Phenom ii x4 965 vs i3 2120

[ferny111]

Which of the two would be better? Naturally in applications such as photoshop and video rendering, that take advantage of the number of cores on the processor, the Phenom would be the the victor; however, in programs that do not do so such as a majority of current video games, web browsing etc., would the i3 2120 outdo the Phenom 965? I am trying to decide which of the two I would like in a rig for my brother/family. It will be primarily used by my brother (in which he will do an extensive amount of gaming), and a little by the rest of my family for video streaming, e-mail, web browsing, and light gaming such as flash games. The rig WILL have an HD 6850 in it, and a minimum of 4 Gbs of RAM. The processor WILL NOT be overclocked (but you can always state if the 965 OC is better than the 2120 and its limited OC). FYI the price difference between the two is negligible meaning price does not matter. Dependent on the processor I will also need a motherboard, so any suggestions are also welcome. That being said, thank you for your replies in advance as I searched through most of the forums and came up with no results.

 

[itzdanielp]

The AMD generally benches higher than the i3. And you will probably end up spending less in the end going AMD.

 

[we1shcake]

go amd but pick up an am3+ mobo for it incase piledriver turns out to be good

 

[icedfire690]

The Phenom, you noobs.

 

[geofelt]

You might want to read this article on <$200 gaming cpu's.
The 2120 generally does well vs. the x4-970

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i3-2100-phenom-ii-x6-1075t,2859-8.html

Or, look at the anandtech bench. It only has the 2100 which is a tad slower.
Check the workloads that are relevant to you.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=289

 

[we1shcake]

how much more is an x6 1055t in the us, theres not much between it and the x4 in the uk if your not overclocking that would be an excellent buy

 

[we1shcake]

cheap phenom x6 although youd need a cheap cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103856
cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

you get a faster cpu and a quieter and cooler fan

 

[geofelt]

Games rarely use more than two or three fast cores. That makes the extra cores on an X6 largely useless.
The X6 of any type is not great for gaming. It does have a place for multi threaded production apps.

 

[we1shcake]

however 6 cores are very easy to boast with

 

[ferny111]

A low end six core would cost an extra fifty dollars or so and I think the and six cores are a little overkill for my needs xD not saying they are bad but if I am spending so much I would rather bump up to an I5. Also the I3 benches higher it seems. I knew it out did the 955, but according to those benches it also beats the 970 and 965. And since they cost around the same, this is a mild no brainer. Last question though. Do you guys think that a $20 dollar price difference between the 955 and 2120 is worth the performance difference?

 

[itzdanielp]

Passmark scores....

Intel Core i3-2120 @ 3.30GHz 4,102
AMD Phenom II X4 965 4,291

Higher score dependent on the CPU alone for less money... tough choice?

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

 

[FinneousPJ]

Check this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/phenom-ii-overclock-graphics-card,review-32280.html

 

[geofelt]

Passmark scores....

Intel Core i3-2120 @ 3.30GHz 4,102
AMD Phenom II X4 965 4,291

Higher score dependent on the CPU alone for less money... tough choice?
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Yes, or at least not so simple.

Passmark measures the productivity of all the cores.

For gaming, which needs a few fast cores, 2120 is better. For multi threaded app throughput 4 slower cores is better.

If you do both, which is more important to you?

 

[itzdanielp]

Although... Newer games are using more and more threads. BF3 for example will drive all 4 of my cores all the way up to 90%+ usage. Same with Microsoft Flight Sim X.

Other games, not so much. So depending on the game, yes fewer faster cores are better.

 

[ferny111]

hmmm, this is not as simple as I once thought, the i3 architecture is simply superior but 4 cores makes it hard to beat. My current rig has a 955 in it OC to to 3.6 GHz which is better than a i3 2120....maybe I'll just OC a 965?

 

[ferny111]

Best answer selected by ferny111.