FX 6300 vs Athlon 860K vs i3 4170 for Mid-rage Gaming PC

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Nikos Coco

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Hello. I'm building a mid-rage gaming pc for my girlfriend. We play games like Elder Scrolls Online, Archeage etc. We already have a good graphics card so we dont need graphics on the CPU i guess. So i really wanted to ask you. Wich one of the 3 mentioned is better for us? I see that 860k beats most of the (if not all) CPU's on this price but 6300 has slightly better overclock results. We also have an extra Cooler for the cpu so we can overclock safe. Which CPU would you suggest for this mid-rage gaming rigg? Also our ram is 1333mhz, will this be ok with those CPU's? Or we would have any perfomance drops? Thx
 
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synphul
I have a hard time believing the 860k beats the i3. Hard enough finding benchmarks for the 860k that don't compare it strictly to previous amd xxxk and apu's with no intel comparisons.

This benchmark shows the g3258 beating the 860k in nearly every game if not matching it. (use the menu to select games/bench's).
http://benchmarks-tests.com/reviews/processors/amd_athlon_x4_860k/index.php

This bench shows the i3 clearly beating the 860k in bf4, f1 2013 and skyrim. Even with the 860k oc'd.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Athlon-X4-860K-Black-Edition-CPU-259731/Tests/Athlon-X4-860K-Black-Edition-Test-1141914/

The 860k is around $70, for similar gaming performance the g3258 runs $65 and the 4170 runs $120 with better performance. It's not a...
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synphul

synphul

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Out of those 3, I'd go with the i3. You can always add an i5 or i7 later without changing the motherboard.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/the-elder-scrolls-online-performance,3789-8.html

amd users reporting heavy frame drops
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/148633/cyrodil-fps-intel-vs-amd

Performance seems similar to one another in archeage.
http://www.futilez.com/forum/m/25182157/viewthread/14285938-archeage-cpugpu-benchmarks

Not to say the op would go wrong with either, but the fx based system will be limited in terms of upgrading. Not a whole lot left to upgrade to. No price savings, especially if needing an extra cooler to try and oc the 6300. No real performance loss or extra money spent with the i3 and a better upgrade path so that would be my choice personally. Most mmo's prefer stronger cores it seems like.

 
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Nikos Coco

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But the athlon 860k beats the i3, both in perfomance per dollar and overclocking results.. and has a new chipset like the i3
 
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RobCrezz

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Beats it in overclocking because the i3 has a locked multi. I would be surprised if it could beat the i3 performance even when overclocked though to be honest.
 
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synphul

synphul

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I have a hard time believing the 860k beats the i3. Hard enough finding benchmarks for the 860k that don't compare it strictly to previous amd xxxk and apu's with no intel comparisons.

This benchmark shows the g3258 beating the 860k in nearly every game if not matching it. (use the menu to select games/bench's).
http://benchmarks-tests.com/reviews/processors/amd_athlon_x4_860k/index.php

This bench shows the i3 clearly beating the 860k in bf4, f1 2013 and skyrim. Even with the 860k oc'd.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Athlon-X4-860K-Black-Edition-CPU-259731/Tests/Athlon-X4-860K-Black-Edition-Test-1141914/

The 860k is around $70, for similar gaming performance the g3258 runs $65 and the 4170 runs $120 with better performance. It's not a 'bad' chip, it's a cheap quad core with no upgrade path. The i3 is a better performing dual core capable of 4 threads with an incredible upgrade path by comparison. Overclocking isn't everything and when it comes to amd especially - it's almost a necessity to help counter the weak ipc performance. The truth is that intel cores can meet or outperform oc'd amd cores because the ipc efficiency is that much better. Saying an unlocked cpu has better overclocking results than a locked core processor isn't much of a comparison really. Compared the overclocking of a g3258, the gains of the 860k pale in comparison more often than not.

In just about every review or coverage I could find of the 860k, it was repeatedly compared to the g3258 which by coincidence is where amd priced it to compete with intel's offerings. It wasn't designed to compete against $120 cpu's. People are under the illusion they're getting bargain basement prices on amd for equivalent performance to intel chips which cost twice as much. Even amd themselves have stated their prices are adjusted to compete with similarly performing intel cpu's. In many games an i3 is within 1-3fps of fx 8xxx cpu's.
 
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-2.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-3.html

The 860K is the "budget" win. It's not going to be the best, but it's one of the cheapest (the only one cheaper apparently being the Pentium G3258).

The i3-4170 is the winner in the $125 category, but primarily because a) its HyperThreading lets it beat the Pentium in games that require quad-cores, and b) because it's seen as a starting point for a later Haswell upgrade (i5/i7).

The FX-6300 is an "honorable mention". Pricewise, it's between the 2. Performance-wise, it's specifically stated that the i3-4160 barely edges it out, but that you can't really tell the difference..& unlike the 4160 (or even the 4170), it's unlocked so you can OC it. Plus, you always have an upgrade later on to an octa-core design.

If you want to OC from the get-go, go for the FX-6300. If you don't care about OC'ing now, either the i3 or FX build will more than work for you. If you're really strapped for cash, the 860K should work fine.
 
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synphul

synphul

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I just looked at a couple builds trying to help someone figure a low budget rig for gaming. An i3 4160 based system vs the 860k is around $35 difference all other parts being identical. If someone's going to oc the 860k and needs an aftermarket cooler, the price difference would be maybe $10.

It's not easy finding specific benchmarks featuring a lot of game titles, the couple I did manage to find were for tombraider and bioshock infinite. The 6300 oc'd to 4.8ghz gained 1fps in both games.
http://www.techspot.com/article/932-amd-fx-8350-fx-6300-power-performance/

The 6300 consistently fell behind the i3, not by a lot usually. If overclocking the 6300 to 4.8ghz nets it around 1-3 fps that means it may break even with the i3 or still trail ever so slightly. It will also end up costing more for the 6300 plus an aftermarket cooler and the trouble of overclocking it.

http://www.hardwarepal.com/best-cpu-gaming-9-processors-8-games-tested/

The same for bf4
http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Witcher 3
http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html
 
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