Ivy I5 3475S Vs I3 3225

[ghb70005]

When Ivy comes out I'm building a machine for the wife/media/network drive but I'm having a hard time building down.

Machine purpose:
Always on / Quiet (low TDP)
Networked storage device raid 1 for important data
Media center pushing the HD tv
General wifey web surfing

CPU: Ivy I5 3475S Vs I3 3225
HD 4000 - I'd like to use the internal gpu so I think these two upgraded models are best for the media center aspect

TDP: Looking for low temps requiring little cooling for no noise...maybe I3 could go passive?
I5 - 65W
I3 - 55W

Cores / Threads:
I5 - 4/4
I3 - 2/4

We don't know the final price difference and that will of-course play a big role in the final decision.
The cores are the main issue holding me back from settling on the 'cheaper' I3.

Will she notice the difference?
Can I save a large file on the networked drives, while playing a blue-ray, without slowing down her web surfing with the I3?

Any advice or experience with this type of build?

Thanks Peeps!

 

[ghb70005]

Also, I'm still rocking the Intel E6600 from 2007 on another desktop so the rational part of my brain says "she doesn't care, get the dual core stupid" but my penis says "four is more!"

 

[ghb70005]

I said to myself "they're all going to laugh at you!" and the prophecy became so...

 

[mathew7]

The i3 can handle 1080p content. I have a laptop with 1.4GHz i3 and under linux (so no GPU acceleration) it can decode 1080p to 1080p TV (HDMI connection) with HT disabled. Scaling is more taxing, but if you use Windows, then the GPU drivers will accelerate things.
So if you only need to watch HD content and offer HDD storage, then i3 is enough. The only thing for which I would buy the i5 is the AES-NI support, since my HDDs are SW encrypted.

 

[dmdj]

I've read some things suggesting AES will be included in the Ivy Bridge i3s. I'm waiting for the 3225 myself:

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i3/Intel-Core%20i3-3225.html