i3 vs i5

[robww22]

Im currently upgrading my PC, atm im upgrading the cpu and motherboard, now im wondering if i need to spend the extra cash on an i5 if an i3 is that much different.

I play alot of games on my pc, so im thinking i5 is probably best but is the i3 more than capable?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
99% of people wouldn't be able to detect any significant difference. Assuming you have plenty of RAM in your machine the ONE component above anything else where you will IMMEDIATELY notice an almost magical increase in performance even on an OLD machine is to fit an SSD for the OS and applications --this will pay far more dividends than going for a more expensive processor --99% of people barely use a fraction of the processing power in their machines anyway.

Some specialized applications that do a lot of Maths processing or manipulate huge graphical / video files can benefit but a typical user -- not really -- and for game playing a dedicated graphic card with its own processor in it probably is the best option.

If the processor is cheap enough - nothing wrong - but given the choice between an SSD or a processor upgrade - especially on a laptop I'd take the SSD any time.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Boozad]

From what I've heard SSDs don't really offer much benefit to gaming. I certainly didn't notice any difference on Crysis 3 which is the only game I tried on both SSD and HDD.

 

[robww22]

so no real difference between i3 and i5 in terms of just gaming?

 

[Dom]

To be honest, if the most you can spend is £150, I would go for AMD's side, FX 8320 or 8350. Because the new gen consoles have 8 core processors, console ports over to PC will be better optimized for more cores. Of course, right now an i5 3570k/4570k may give you a few extra frames, but if you're looking for future proofing I would go for the 8 core solutions from AMD. Just my two cents pence

Of course, if you want an overall more responsive system i.e. faster app loading, better boot times and copying stuff from other drives I would go for the SSD (Jimbo's suggestion). It is the component I most regret not including in my current system right now

But back to your original post, if you get the i3 3220 (I believe that is the correct model), you may enable HyperThreading , which divides each core into 2 threads so 2x2=4 threads, so you pretty much get a quad core processor. When that is enabled, you really won't notice much real world performance, only stats from benchmarks and you most likely won't notice 5 dropped frames.

Another point I would like to make is that, when you upgrade the CPU, the GPU will thereafter be the bottleneck of the system... just bear that in mind if you do not get a dramatic increase in games.

Hopes this steers you in the right direction! Choosing upgrades wisely can really be good for the short term and long term

 

[robww22]

ok atm, i have about £250 to upgrade the CPU, i need new Mobo too and going to buy 8gb of RAM

I play games on my pc, thats it, no editing, streaming or anything like that, im now thinking that i3 is more than enough maybe.....