How We Tested Intel’s Pentium G3258 And AMD’s Athlon X4 750K
| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i5-4690K (Haswell) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), Quad-Core, LGA 1150, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | Intel Core i3-4330 (Haswell) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), Dual-Core, LGA 1150, 4 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Row 2 - Cell 0 | Intel Pentium G3258 (Haswell) 3.2 GHz (32 * 100 MHz), Dual-Core, LGA 1150, 3 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | AMD Athlon X4 750K (Trinity) 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), Quad-Core, Socket FM2, 4 MB Shared L2, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Motherboard | MSI Z97 Gaming 7 (LGA 1150) Intel Z97 Express, BIOS 1.3 |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 (Socket FM2) AMD A85X, BIOS 2.5 |
| Memory | G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600, F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL @ DDR3-1600 at 1.5 V |
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6 GB |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX860i, 80 PLUS Platinum, 860 W |
| Heat Sink | Noctua NH-U12S, Fan set to 100% duty cycle |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 8 Professional x64 |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Graphics Driver | Nvidia GeForce Release 337.88 |
The Pentium G3258 isn't yet available; it's expected in stock towards the end of June. However, pre-order pricing puts it $5 lower than AMD's Athlon X4 750K. That's impressive of course, but it doesn't take into account the fact that overclocking Intel's K-series (and now 20th anniversary Pentium) processors require a higher-end platform.
Intel says its Pentium G3258 is compatible with 8- and 9-series chipsets, and we used MSI's Z97 Gaming 7 for our tests. Of course, you don't need a $190 board. Z97-based offerings start at around $100.
But AMD's Athlon X4 750K is more flexible in that regard. The MSI FM2-A85X-G65 we're using is no longer available. A rough equivalent, MSI's A88X-G45, goes for $120, though. And you can find plenty-capable A88X-based motherboards for under $75. Take that $25-or-greater (if you use a lower-end AMD chipset) difference into consideration when you talk about platform pricing.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CC | Version 12.0.0.404 x64: Create Video which includes three Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premeire Pro CC | Version 7.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 11.0.102.583: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Adobe Acrobat XI | Version 11.0.0: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 and 2013 | Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| Blender | Version: 2.68a, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
| File Compression | |
| WinZip | Version 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.30 Alpha: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.5 |
| PCMark 8 | Version: 2.0, Creative (Conventional) |
