Which CPU for gaming?

IInuyasha74 · Jul 3, 2014

Hello Everyone,

I plan to do tests later to figure this out, but I have an i3-3225 running at 3.3Ghz, and I have a Pentium G3258 CPU running at 3.9Ghz.

I am wondering which one will end up being better for gaming. The i3-3225 has hyper threading, while the Pentium lacks hyper threading but has a much higher clock speed. Otherwise they are pretty much the same in terms of performance. The Pentium has the small boost from new architecture but not a big one.

I tried to overclock the Pentium further, but with Load-Line Calibration in use, and +0.150v offset I wasn't able to reach 4.0Ghz. With multiplier or FSB boost. While it is stable at 3.9Ghz with no power increase at all. I plan to test tomorrow, but given it could change from game to game its hard to know for sure.

Alpha3031 · Jul 3, 2014

I'd say the G3258. Turn off LLC.

I also suggest you manually set the voltage.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

I was thinking probably the G3258 would be better, but still a bit unsure over all.

I will try turning LLC off and see if it helps. Thought it helped keep from voltage droop, but maybe its pushing too much voltage instead or something.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

overclocking wont do much on slower older hardware. Intel no longer relies on pentilum like back in the p4 days. i3 both are dual cores clock speeds dont matter unlike back when cores where at 75mhz(slow) also i3 offers hyper threading not needed if not doing threaded programs so better. If not already order a fx 6300 or 8320 with good cooler is better if on budget but if not a i5 would serve you well

Alpha3031 · Jul 4, 2014

IInuyasha74 :

LLC pushes a higher voltage but there can be dangerous voltage spikes.Try for a VCore of 1.3 V if you have a good cooler (should be able to push 4.4 GHz then)

Obnoxious · Jul 4, 2014

It depends on which game you'll be playing. If the game only requires a dual-core at maximum, then the Pentium is adequate for the task; however I am more inclined towards the i3. Games such as Battlefield 4 utilise Hyper Threading and hence will perform better on an i3 over a Pentium.

To be honest, modern games now utilise more cores rather than purely dual-core; therefore in general the i3 will provide better gaming experience. In addition the Pentium's clock speed is incomparable to the i3 IMO, the HT on i3 will reduce workload per core.

From personal experience with running Battlefield 4 on a Pentium G840, the additional cores and even HT will increase frames per second. To conclude I believe the i3 will provide you better performance.

All the best.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

kunthakenthe :

Well it isn't really older hardware. I have a GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97 with the Pentium, and its a Haswell chip. Both are about as new as can be bought. The overclock did help some, going by Cinebench 11.5, the Pentium overclocked was able to beat the i3 in the multi-threaded rendering test, but it lost while at its stock speed.

The i3 typically is a good match against the FX 6300, as is the Pentium when it comes to gaming and which of the three would perform better is hard to say. However, I already have the i3 and the Pentium sitting on hand, and plan to sell which ever one isn't being kept. Not looking for buying another one.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

do you guys think the pentilum is the best

Alpha3031 · Jul 4, 2014

kunthakenthe :

Even Intel says Hyper-threading only gives about 30% max :/
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/how-to-determine-the-effectiveness-of-hyper-threading-technology-with-an-application/
The Pentium at 4.5 can beat any i3.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

oh maybe i should of read the website XD. If you have sufficent cooling the go 4.5ghz pentilum (its devils canyon to the new one sorry about old tech) but a i3 with HT sounds better to me i understand though maybe you sell both for 200$ and get a i5(most likely not) but it sounds like pentilum is better IF you get it that high.

Alpha3031 · Jul 4, 2014

Obnoxious :

Intel's HT works by "pausing" threads that need to fetch data and executing another thread until the other thread fetches it's data, so no reducing workload per core (it actually increases utilization).

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

Alpha3031 :

wow that kinda explained what hyper threading is easily and that sounds super smart instead of waiting just go. Like my first girl friend instead of waiting for her to come to door when i was opening it i just went inside and she opened her own door XD.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

@Alpha3031: I see, I will try without the LLC then. That might make sense, as before it would start and run fine, even finish a line of Linpack but fail soon after. Currently I am only running the stock cooler on it with stock thermal paste. I plan to later switch the thermal paste with liquid metal which I have sitting around from my computer, this computer we are discussing being for my brother who is very tight on cash. I don't think I will be able to get it up to 4.5Ghz given the situation, but I am hopeful for 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2Ghz. I will try just with voltage and see how it goes.

@Obnoxious: Thank you for your insights. You hit a lot of things I have been thinking about. I know that most games up until the last year or two have been mostly single or dual threaded work loads and relied more heavily on core speed, but modern games of the last year or two are becoming increasingly multi-threaded. The higher clock speed on the Pentium helps to make up for not being able to run hyperthreading, but is it enough to make it the best option? Its so hard to say.

As for the games he plays, his current obsession is Skyrim with several mods running on it at the same time. He also plays a lot of minecraft. Then there is a new game in the works, but out in a sort of beta called StarCitizen he is big into. Like any gamer his focus sways from game to game as time passes. I think Skyrim is one that might run better with the Pentium, buut in a few months when he grows bored of it, I'd hate to find his performance has dropped significantly from switching to the Pentium over the i3.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

kunthakenthe :

Lol really, I never actually looked into how that works, but that makes a lot of sense. Probably the simplest and best explanation of how Hyper Threading works ever said.

Anyways kunthakenthe no problem about the old tech bit, I know the Pentium is a very old name now

I think that how high I can get it will be a big decision maker. I had heard that hyper-threading adds around 1/3rd the performance, so adjusting that to 30%, I need to get the Pentium running at 4.29Ghz exactly in order to match the Intel i3-3225, and anything past it means increased performance.

Thank that will be the deciding factor. I'll be back soon, off to try and break my current 4Ghz barrier.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

i hope he has a good gpu. Also dont oc on stock cooler they dont cool effectively enough

Alpha3031 · Jul 4, 2014

If you have stock cooler, get Hyper 212 EVO.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

yeah a hyper evo 212 is a great budget cooler of get an cooler master seidion 120v or m for much better cooling around 44$

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

Well I know the stock cooler sucks, but don't have any extra cash to put in on this build. With the stock cooler at 3.9Ghz it managed to stay at 65C under full load, so it isn't so bad.

I am hoping the lack of heat from additional cores will help to keep cooling from being too much of an issue.

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

will you ever upgrade it a little. Being straped for cash sucks but is apart of life

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

if you will put a little time to time then get that water cooler so you dont have to worry for a while and will keep temps cool

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

Probably in the future. This PC is for my brother, who currently has an i3. I got the motherboard for free to as a test product, and just had to buy the CPU, and plan to sell whichever he doesn't keep off to cover that.

I am having more worries though. Just tried again with overclocking. LLC off, CPU Offset +0.040v, at 4Ghz, it crashed almost instantly after starting the stress test. I am trying again at +0.100, which should put the total voltage around 1.150v

kunthakenthe · Jul 4, 2014

silicon is luck of the draw. Sorry for the probs but i dont make silcion XD. yeah just upgrade it latter. i3 will make you more money you have a very nice build your self

Obnoxious · Jul 4, 2014

Thank you for your follow up response IInuyasha74.

If Hyper Threading (HT) is enabled in your BIOS, Microsoft Windows will utilise HT as if it's an additional core; as the differentiation between a logical core is determined within the kernel, whereby the software/OS is an additional layer on top of the kernel; hence the OS does not have an abundant amount of control (to be straight to the point, Alpha3031's description of HT is not entirely correct). Therefore HT will assist with a greater workload and improve multitasking; whether you'll get more FPS in a game I cannot guarantee, however I am still inclined to believe it will indefinitely provide better performance over the Pentium (especially as "Skyrim with several mods running on it at the same time" indicates that HT will assist in multitasking).

It is indeed difficult to determine whether the Pentium at a higher clocker speed will outperform the i3 or not; as stated earlier I am still conforming to the i3 primarily due to HT, thus improved multitasking.

Skyrim will perform adequately on a dual-core processor, however to max it out a quad-core is recommended. Since the OS is able to provide the hyper threads similar workload as the logical cores, the i3 on this occasion again will provide better performance; regardless the Pentium and i3 should provide similar performance with Skyrim, more favourably to the i3 however.

Star Citizen on the other hand however requires a dual-core at minimum, and to play it with a decent frame rate you should look at quad-core/i5 processors. To max out the game, the game developers recommend an i7. The primary difference between an i5 and the i7 are the latter's hyper threads; hence we can conclude Star Citizen utilises HT. To reinforce this statement, the engine Star Citizen utilises (CryEngine) has been found to support Hyper Threads with Crysis (another game based on the same engine). Furthermore HT support has improved with Star Citizen over Crysis, therefore to conclude Star Citizen will most likely benefit from the i3's Hyper Threading and will outperform the Pentium with this game.

As for Minecraft, either processor should provide the same performance.

Since you [the OP] already have both the processors, I'm sure you'll find out the results soon hopefully.

All the best.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 4, 2014

Yea I think that might be the case here, bad luck of the draw. I tested at +0.040, 0.100, 0.200, and 0.250 and it failed on all of them. Tried some other settings but yea its out of luck.

Thank you everyone for your responses they have been extremely helpful in working this out. Based on the information at hand I believe that the i3 is indeed the faster CPU and will provide the best performance, with 10% or more performance gains in multithreaded work loads. Not being able to reach an aggressive enough clock speed, the Pentium has no chance to match this.

However, I hadn't thought about the idea of upgrading in future really until kunthakenthe pointed it out. With that in mind, the Pentium looks better, as it is a much nicer motherboard, a GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97 which has much better BIOS, audio, and other features. The i3-3225 is stuck running on an ASrock B75M which has an old ALC667 audio codec I belief and doesn't look as nice. I know the better audio won't make up for the performance hit, but with that in mind it seems the best solution is to talk it out with my brother. If he thinks he will want to put money in and upgrade his computer within the next three years, he can get the Pentium computer on the LGA 1150 socket and the better motherboard, since it will work well with the upcoming Boardwell chips and have easy upgrade choices for years to come and make do with the performance hit. If he would prefer to use the current system as long as possible without upgrading, which he might well do since the newest desktop we had in the house before I built mine was from 2006 and he had been playing games on a laptop with only a Celeron single core and Intel GMA graphics from 2008 (Everyone can see why I had to put him out of his misery and get him a better computer), then he can stick with the Intel i3-3225 and the older motherboard.

I greatly appreciate everyone's help in making this decision. You have been wonderful, and this is probably the most help I have ever got on this website. I really do wish I could pick everyone as best answer, but I can only pick one, so I am just picking what seems to have the most information in one post. Thanks again everyone.

Which CPU for gaming?

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