Pentium G3220 + R9 280 Vs I3 4130 + R9 270X

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Tyrant365

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Building a Pc for my cousin who has a budget of around....£500. These 2 combo's cost the same £220.

I know for modern gaming which use multiple threads the i3 4130 will benefit ALOT (I've seen it keep up with i5's for alot of games)

However I thought maybe the sheer power of the R9 280 might make up for the difference.

I know the GPU limit before bottlenecks for the i3 4130 is about an R9 280x, So i'm not sure if the Pentium will bottleneck the R9 280.

Guys please don't suggest something like an AMD CPU or Pentium Anniversary edition which is what i'm anticipating will happen.

I'm not intel fanboy but I've seen plenty of proof to show even a pentium will take apart an Athlon CPU in gaming.

So out of the 2 combo's what do you guys/gals reckon will do better? I'm thinking for future reason the i3 setup may be better.....due to multiple threads, but then the statement of "Capable CPU + all out GPU" also comes into my mind.

Thanks :)
 
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I totally understand where you're coming from......Maybe it's a better idea to go for an...
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Tyrant365

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Ahaha, I should have seen this coming with the fx 6300. I appreciate the suggestion, but it doesn't interest me.

As for you choosing the i3 option, do you have a specific reason why? Maybe I've missed something :)
 
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Tyrant365

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Whoa, As I reply to 1 person the replies just come rolling in haha, Dovah Chan you makes a very good point, I had a doubt the pentium + the r9 280 weren't balanced.

However so does filippi, But the motherboard i'm going to use is a cheap Asus H81M A, so I don't know if it's really worth saving just £35 on the mobo (since that's what i'll be reusing). Maybe it'd make more sense to use the i3 and call it a day for 1 - 2 years?

I appreciate all the replies so far guys.
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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It should be good for more than 3 years.

The reason for the I3 is that the R9 280 is not THAT much faster (about 5% if I am not mistaken) than an R9 270x.
The R9 280 does however have a lot of overclocking headroom.

Whereass the i3 is A LOT better than the pentium... Makes sense?
 
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Tyrant365

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Not here to argue so I'll justify why I've said I decided not on a G3258.

It's £15 more than the G3220 and without OC it's not worth it IMHO. My mobo is just a H81 so won't pull it off.

Furthermore I'm already £15 over the £500 budget, so don't want to push it.
 
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Tyrant365

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I know exactly where you come from with the i3 - Pentium Analogy Pal.

however I slightly disagree with the R9 280 and R9 270X Statement.

This is why: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/67581-sapphire-radeon-r9-280-dual-x/?page=4

Just scroll through the games and you'll understand why. On Average we're looking at a 10FPS Increase with the R9 280.

I said I slightly disagree because You're right...10 FPS isn't the biggest deal in the world, and infact the fact that you're using the i3 with the R9 270X WILL make up that difference on newer title multi threaded games.

It's kinda swings and roundabouts, the raw stats with the same CPU show a 10FPS Increase yes, but....we don;t know how a CPU change would affect that.
 
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filippi

filippi

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Is a Pentium + Nvidia Titan balanced?

bf4-fr.png


Ref. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,3849-5.html

pentium + the r9 280 are still great in most games. But i3 + R9 270 is a good option too.
 
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Tyrant365

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Filippi,

I know where you're coming from mate, but you haven't told us the full story here. I know about that article very well as I've used it to compare the stock G3258 to the i3 (the G3220 woul;dn't perform much worse).

However BF4 does some funny stuff with CPU changes...ie it does barely anything /Nothing.

Had you shown us the full article we would have all seen the Pentium does fall down ALOT in some other games.

However the fact that I'll be coupling the Pentium with a strogner GPU may negate this lower CPU performance.

So far I've kind of come ot the conclusion these 2 setups may perform VERY similar in soem games, then evry differently depending on the type of game. For Example I know LoL or Skyrim would perform much better on the i3 as it's more CPU Intensive.
 
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Tyrant365

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The fact that you've said the R9 280 has alot of overclocking headroom has gotten me intrigued....Do you have any numbers to show this?

If that's the case maybe the Pentium option is the way to go...
 
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Novuake

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5-9% FPS depending on the game. :)

As for overclocking. I own 2 Sapphrie HD7950s Dual-x (which is the same card but with a different name and a slightly lower stock clock rate).

Both of these cards can reach 1250MHz comfortably(from stock 850MHz).
They have also been running at 1180MHz in Crossfire for almost 2 years now. 1250MHz in crossfire is a little to hot in the South African climate. :D

As for reviews, read ANY R9 280 or HD7950 review that touches on overclocking.
 
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dovah-chan

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Like I said, balance it out. Both two combos are equally ready for later upgrades and are on a similar performance tier. But I just can't feel safe recommending the G3220 when it can pose a big bottleneck in some titles. Games are now heading more towards quad cores and more threads so I feel that within a year or two it'll already be dragging the 280 down even if only slightly.
 
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Tyrant365

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I picked out an MSI Twin Frozr R9 280 as it was the cheapest.....What sort of Overclock would we be looking at on MSI's cooler?
 
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filippi

filippi

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I think this tends to be a isolated example as time goes by.
But i think that a highly efficient and super cheap dual core still is a good option in a budget-oriented gaming build if money go directly for a stronger gpu.
Specially if a later i5 is a possibility.
But i think this opnion wont last much longer though. :)
 
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Novuake

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I can not give you a definite unfortunately, each and every graphics chip overclocks differently, even if they are the same thing model wise.

I just prefer sapphire because they are AMDs biggest partner, so they get higher binned chips MOST of the time.
But thats not anything specific to go on.
 
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Tyrant365

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How does the R9 270X Overclock?
 
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Novuake

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Not well, the chip is already mostly maxed out from the previous generation of HD7870 / 7850.
 
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Tyrant365

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So now that I have all the facts,

We're looking at:

Pentium + R9 280 Overclocked (let's face it..if it can be done, why not?)

vs

i3 4130 + R9 270X stockish clock.

Which would you pick out of the 2?

Both at stock clocks I'd buy the i3 combo...but if I can overclock the R9 280 for another 9 - 10 % Increase in performance...That changes things tbh....

It's such a hard decision!
 
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IRONBATMAN

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I would pick the R9 270 over the r9 270x since the R9 270x is simply an overlcoked R9 270.
I personally have the R9 270 with the i5-3350p, and I play COD , BF3 , Crysis3 , Metro Last Light , and the Batman arkham series well. I can't max out crysis3 and metro last light.

So I'd vote for the i3-4130 + r9 270 OC .
 
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