i3-4170 vs. i5-4460

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

I am building my first gaming PC soon and I was thinking of choosing either the Intel Core i3-4170 or the i5-4460. The i3 is only about $115 and the i5 is about $175. The main differences I see are the i3 has a clock speed of 3.7GHz and the i5 has only 3.2GHz. But the i5 has 4 cores while the i3 only has 2. So I was wondering, which one would be better for gaming, the higher clock speed or more cores? If anyone could help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.

turkey3_scratch · Feb 27, 2016

Why aren't you going for a 6th Gen processor?

Dark Lord of Tech · Feb 27, 2016

i5-4460 is the right choice.

Will be the better option for your future to run good cards.

cdabc123 · Feb 27, 2016

the i5 will be better and will last longer than the i3 will

Redneck5439 · Feb 27, 2016

In that generation of Intel processors you would be much better gaming experience with the i5 4460. The two extra real cores will be much more beneficial than the higher clock speed of the i3 and games are using more and more cores all the time. DX 12 games will get much better performance with an i5-4460 than the i3-4170.

Redneck5439 · Feb 27, 2016

turkey3_scratch :

+1 if possible the i3 6100 would have better performance than either the i3 4170 or the i5 4460 and you would have the latest arch and DDR4 RAM.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

turkey3_scratch :

I didn't look into the 6th gen processors yet, but I will take a look in a few minutes.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

So what would be the max and min cards you would recommend to pair with the i5-4460 before any bottleneck issues?

turkey3_scratch · Feb 27, 2016

The 6th Gen equivalents are I3-6100 and I5-6500.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

Redneck5439 :

I just compared the i5-4460 to the i3-6100 on game debate and it said the i5 is massively better than the Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz for gaming. And the i5 has more cores like you said so how would it have better performance than the 4170 and 4460?

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

turkey3_scratch :

Those cost a bit more than the 4460 and 4170 which isn't a big deal, but then I would have to choose a completely different motherboard and ram and possibly other parts which cost more too which would make the whole build more expensive. Plus, I compared the 6100 to the 4170 and the 6500 to the 4460 on game debate and there isn't that much of a difference.

turkey3_scratch · Feb 27, 2016

Of course it is, an I5 is more expensive than an I3. But comparing 4th Gen I3 to 6th Gen I3 or 4th gen I5 to 6th Gen I5, prices are basically the same.

The parts should not be more expensive. Motherboards are cheap. RAM is cheap. This is 2016, you should be going Skylake.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

So between the i3-4170 and the i5-4460, it seems like you all agree that the i5-4460 would be the better choice, I will most likely go with that, or if I decide to go with a 6th gen build, I will go with the 6500.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

turkey3_scratch :

I most likely will go with a 6th gen build instead then, I will put together a list of parts soon.

geofelt · Feb 27, 2016

Much depends on the particular games you play.
Most games depend on the single fast master core for performance.
sims, strategy and mmo games fall into that category.

Few games can make use of more than 2-3 cores.
But, sme games, like multiplayer with lots of participants benefit from many cores.

fast action shooters will depend more on fast graphics.

With no budget limitations, the i5-6600K with an overclock is arguably the best gaming processor.
But, you are looking at twice the cost of a i3-6100.

If your budget is less than that, I would vote for the i3-6100 as one of the best budget processors.
Look at the newegg reviews if the i3-6100 from verified buyers. You will be surprised ant how many different gaming setups are served well by this chip.

Do spend a bit more for a Z170 motherboard.
That will preserve your option to upgrade to a "K" processor and overclock.
It also will support the upcoming kaby lake processors.

Redneck5439 · Feb 27, 2016

logic3454 :

The i3-6100 has hyper-threading and is a good budget gamer. However my bad, I was thinking of the i5 4430 and in some gaming benchmarks the i3 6100 can outperform it. The i5 4460 however is a better overall gamer than the i3-6100.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

geofelt :

I play basically all types of games, multiplayer, fps, mmo, just about anything. So you would recommend the i3-6100 over the i5-6500? I just want to be sure.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

Redneck5439 :

logic3454 :

The i3-6100 has hyper-threading and is a good budget gamer. However my bad, I was thinking of the i5 4430 and in some gaming benchmarks the i3 6100 can outperform it. The i5 4460 however is a better overall gamer than the i3-6100.

No problem, but I have a lot to think about now, I am going to be putting a few different parts lists together on pcpartpicker.com to see what build to go for. I will post the build lists for anyone that might want to make changes or comments.

logic3454 · Feb 27, 2016

Update: I forgot to mention, I am not really looking into overclocking since there are a bunch of risks of messing up the whole build. Even thought they might be slim chances of breaking anything, I would rather play it safe and stick with locked CPUs.

filippi · Feb 27, 2016

logic3454 :

geofelt :

I play basically all types of games, multiplayer, fps, mmo, just about anything. So you would recommend the i3-6100 over the i5-6500? I just want to be sure.

Never.

Redneck5439 · Feb 27, 2016

If you can afford the i5-6500 it is better than the i3 6100. The i3 6100 however is arguably the best budget gamer on the market today.

filippi · Feb 28, 2016

Redneck5439 :

Yeah. the new i3 is good budget cpu. this is true for quite some time now w/ i3 cpus.
that been said everything you just told OP about i3-4170 still apply to this new i3-6100.

Redneck5439 · Feb 28, 2016

filippi :

The thing that has been really impressing me about the new i3 6100 is the fact that in some gaming benchmarks it is not only holding its own against Ivy Bridge and Haswell i5s it is actually outperforming them in some cases. That is quite impressive for a budget i3 processor.

filippi · Feb 28, 2016

Redneck5439 :

filippi :

The thing that has been really impressing me about the new i3 6100 is the fact that in some gaming benchmarks it is not only holding its own against Ivy Bridge and Haswell i5s it is actually outperforming them in some cases. That is quite impressive for a budget i3 processor.

This new i3-6100 is amazing indeed.
Damn Intel for dont let me the right to decide by myself to overclock it or not anymore.
An i3@4.5GHz would be a little gaming devil.

Redneck5439 · Feb 28, 2016

filippi :

+1 I'm really hoping that AMD's new Zen arch is able to give Intel some real competition. Not only has Intel kept their prices high, but they have really become complacent with the total lack of any competition in the high end market. The generational improvements haven't had large performance margins and they are skimping here and there on design (such as the Skylake CPUs having crush hazards with some aftermarket coolers because the design is weaker). If an arch like Zen was here right now and actually challenging Intel I doubt we would be seeing processors with no overclock capability.

i3-4170 vs. i5-4460

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