AMD x4 Athlon 860k vs Intel i3 4160 Budget Gaming Build

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pc_beginner

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I was wondering if I should go with the amd x4 athlon 860k for budget gaming. I was about to purchase it when I read that amd processors get really hot and lack in performance. I have two questions then. One, would it be better for entry level gaming purposes to get an i3 4160, and two, would the i3 be worth the extra $50.00 in noticeable performance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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CTurbo
The Athlon competes (and loses a lot) with the Pentium g3258. The i3 competes(and best mostly) with the FX6300.

The Athlon's cores are weak. The i3's cores a very strong. The i3 also offers a far better upgrade path.
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pc_beginner

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Thanks for the quick reply. Do you have any specifics of why it is better? In the outlook of each, the athlon seems like it could compete with the i3.
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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The Athlon competes (and loses a lot) with the Pentium g3258. The i3 competes(and best mostly) with the FX6300.

The Athlon's cores are weak. The i3's cores a very strong. The i3 also offers a far better upgrade path.
 
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pc_beginner

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Thank you for your time. It looks like I'm out to start an i3 based build!
 
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Bem-xxx

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Look at this benchmark.
i7 5960x
BattlefieldIntel2-635x405.png

Athlon X4 860K
BattlefrontAMD-635x405.png


 
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pc_beginner

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So are you implying that with the graphics card I plan on using (Gtx 750ti) I should be able to run games fine on the athlon x4 860k?
 
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LookItsRain

LookItsRain

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Synthetic benchmarks are worthless, and the chart you posted does not display minimum frames, average frame rate means nothing when min frames are terrible, which, with AMD cpus, the min frame rates are terrible.
 
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pc_beginner

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What do you think I should do then? I really like the price range of the athlon, so would you suggest going with the pentium g3258? Or is it really worth it to go i3?
 
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LookItsRain

LookItsRain

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Its well worth the price for an i3.
 
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Bem-xxx

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False. A FX can have better min frame rate and frame time than an i7.

http://www.technologyx.com/featured/amd-vs-intel-our-8-core-cpu-gaming-performance-showdown/?hootPostID=282b782e2a8d67e68bbb50aeea079e96

 
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LookItsRain

LookItsRain

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That, and techsyndicate is 2 out of the few dozen benchmarks that put an 8 core over an intel chip. The error that they make in this review, and others is that the games are gpu bound. I dont see any other benchmarks other than a 5960x benchmark at 1080p, but dont even mention the gpu used in that one. Unreliable source.
 
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damric

damric

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I own both the Athlon 860K and the Haswell i3 (4360). In most games the i3 gets better minimum FPS. However with the hefty overclock (4.5GHz with DDR3-2400CL9), the 860K does a little better in a few more games. For most people, I say just get the Haswell i3, since you can usually find one for ~$100 and they perform very well in almost all games. The 860K is more for tweakers who want to play around overclocking on a budget. The i3 platform actually costs less because you can use a junky H81 motherboard and DDR3-1600 and it still performs very well.
 
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