works fine with this processor. Same with photo editing. They've never so much as used red-eye remover. Their work only requires the basic Office suit (Word, Excel, PP) and some simple VPN that their budget work-supplied laptops handle capably. Nothing remotely CAD-related.

Also included in the PPP breakdown is a $30 HD 5450, so I would guess that most quad-core intensive applications they'd be trying would be immediately bottlenecked there. IT guy didn't mention that. If my mother or father ever tell me they've decided they want to stream 1440P gameplay sessions of BF4, I'll just buy them a stronger machine.

Sorry if I sound annoyed. I trust you guys. I'm not yelling at you. I just can't believe what I heard.

 

[LoliElin]

Intel HD 4000 > Radeon 5450.

Is your IT guy ignorant?

 

[barber surgeon]

Intel HD 4000 > Radeon 5450.

Is your IT guy ignorant?

Well the i3-2120 only supports Intel HD 2000, so maybe that was the cornerstone of his advice! =P

 

[ethereal essence]

I don't blame you for being annoyed. He seems to be taking full advantage of your parents. I can't stand idiots like that. Tell me he didn't charge for his advice.

 

[barber surgeon]

I don't blame you for being annoyed. He seems to be taking full advantage of your parents. I can't stand idiots like that. Tell me he didn't charge for his advice.

Definitely no such exchanges of any sort. My father very likely worded the whole advice-seeking part very poorly to the guy as well. It sounded like a inopportune and thoughtless way to get information all around.

I've cooled down quite a bit myself now too, so it doesn't seem like such a big deal. I feel pretty confident in my ability to help people make hardware decisions tailored to their needs, so hearing that from a professional was very irritating. Then I was worried I was giving bad advice myself.

I came here to find out the truth and it seems I was right, so thanks for that guys!

 

[8350rocks]

For what they're doing, you would likely make them happier and keep the peace by going with a budget i5, like the 3350p.

They have no need of "hasfail"...and would probably be fine with something like the FX 4300 if you wanted to save them some money. Then they would get a budget quad core.

Ultimately, quad cores are the way things are going. I suppose for longevity's sake it would be better to do it now than later since you're building from scratch.

I don't advocate a dual core for any kind of gaming, but for just web browsing and minor stuff they're fine.

You could even go to something like the FX6300 with 6 cores for a budget build if you're inclined to consider AMD. That would likely exceed their expectations, and would benefit them in the heavily threaded productivity stuff like photo imaging/rendering and any video editing/streaming, etc.

TL;DR:

To make them happy go 3350p if you go Intel, if you want to consider AMD look at a FX 4300/4350/6300/6350 to keep the budget down and retain performance.

 

[8350rocks]

8350rocks trolling again I see. The fx4300 will be overall slower then the i3 he has and will cost more money for no improvement and taking more electricity. I have an i5 3210m can have 20-30tabs open and it rarely goes over 10% cpu usage. In fact mainly it stays at 0% cpu usage as its mainly ram intensive. Photo editing is mainly single threaded. He already has the i3 he passed to his parents so why would he want an fx4300 in the first place. Its quite funny how you troll i3's yet if you used one you would be shocked at what it can do.

I am not "trolling" anything...

I just told him in not so many words that the i3 would likely be fine for his parents, they want a quad core. So to keep the peace, I told him go AMD if he wants to keep the cost down, or go with a budget i5.

 

[8350rocks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRiC5_jdK1o
8350rocks look how slow an i3 3220 is similar to ops i3 but slightly faster and with a 7870 it can run bf3 multiplayer. You think because on 1 map the i3 struggles on bf3 means its bad same as crysis 3 it runs mid range gpus perfectly. Now an i3 with a 7870 goes well or 650ti boost anything higher and yes the i3 is to slow but these graphics cards are capable of being run with i3. Theres a reason why websites have the i3 3220 ahead of the fx8350 in a lot of games.

edit: his parents don't want a quad core. Its the it guy who wants to give a better system for more money. For what the ops parents do the i3 is even overkill and they only use there desktop for like 20% of the time.

This is getting entirely off topic. Your cherry picked benchmarks are entirely irrelevant here...and no one mentioned an 8350 at all, or gaming for that matter.

They're not gaming, and they want a quad core. Drop it!

EDIT: @barber surgeon:

I am terribly sorry this thread hijacking troll wandered in here, you'll have to forgive him. He's renowned for trying to derail topics and turn them into AMD vs. Intel debates in this forum. Just ignore him from here on out, as all it's going to do is get worse, don't sink to his level.

 

[8350rocks]

Sorry, but I think a Mod should close this thread, as it's clearly not going to get anywhere from here on out. I think the OP has his answer as to what will work properly for his parents.

Any further discussion will just be off topic and derail the thread...likely turning into a flame war.

 

[g-unit1111]

Sorry, but I think a Mod should close this thread, as it's clearly not going to get anywhere from here on out. I think the OP has his answer as to what will work properly for his parents.

Any further discussion will just be off topic and derail the thread...likely turning into a flame war.

Yes unfortunately that is the case. The OP can start a new topic on this, but if it is not kept civil I will lock it again.