Which is better for gaming Quad or Duo hyperthreading?

[Guiden]

Just looking for a general answer. Nothing too specific. I understand the concept of hyperthreading but am not sure if that would be more beneficial in game and only be better in things such as multi tasking.

If you are looking for specifics I am comparing an i3 3.3Ghz Duo with HT to an AMD FX 4100 Quad core.

 

[amuffin]

An i3 will beat out the FX-4100 in almost every game.

 

[jaguarskx]

Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPUs can perform just as well or better than quad core AMD Phenom II X4 and FX series CPU that cost more.

At stock speed a Core i3-2120 performs better than the FX-8150. Playing games at 1920x1080 or higher will shrink the difference since most games are dependent on the CPU rather than the CPU.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8120-6100-4100_6.html#sect0

 

[dudewitbow]

the fx 4100 isnt a true quad core like the 965 BE is.

 

[Guiden]

Great answers and this really makes me more confident in getting the i3 now and later upgrading to i5 or i7.

Now just to be safe I can also assume that the i3 will also have faster speeds on things like rendering videos in HD and recording gameplay.

 

[amuffin]

Yes! But recording game play is dependent on HDD speed

 

[Guiden]

Wow didn't know that. I learned a bunch today. Maybe the next thing I'll do is buy a low space HDD with a fast speed. Any suggestions on a budget?

 

[amuffin]

SSD to install games on, HDD to record videos to.

 

[Pinhedd]

As a rule of thumb, a hyperthreaded Sandybridge/Ivybridge core has two and a half times as much integer throughput as a Bulldozer core at the same clock speed.

 

[Guest]

Great answers and this really makes me more confident in getting the i3 now and later upgrading to i5 or i7.

Now just to be safe I can also assume that the i3 will also have faster speeds on things like rendering videos in HD and recording gameplay.

now you are starting to ask the i3 to "bite off a lot and chew" where an i5 would be better suited.
(an FX-41xx won't be any better either)

part of the deal is what graphics card are you getting. i have a 550ti and in no way does it put more of a 50% load on my i3-2120 so i can do quite a bit of multi tasking while gaming. now if/when i get a 570 i would suppose my multi tasking abilities would hit some limitations while in game play.

 

[Guiden]

Best answer selected by guiden.

 

[allanitomwesh]

Wow didn't know that. I learned a bunch today. Maybe the next thing I'll do is buy a low space HDD with a fast speed. Any suggestions on a budget?

you can get a Samsung 830 128gb and a 500gb WD caviar for under $200.