Question Should I get i3-10100 or the i5-10400?

[mo0nfang099]

Hi there, I was on the verge on making a decision to choose between these two monster processors (Not really), But these two are basically on my budget.
Im planning to get an i3-10100 with maybe a Z490 Motherboard or an i5-10400 with B460M Pro Wifi Motherboard. I'm thinking carefully since their price is almost the same, my senses telling me that I should go for an i3 for it is much cheaper and pretty standard cpu for gaming. But what you guys think???? Thanks in advance

 

[Barty1884]

Either way, you're looking at a locked CPU, so B460 / H470 should be the way to go regardless.

The i5-10400 would be the better buy, for the long run 6c/12t (vs 4/8) with identical boost clocks.

 

[Supernova1138]

Unless you live in a country where AMD CPUs are either unavailable or are massively overpriced, it's not really worth looking at Intel chips at that price range. The R3 3300x or R5 3600 will outperform the 10100 and 10400 respectively. The cheapest Intel CPU worth getting nowadays is the 10600k, and that's only if you get it on a Z490 motherboard with high speed RAM and plan on overclocking it to extract the maximum possible gaming performance with a high end GPU.

 

[mo0nfang099]

Either way, you're looking at a locked CPU, so B460 / H470 should be the way to go regardless.

The i5-10400 would be the better buy, for the long run 6c/12t (vs 4/8) with identical boost clocks.

Yeah that's why I thought dude, 6c and 12t thats pretty sweet

 

[mo0nfang099]

Unless you live in a country where AMD CPUs are either unavailable or are massively overpriced, it's not really worth looking at Intel chips at that price range. The R3 3300x or R5 3600 will outperform the 10100 and 10400 respectively. The cheapest Intel CPU worth getting nowadays is the 10600k, and that's only if you get it on a Z490 motherboard with high speed RAM and plan on overclocking it to extract the maximum possible gaming performance with a high end GPU.

Yeah but 10600k way out of my budget so, Im only stuck between these two, i3-10100 or an i5-10400 bro

 

[Supernova1138]

Yeah but 10600k way out of my budget so, Im only stuck between these two, i3-10100 or an i5-10400 bro

If I had to pick one, the 10400 is better, but if you put it onto a B460 or H470 motherboard and/or pair it with slow RAM you will cripple it. For whatever reason, the 10400 benches a good 15-20FPS lower when put on a B460 or H470 chipset that locks your RAM speed to 2666MHz maximum. If you don't have a high end graphics card, this might not be a huge problem for you, but it does make it hard to recommend the lower end Intel chips when they start losing out to similarly priced AMD chips due to the memory speed lock.

 

[Barty1884]

but if you put it onto a B460 or H470 motherboard

I agree, the memory restriction does limit performance, but the motherboard doesn't strictly impact performance. I would clarify to be "Don't buy >2666MHz RAM if pairing with B460 or H470"

However, remember benchmarks are put out there to isolate performance gaps (tested paired with 2080/Super/TI etc) - and as a result, you can find 10-20% gains to be had with 3200MHz/Z490. In the real world, paired with more of a mid-range GPU (say 1650 Super), the differences won't be nearly as noticeable nor substantial.

Ryzen would be the way I'd go 99% of the time. If you're set on Intel though, and budget does either the 10100 or 10400, 10400 would b the way to go.

 

[Third-Eye]

Hi there, I was on the verge on making a decision to choose between these two monster processors (Not really), But these two are basically on my budget.
Im planning to get an i3-10100 with maybe a Z490 Motherboard or an i5-10400 with B460M Pro Wifi Motherboard. I'm thinking carefully since their price is almost the same, my senses telling me that I should go for an i3 for it is much cheaper and pretty standard cpu for gaming. But what you guys think???? Thanks in advance

I would say only consider getting a Z series board if you think you will upgrade to a 10700K or 10900K in the future and you also want to run faster than 3200MT/s ram. Otherwise it makes more sense to buy AMD for a cheaper overall build with similar performance and the ability to run overclocked ram.

It would also be a good idea to wait for Ryzen 4000 to release in 1-2 months, because you might be able to get a much better CPU than the i5-10400 or 10600K with more cores/threads, but at a lower price point. It might even be cheap enough to fit your budget.

 

[ragnarok0274]

I would say only consider getting a Z series board if you think you will upgrade to a 10700K or 10900K in the future and you also want to run faster than 3200MT/s ram. Otherwise it makes more sense to buy AMD for a cheaper overall build with similar performance and the ability to run overclocked ram.

It would also be a good idea to wait for Ryzen 4000 to release in 1-2 months, because you might be able to get a much better CPU than the i5-10400 or 10600K with more cores/threads, but at a lower price point. It might even be cheap enough to fit your budget.

I believe you mean Ryzen 5000?
And yes, wait until those drop and snag a R5 3600 on the cheap.

 

[Third-Eye]

I believe you mean Ryzen 5000?
And yes, wait until those drop and snag a R5 3600 on the cheap.

My post is from August; AMD announced on October 8th that their next CPU series would be Ryzen 5000, instead of 4000 like everyone assumed up until then.

 

[ragnarok0274]

Sorry!
It just annoys me when someone gets something wrong.
I didn't see the date on the post.