Athlon X4 860k vs Core i3 6100?

teflonfrog · Sep 13, 2016

Which one is better for 720p gaming? Which is better with RX 460?

firefoxx04 · Sep 13, 2016

Probably the i3, especially when tasks are only using 2 threads. Hyperthreading (4 threads) has shown to work really well with games using 3-4 threads so I would not worry too much about it being a dual core. The AMD has very weak single core operation and needs to be overclocked to even come close to the i3 in performance.

knivespico15 · Sep 14, 2016

I got an athlon x4 860k and paired it with r9 380. My ram is running at 2133mhz. Most Steam games I have are running solid with smooth frame rates at max details.

It depends on your build and budget. Both cpu won't bottleneck that GPU. My sapphire r9 380 is superior than rx 460.

If your on tight budget go with AMD kaveri build. The Cons of this build is that you won't have superior upgrade path.

But if you'll planning to upgrade the CPU later to i5 or i7, go with skylake build.

Kevern_11 · Sep 14, 2016

The i3 will crush it handily. It also is newer and has a better upgrade path.

Ecky · Sep 14, 2016

The i3 is significantly faster, but also more expensive. It's generally more of a match for AMD's 8-core CPUs.

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

I would love to know where you get these 'significantly faster 'scores, but I disagree 100% .

I get everyone thinks i3's are gods gift to humanity, but while I"d not mind having one, just to see for myself, I've seen a few scores on websites I"m not sure I can trust, that indicate clearly , if accurate as noted, the860K MORE than holds its own well enough, that the , atm, $40 I'll save by going amd wouild allow me to almost buy another 8gb stick of ram; thats huge imho.

Yes, the upgrade path is weaker on amd side, but that doesnt preclude anyone from going intel, yrs later after they've gotten good work out of a given system.

I've never seen one single, Multi-core evaluation of the 860k vs i3-6100, as we don't all game exclusively, and nowadays espeically, more and more cores are being userd, at least 4.

I need more.

Ecky · Jan 23, 2017

Hard to argue with the numbers:

The 860K is just an A10 without integrated graphics, so it's 1:1 comparable.

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

ps.==I did find one, cpu-something or other, and while I'm not sure I trust the site entirely, it does show allegedly the 860k IS keeping up, for $40 less, admirable.

Thats' the direction I'm going in, and maybe if I had more funds available I'd go i3, but not today, and for reasons stated.

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

Ecky :

I dont' accept that evaluation, there is no 1:1.

If Idon't see the card, in the test, it never happened

I did find one though, and while again, I'm not entirely sure of the results, the 860K 'holds' its own, for $40 less, just fine:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-6100-vs-AMD-Athlon-X4-860K

I see no proof, beyond a doubt, that your results with no website named, shows in any way are better than these results.

I'll get another stick of ram and the cpu for the price of one i3-6100,

No contest, but yes of course, I"ll lose 'some' on MP, and a little extra on SP perf.

I get that,I"m n ot blind but the added value is enough for me atm.

thx

Ecky · Jan 23, 2017

Frankly the Pentium G4560 performs nearly the same as the i3 and is only $65, so it would be my choice in that budget now. The new Pentiums have hyperthreading and come clocked in the 3.5-3.7ghz range.

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

Ecky :

I can't say I didn't wonder, so I'll look again.

I need all the horsepower I can get for a budget given I"m doing game dev in UE4.

Ya ,= I wish I had an i7 I prob. need one given where I"m at now but I"ll get by and ty for these references.

Ecky · Jan 23, 2017

The site those charts are from is "Hardware Canucks", if you're interested, but there's plenty out there comparing i3's against various APUs.

The reason an A10 and Athlon x4 are 1:1 comparable is that they are literally the same chip. AMD only makes... I can't remember if it's just one, or two dies for all of their FM2+ CPUs, but they're all the same chip, just with various bits disabled. The only thing that makes an Athlon x4 not an A8 or A10 is that the integrated GPU is disabled, they're identical at a transistor level.

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

ON a budget this isn't looking good for intel, as the pentium doesn't seem to want to work with ddr3 and I'm not sure I want to shell out even more . Prob. not this time around.

I"m doing game dev and I'm very proud of what I have so far, but progressing is showing hardware growing paints LOL

Ah well--where is my lottery ticket

smarine · Jan 23, 2017

Ecky :

The site those charts are from is "Hardware Canucks", if you're interested, but there's plenty out there comparing i3's against various APUs.

The reason an A10 and Athlon x4 are 1:1 comparable is that they are literally the same chip. AMD only makes... I can't remember if it's just one, or two dies for all of their FM2+ CPUs, but they're all the same chip, just with various bits disabled. The only thing that makes an Athlon x4 not an A8 or A10 is that the integrated GPU is disabled, they're identical at a transistor level.

Fair enough thy !

knivespico15 · Jan 24, 2017

If your target build is price vs performance go with Athlon x4 880K.... If you dont care about budget go with intel... I have an athlon x4 880k... Compare it to my cousin's i5 4460 in gaming.. There's not much noticeable difference... He is having good smooth FPS, my system is also kicking smooth fps too... Were are both using radeon r7 370... The difference is he spend more dollar for his build compare to my very less expensive build... I think i won in terms of "price vs performance" here... He can play at ultra settings... I can play ultra settings too...

Ecky · Jan 24, 2017

knivespico15 :

An i5 4460 is something like 60-75% faster than an 880K. If you're not CPU limited in a game, a faster CPU will have no benefits, but for non-gaming tasks (which OP mentions explicitly), scaling with a faster CPU is much more linear. There are games where the i5 shows gains over an 880K though.

In this chart, the closest equivalent to an 880K is an FX-4300. They're both clocked the same, the FX has level 3 cache but the 880K has a slightly more efficient architecture, so it's pretty much a wash.

The i3 6100 is 47% faster than the 4300/880K, but costs 26% more. The i5 6600 costs a little over twice as much and is just a bit under twice as fast, so performance per dollar is very similar.

If you take into account that the total cost of an i5 system an is usually only ~10% more, it looks better still.

So, ultimately, you get what you pay for. The 880K isn't a bad CPU, it's just a cheap one and you get cheap-CPU performance out of it, which is enough for most people.

knivespico15 · Jan 24, 2017

Yeah its a cheap CPU... A CPU that just cost below hundred bucks... With good hardware set-up, Athlon x4 880k would not disaapoint you... My AMD Athlon is attach on a decent board (Asrock A88M-G/3.1) with a decent ddr3 ram ( identical 4 sticks corsair vengeance having 16gb total memory at 2400hz running in dual channel). My GPU is MSI Gaming 370 4gb GPU... I never had any bottlenecks at all... Honestly, My system performs near $200 bucks Intel cpu...

Comparing fx 4300 and Athlon X4 880k is unjustifiable... A got a friend who plays a lot of Dota2 using FX 6300 with 750ti GPU... He's having 60-80fps and he is happy with it... Mine is hovering at 70-110fps and sometimes performing higer than that... Comparing both our AMD build, I'm having good upperhand performance because my ram and gpu are both superior against his FX build.

Ecky · Jan 24, 2017

I don't think it's anymore unjustifiable to say an FX-4300 (which usually performs within 5% of a ~4ghz FM2+ CPU even in synthetics), is comparable to an 880K than it is to say this:

knivespico15 :

Considering that, in CPU-bound scenarios, the i5 can approach twice as fast. The difference between an i5 and Athlon x4 in performance is something like 15-20x greater than between an FX and Athlon x4.

Again, you get what you pay for. FM2+ CPUs are not bad, they're just cheap and perform that way.

knivespico15 · Jan 24, 2017

I admit thay i5 are stronger than my athlon x4... But in real world? How could you compare 120FPS against 90FPS? 60FPS against 50FPS? My eyes is not that Godlike like Flash to notice it.... As gaming goes on, the most important part is having a good gaming experience and very most importantly --- "winning every game". I do benchmark sometimes but gaming is not about monitoring FPS all night long...

I accept the reality and admit that my Athlon is weak against intel i5 but those benchmark you posted above dont really understand the limitation of AMD FM2+ CPU... In some benchmark, they pair fm2+ cpu with low speed ddr3 rams... FM2+ CPU is a "DRAM dependent CPU" and it won't shine if you pair it below 1866 rams... Most benchmark also pair FM2+ CPU with gpu cards that cost around $300-$700... For sure, 101% bottleneck will arise... FM2+ CPU architecture has its limit. FM2+ CPU should be paired with Middle End cards... Thats why I paired my Athlon with R7 370...

Please check these Portugese Benchmark. We "almost" have the same hardware set up.

http://www.clubedohardware.com.br/artigos/video/teste-da-placa-de-v%C3%ADdeo-xfx-radeon-rx-470-r36629/?nbcpage=5

His test results are REAL.

Ecky · Jan 24, 2017

I see your point. I don't play a lot of AAA games myself, most of what I do are MOBAs and older titles and for the most part, a Core2Quad from 2007 would suit my purposes perfectly well. However, there are plenty of people on here who find even an i5 inadequate for their purposes. In large multiplayer matches, an i5 6600 drops down below 60, and is completely inadequate for 120hz gaming. In these places an Athlon x4 would probably have dips below 30. It really depends on how picky you are and what you do with your computer.

SheerJenius · Jan 26, 2017

Be sure to keep an eye on your temps with the 860k. At my office I have 3 builds with the i3-6100, and 4 with the x4 860k. The i3s all stay nice and cool with the stock coolers, the 860ks have all needed after market coolers to stay within safe temperatures, no overclocking. Just keep in mind that AMD chips can run hot, so you may have to shell out extra money if you are wise enough to monitor your temps.

Athlon X4 860k vs Core i3 6100?

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