I3 2105 vs. i5 2400

Get the 2100 and put the rest into the GPU unless you already have a radeon 6950 or better.

The difference between the Intel® Core™ i3-2105 and Intel Core i5-2400 really come down to what you are going to be doing with your computer. If you are just doing normal every day applications the Intel Core i3-2105 should do great for you. If are looking to game you can expect 30 to 40 FPS with the Intel HD 3000 graphics in normal settings. If you are going to be adding in a good video card then you can get much better performance. For a game like BF3 which will take advantage of up to 4 cores and a good video card than the Intel Core i5-2400 should give you some real performance advantages over the Intel Core i3-2105.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

@ Christian

BF3 is no CPU hungry game. It works on dual cores as good as on quads.

@ OP

The performance difference will be minimal.. but that depends greatly on the game. No difference in games like Crysis Warhead or BF3... difference in L4D, GTA 4. but thats if you already have a far more powerful GPU to receive a CPU bottleneck.

My bet is the i3 2120, get it!

Sorry about getting back kinda late, forgot about this thread -_-. So this is a question for my friend, due to the fact that it will be his build. He plans on playing Skyrim and the games he has. (Nothing too intensive.) He's going with a 6870 1GB, there will be no bottlenecks, right?