Overclocked pentium g3258 or i3 4160?

cypfrinide · Jan 6, 2015

which one would pair better with the r9 280? here is my list http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gJjwHx

idk which cpu to get and which mobo to get i wanna play games like bf4 and titanfall etc

was thinking about getting the g3258 with an asrock z97 anniversary mobo seeing how it can be overclocked to about 4.8 ghz

turkey3_scratch · Jan 6, 2015

Getting the Pentium is a much better deal, you will get better single-core performance with an overclocked Penitum than a locked I3. The one benefit of the I3 is hyperthreading so 4 virtual cores helps a lot, but the stronger single-core performance of the Pentium with a cheaper price proves better in the end. Performance difference depends on the program's utilization of hyperthreading or not.

cypfrinide · Jan 6, 2015

will the psu i listed be able to support overclocking well? or does it not really matter?

Math Geek · Jan 6, 2015

an i3 is locked and can not be oc'ed. the pentium can be. so if you go with the i3, that beefy cooler would not be needed ( i know it is cheap but still would not be needed. the pentium is a strong cpu for the money but i personally would prefer the i3 for the 4 threads.

dual core is just starting to lag behind and if you can get more threads, then you should. just my opinion anyway.

if you won't be upgrading this pc and want to use it as is for a number of years, then the fx-6300 is a good alternative to these chips. upgrade path is limited but as i said, if you want to use it as is until the next build this is a good option

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($84.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $528.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 11:06 EST-0500

i left the other parts the same that you already had, only added the cpu/mobo plus a good cooler.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 6, 2015

This is obviously a hypothetical answer, but considering that the pentium G is only ~$70 vs an I3 being like $140 i wonder how it would work to buy an HPTX dual cpu motherboard and buy TWO pentium G3258 anniversary editions to run together lol. It would essentially give you a $140 quad core I5 with very very nice overclocking and single thread performance lol.

Serious answer, as mentioned the only difference is hyper threading and overclockability so if you aren't going to be playing games that take advantage of multiple threads (i.e. battlefield 3/4) then the pentium is probably a better deal for the price. Although honestly for overall gaming performance i would reccomend something like an FX 8320 instead; which is rare for me since i'm not shy about saying intel is way better than AMD in 90% of cases.

Math Geek · Jan 6, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

i like the dual pentium idea

sounds like a good theory anyway.

i chose the 6300 for price. the 8320 at $140 gets too close to i5 prices. add in the expensive mob to be able to oc it and to me your so close to i5 pricing, you may as well get the i5. the 6300 at $100 with a cheaper mobo is to me a solid split between the pentium and i5 price and worth it over the i3. i am also finding myself shying from amd a lot more lately but for this price range, i do still like the fx-6300.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 7, 2015

Math Geek :

Yeah i thought it was a good idea as well lol. Assuming that dual cpu motherboards actually combine the power of each cpu together rather than just allowing you to do two seperate things at once, with one thing running on each cpu. In which case it would be useless to try that, but i'm not sure how HPTX dual cpu mobo's really work, would be cool if it did though. I can imagine someone with super good watercooling hitting 5.0ghz on each pentium, which would probably take it up to 4790K levels of performance.

Yeah the 6300 is a decent priced cpu, and i agree that for $140 you should probably get an I5 4690K for $220 to take advantage of the large performance gain of the 22nm Intel I5 over the 32nm AMD cpu. Honestly though, for $140 my personal choice for best cpu would be like an I3 34xx cpu (don't recall the exact model numbers, maybe 3470K? or 3440K?) since it has hyperthreading even though it's a dual core, and even though it's slightly lower than the 8320 at multi thread performance it beats it by a very large margin in single thread performance (i.e. gaming) getting a score of over 2,200 in single threaded benchmarks vs just over 1,700 for even the AMD FX-9590 300 watt monster heat blowing cpu.

turkey3_scratch · Jan 7, 2015

I can't imagine two CPUs being able to theoretically to combine their power into one, there must be some catch, but maybe not. It interests me too now.

Math Geek · Jan 8, 2015

i actually did this many years ago while in college. we are talking windows nt days when win 95 was the new kid on the block. couple of us tested a server board with dual cpu's, i don't recall what we used but it was a long time ago and i think it was something like 486 dx2 cpu's i think. we of course felt we would get 2x the power and speed. in the end we ended up with something like 30% improvement over the single chip when multitasking. of course we were also not dealing with threaded applications and such as we are now so we had to get multiple things going to use both cpu's at the same time.

i do wonder what a good threaded app would do with 4 threads (in the case of the pentium) spread across 2 sockets. i wonder if the controller would be able to assign the tasks well enough and if the program would even know the difference. this of course brings to mind better cpu's and say dual i5's spreading 8 cores across 2 sockets. anyone got the mobo and chips available to do some tests?

DrLexus · Mar 2, 2015

i3-4160 pairs better with an r9-280 and modern gaming.

I find it ironic how everyone says overclocking can save you money. Almost everyone that overclocks ends up spending so much extra money on extremely high end motherboards and coolers that any money saved on the processor is moot. Don't get me wrong, overclocking is fun and interesting, but don't go into it for the idea of saving money.

The i3-4160 is a solid processor that will hold up just fine with an r9-280 in most any modern game, and you can pair it just fine with a reasonably priced H97 board--no need for Z97. Also, while the G3258 is a great processor, there are some games out there that will not run well with just 2 threads, no matter how fast your single thread performance is.

So if you want a gaming machine, go with the i3-4160. You can build a separate G3258 PC later on to mess around with clock speeds if that's something that interests you. BTW, I own both of these processors as well as an r9-280, so I'm not just spitting untested theory at you.

xDarkxIdealsx · Mar 4, 2015

DrLexus :

You seriously think that a dual core with hyperthreading will give that much increase over a dual core w/no hyper threading? Because it won't, maybe if you're comparing a four core four thread I5 to a six core 12 thread I7 or something, or even a quad core I5 vs quad core 8 thread I7 would give decent improvement. But when you still only have two physical cores, all the threads in the world won't make "too" much difference.

You would honestly be far better off getting a used/open box sandy bridge I5 or something on the cheap. A decent I3 hyperthreaded cpu will put you back ~$120-150ish, at that point you might as well save up and get an I5 4690K or something for ~$200, or just go with an 8 core amd for the same cost as the I3 which would help you in rendering applications etc.. over the I3 for a minimal to no loss in gaming performance as a good I3 (~$150) is roughly equal gaming wise to an FX-8320 or something (~$120) but you'd get better rendering and editing performance.

The whole point of OP's question is whether the I3 gives enough performance increase over the Pentium anniversary to be worth the nearly double the cost that the I3 has. And quite honestly....NO, it doesn't. Would i still go with an I3 for my rig? Yeah, definitely, but i have the money to do so, while OP might not. And if you're limited on cash you'd be much better off saving that ~$50-70 extra you'd spend on the I3 and getting an R9 280X instead of a 270X or getting a GTX970 instead of a GTX960 etc.. since an overclocked Pentium will still not bottleneck a single 280X/290/970 in over 90% of cases.

And as far as motherboards, you can get decently good Z87/Z97 boards for under $100, so that's not really a valid point tbh.

con635 · Mar 4, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

DrLexus :

You seriously think that a dual core with hyperthreading will give that much increase over a dual core w/no hyper threading? Because it won't, maybe if you're comparing a four core four thread I5 to a six core 12 thread I7 or something, or even a quad core I5 vs quad core 8 thread I7 would give decent improvement. But when you still only have two physical cores, all the threads in the world won't make "too" much difference.

You would honestly be far better off getting a used/open box sandy bridge I5 or something on the cheap. A decent I3 hyperthreaded cpu will put you back ~$120-150ish, at that point you might as well save up and get an I5 4690K or something for ~$200, or just go with an 8 core amd for the same cost as the I3 which would help you in rendering applications etc.. over the I3 for a minimal to no loss in gaming performance as a good I3 (~$150) is roughly equal gaming wise to an FX-8320 or something (~$120) but you'd get better rendering and editing performance.

The whole point of OP's question is whether the I3 gives enough performance increase over the Pentium anniversary to be worth the nearly double the cost that the I3 has. And quite honestly....NO, it doesn't. Would i still go with an I3 for my rig? Yeah, definitely, but i have the money to do so, while OP might not. And if you're limited on cash you'd be much better off saving that ~$50-70 extra you'd spend on the I3 and getting an R9 280X instead of a 270X or getting a GTX970 instead of a GTX960 etc.. since an overclocked Pentium will still not bottleneck a single 280X/290/970 in over 90% of cases.

And as far as motherboards, you can get decently good Z87/Z97 boards for under $100, so that's not really a valid point tbh.

It does make a difference and its there in plain view in any good review, the haswell i3 core is beefed up for ht to work compared to the pentium which is actually gimped. On the other hand your completely right about the used market, I agree fully, the xeon in my sig was cheaper than an i3 and the 680 cheaper than 750ti. Stupid when on a budget to ignore the used market when tech/games hasnt moved very far in years.

mlga91 · Mar 4, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

Dual cpu mobos are expensive, and they dont support the i3/5/7 CPUs line, let alone a pentium, everyone already stated their point with the i3 vs pentium, in older games (<2013) the pentium will do better, and the i3 will do better on newer games, my advice would be, if you plan to get a i5, get it now, scrap the z97 motherboard and get a cheaper h81, a unlocked i5 is not needed for gaming.

Harv33 · Mar 4, 2015

You don't want the Pentium for gaming. If you want a gaming processor in that budget range then get the i3-4160 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-I3-4160-Processor-Hype.... The G3258 is a great processor for a general PC or doing some light gaming but isn't going to cut it for a "gaming PC" and will leave you wishing you hadn't chosen it.

giantbucket · Mar 5, 2015

buy the G and a Z board. learn to overclock. once you hit a wall with performance, remove the G and put in an i7-K. done. max performance, minimum money lost along the way.

Gaidax · Mar 5, 2015

If you are ready to overclock then certainly take Pentium, you won't save much at all (expensive motherboard, cooler, PSU, electricity) and overclocked performance will be same as i3, but this opens up a very nice upgrade path to K-series I5/I7 CPUs in the future.

xDarkxIdealsx · Mar 9, 2015

mlga91 :

That's not 100% true, there are X79/99 dual cpu boards for LGA 2011 I7's, and if my memory serves correctly there's a Z87 or something similar that would support the Pentium as well as any 1150 i3/i5/i7. And they aren't really that expensive in the grand scheme of things, they're certainly far cheaper than the Rampage IV Black Edition i got, even considering i got it $50 less than retail with an additional $50 rebate off that.

Although now that i think about it, it may be a better choice to; as you mentioned, get like an H81 motherboard since they are typically cheaper rather than a Z87/97 which would allow you to save enough money to possibly get the I3 instead of the pentium (don't even start on I5's, OP is obviously on a budget) , but i doubt that you'd save "that" much money going H81 rather than Z87 as there are plenty of Z boards for under $100.

mlga91 · Mar 9, 2015

Care to post some dual 1155 socket boards? Just for the record.

jeffredo · Mar 9, 2015

Unless you're an overclocking "hobbyist" the i3 is the better all-around choice. Yes, the G3258 can have stronger single thread performance, but an i3 can usually match it or beat it in most modern games and some applications (2 cores, 4 threads plus a number of instruction sets that the Pentium doesn't have). Oh, I have a G3258 @ 4.5 Ghz in a secondary PC. It bottlenecks a GTX 960 somewhat (have tested it against my i5-4690k main PC with that GPU in both).

NightAntilli · Mar 9, 2015

I don't recommend going for anything that can not handle at least 3, and preferably 4 threads. That leaves the Pentium out of the equation. Maybe right now the Pentium is a good buy, but you're gonna be forced to upgrade very soon to be able to play certain games. And with DX12 around the corner, more weak cores is definitely a better choice above strong single cores.

xDarkxIdealsx · Mar 21, 2015

mlga91 :

I can't remember which one i'm thinking of but i remember there was one that was 1150 that was dual cpu, although perhaps the idea was scrapped since it was a pre-release article iirc.

But i know that they have AMD AM3+ dual cpu mobos like this one

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CRJVX4/ref=psdc_1048424_t1_B000GGTYIC

And some older intel ones like 771 socket etc.. so it's not "Just" lga 2011 or 1366, but they are more common for sure.

xDarkxIdealsx · Mar 21, 2015

jeffredo :

I find that hard to believe, there's been quite a bit of testing showing even a gtx 780 not being bottlenecked by I3's and pentium dual cores once they're overclocked. Perhaps a "tiny" bit of bottleneck on like a 970 or a 290X or something, but i don't see a 960 being bottlenecked much if at all by even a pentium as long as you push it to 4.0 or higher, and even at stock it'd only cause like a 5-7% loss if that.

Although with the news of DX12 having more hardware optimization than we thought (combining VRAM of SLI GPU's etc..) it very well might be a better idea to get at least an I3, but my opinion still stands that if you've got the $150 to get a dual core I3 with hyperthreading than you might as well get around an I5-4570 for $175ish or splurge with an I5 4690K for $200, since it's not much more and an extra $50 won't effect things like GPU choice "too" much, so i think it's worth it. Or at the very least, get yourself like an AMD FX8320 for $100-120 or something, which is equal to an I3 for less money, and with mantle/DX12 the extra cores will help with a few programs.

Mohamad Farran · Apr 22, 2015

ive asked the same question,,, remember the pentium doesnt support 1600 ram only 1333 an lower...obvious gamechanger go with the i3

Mohamad Farran · Apr 22, 2015

ive asked the same question,,, remember the pentium doesnt support 1600 ram only 1333 an lower...obvious gamechanger go with the i3

Mohamad Farran · Apr 22, 2015

cypfrinide :

pentium doesnt support 1600 ram.. arguement has resolved itself

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