core i3 vs i5

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

ive made 2 builds.

the i3 is solid and low electric costs it can handle games like Fable and Skyrim HD and mmo's like Tera at max settings.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo €26,90. why take risks for this money im sure the cpu wont get to hot or cold with this.

Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz € 67,89. i dont think i need better then this?

Asus HD7790-DC2OC-1GD €130,90. ps there is an 2GD for 143 euro is that worth it maybe that bit extra for a mod on skyrim?

Intel Core i3 3250 €127,59 simply low costs and its a beast that alot underestimate.

ASUS P8H77-Micro €74,90. does quality matter if its micro or just atx?

Seasonic G-550 gold €88,95. its gold plated 80+ minimum risks with this i hope?

Zalman Z11 Plus €60,90. i dreamed of this case a few times ... its smexy fans zoomed at me and the leds winked : D

Subtotal €578,03 il get a samsung ssd laters.

i5 build and i know this is epic cpu for now and future but.. the electric costs are 35% higher then the i3.. and thats even without oc.

update.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo €26,90.

Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz €67,89.

Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC 1GB €132,89. i choose this to let u folks see prices of asus and sapphire

Intel Core i5 4670K €226,50. awesome beast and with oc it will get even wilder but.. so will the watt surge?

Asus Z87-K €108,90. i think this has all i need for simple oc like 4.2 or maybe 4.3?

Seasonic G-550 €88,95. every safety measure is on this box.

Zalman Z11 Plus €60,90. realy luv this

Subtotaal €712,93.

any ideas please do share ^^ and about the builds i already favour the i3 cause i would luv to play skyrim on ultra and modded but if this i5 build cant handle it its pointless.. cause i already went over my budget in present costs and future electric.

ps il get extra budget for the ssd no worries

Thanks for ur patience and feedback : )

kirilmatthew · Aug 21, 2013

The TDP is not the power consumption. Its the amount of heat released. At idle the i5 doesn't consume much more power. At load it does. However you'll save just a much power if you replace one normal light bulb with a florescent one. Its not much. In other words, don't worry about power consumption and go with the i5 of you can afford it.

MC_K7 · Aug 21, 2013

The problem is that the i3 is dual-core only, and more and more games support quad-core or more. So I definitely recommend the i5 no matter if it consumes more electricity. Just shut down your PC when you're not using it if you're concerned about power bills. Or if you don't go with the i5, I'd pick the AMD FX-6300 instead, but I would definitely avoid the i3.

kirilmatthew · Aug 21, 2013

MC_K7 :

Agree with this. Only thing is that if you play skyrim a lot then go Intel. It runs poorly on AMD CPUs.

MC_K7 · Aug 21, 2013

Or if you're on a budget you could get the i5-3350P, it's the cheapest of the i5 and still performs very well.

maddogfargo · Aug 21, 2013

MC_K7 :

Just bear in mind that FX 6300 will use more power. However, it will cost the same or a bit less than the i3 but get you close to i5 performance in multithreaded games (Current releases of Crysis, Battlefield, Far Cry, Arma, Metro will use 4-6 cores).

So depending on how much you game and what titles you play (* because some use 1-2 cores and favore intel and others use 4-6 and favor AMD) it will likely pay for the first 2 years of power usage difference in initial savings.

Mike359 · Aug 21, 2013

I have an i3 2100 and it has been able to run high quality games like BF3 (multiplayer) and Bioshock Infinite, but it's life span is short. I don't think the i3 will be able to handle newer games that are looking at using more cores. The i3 is the bare minimum you need to run BF3 multiplayer because it has four virtual cores, but I could see BF4 needing four real cores to run it at high settings although this is just my guess. Long story short, get the i5 if you can, but don't feel worried about settling on an i3.

Sakkura · Aug 21, 2013

kirilmatthew :

The power consumption is exactly equal to the amount of heat released. BUT the TDP is just a rough guideline to approximately what peak power consumption is likely to be at stock settings. It's used for constructing a cooler that can handle the amount of heat that would be generated when the hardware is under full load.

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

omg! thanks for the info and love ^^ so fast so many good intel! well first i would love to build this i5 core setup if this will run skyrim ultra with a few mods but.. i understand the watt consumptions now but what will happen with a radeon 7850 or higher gpu plus oc everything ?

Ps the last shooter i played was golden eye on the legendary N64 * chuckles * and my top games are TES, Reckoning kingdoms of amalur, Fable series, Darkstalkers, mmo's Tera and Raiderz and Zelda and i would luv to try out Twillight princess emulator on HD!

so... the only high demanding game so far is Skyrim and i dont know any future game wirth playing so far : )

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

kirilmatthew :

sweet and thanks kiri ^^ much apreciated ur comment especialy when it comes from a proud amd user

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

Sakkura :

Thanks sakkura i know now why the comparison between i3 and i5 and fx6300 was so confusing

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

Mike359 :

Thanks for your point of view and yes i had an idea about the 1155 sockets and .. sorry for u but u can use ur i3 for many years ^^ i have faith it will live loooong

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

MC_K7 :

aye i always turn the pc off and if i wont it will shut down after 15 mins i think and yes i like the i5 best but Skyrim will decide if it be worth it .. i mean im not going to get a 300 euro gpu just to play 1 game

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

maddogfargo :

yes ur right and much apreciated i thought about amd fx6300 many call it inferior but i kinda like under dogs ^^ the reason i dindt choose the fx6300 is that il keep this pc were building to its beyond repairing.. so im sure il use it for many years and alot bills : D

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 21, 2013

um i checked youtube and Toms.. i can play skyrim on hd with my core i3 build but even the core i5 needs gpu's from 141 euro's 7850 till 300 euro's 7870 to play with extra mods ? this is the whole dilemma.. its not about money for the system its a about ludicrous money for a gpu to play 1 game.. help please!

oh well .. i think il play on the wiiU and hope skyrim will be released for nintendo ^^ thanks for all ur time and ideas but i still cant build the system after 13 days.. GN

kirilmatthew · Aug 22, 2013

The i3 plays some games perfectly fine. Others will suffer though. Skyrim is heavily single threaded so its perfect. As for the GPU, the 78xx is midrange. If you expect to play the game at medium to high, there GPUs will work. The 7790 will play at medium as well. I don't know what you want to play games at, but generally for a gaming PC, people dont use less then the 7850 or above. The Wii will never get skyrim. Devs are dropping the Wii U all over the place, and skyrim would probably never had come anyways. Hope this helps

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 22, 2013

kirilmatthew :

Hey kiri thanks for the tips and yes i think i know now what is needed ^^ i still need confirmation..

about the i3 for older games and mmo's its the best option and yes the i3 single performance is amazing it will be good enough for Skyrim HD and with a 7790 gpu high texture is possible without mods like unreal textures, nature, skins.

for extra mods like unreal textures, nature , skins etc the i5 is needed with atleast an 78xx and preferably an 79xx ?

il check previous post about the max gpu for i3 before bottlenecks and i have enough budget to build the i3 with an 7850 or 7870 (possible bottleneck) and i can build the i5 with an 7790 or 7850 but for and 7950 i need more budget to save up but that would be worth it

oh and about ur question on resolution and settings yes ultra settings and hd resolutions for all games i play but they're all older games the last games would be skyrim and reckoning and fable 4, the core i3 can max all these games with a 78xx right?

kirilmatthew · Aug 22, 2013

It cannot max those games. You're looking at a 79xx for maxing games out. The 7850 will play games on high probably, medium on a few, but not ultra.

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 22, 2013

kirilmatthew :

Thanks kiri i think i know enough to start building ^^ ps u mean the i5 core + 79xx to max out these games cause the i3 core will bottleneck with the 79xx ? and would 550 watt psu be enough to supply the i5 core with an 79xx or 600 watt better and i think about seasonic gold or would xfx bronze be safe enough for future oc?

kirilmatthew · Aug 22, 2013

Jehan-1387463 :

Check this out: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx600m
I'd go i5 for sure.

Jehan-1387463 · Aug 22, 2013

kirilmatthew :

Thanks alot Tom's for your time and ideas especialy u kiri ^.^ il make the final build with the i5 and order it from Azerty they have a free checking the system also to see if everything fits and balanced, il post asap when i have the parts before im starting to build.

See u laters Tom's thanks again ! take care of urself and ur pc

kirilmatthew · Aug 22, 2013

Jehan-1387463 :

kirilmatthew :

Thanks alot Tom's for your time and ideas especialy u kiri ^.^ il make the final build with the i5 and order it from Azerty they have a free checking the system also to see if everything fits and balanced, il post asap when i have the parts before im starting to build.

See u laters Tom's thanks again ! take care of urself and ur pc

Let us know, and happy building!

core i3 vs i5

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