How good is an i7 3930k in 2021? Should i just get a 10100f instead?

[MrP6k]

What I'm looking at rn:
i7 3930k & GA-X79-UP4 = $130 + Shipping (about $5)

10105f (tray) + some cheap B560 mobo = $160 with shipping

 

is lga 2011 even worth considering anymore? i know that intel's i3 12100 and i5 12400 is right around the corner, but i heard that the 3930k+mobo for $130 is a great deal

[Radium_Angel]

7 minutes ago, MrP6k said:

3930k+mobo for $130 is a great deal

No, not in this day and age (and I say this as a person who runs Ivy Bridge Xeons in my main workstation)

I mean, it's fine for general use, but for gaming? Forget it.

[MrP6k]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

No, not in this day and age (and I say this as a person who runs Ivy Bridge Xeons in my main workstation)

I mean, it's fine for general use, but for gaming? Forget it.

I mean, i'm already considering the 10100f and 12100, so I'm not really looking for a beast of a CPU
is it really just that bad? all i really play is Valorant and PSO2:NGS, along with some light CO-OP games with friends

[MrP6k]

oh, and if i sell the 3930k and get a xeon (maybe the e5 1650 v2?) i can get 80gb (8gb x10) of ddr3 ECC ram for about $90+shipping, idk if i should though

[Brooksie359]

25 minutes ago, MrP6k said:

What I'm looking at rn:
i7 3930k & GA-X79-UP4 = $130 + Shipping (about $5)

10105f (tray) + some cheap B560 mobo = $160 with shipping

 

is lga 2011 even worth considering anymore? i know that intel's i3 12100 and i5 12400 is right around the corner, but i heard that the 3930k+mobo for $130 is a great deal

I mean the 10105f is going to be better at this point for the games you were talking about. Sure the 3930 is a 6 core but it is also sandybridge E and it runs on ddr3 memory as well. The 10105f would probably be the better bet imo. 

[MrP6k]

3 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I mean the 10105f is going to be better at this point for the games you were talking about. Sure the 3930 is a 6 core but it is also sandybridge E and it runs on ddr3 memory as well. The 10105f would probably be the better bet imo. 

it's ddr3 but quad channel and i thought the 3930k is ivy bridge? weird naming

[Radium_Angel]

38 minutes ago, MrP6k said:

it's ddr3 but quad channel and i thought the 3930k is ivy bridge? weird naming

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/63697/intel-core-i73930k-processor-12m-cache-up-to-3-80-ghz.html

 

And if you are going to ge the 10100f anyway, why go back to a 3rd gen CPU?

[MrP6k]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/63697/intel-core-i73930k-processor-12m-cache-up-to-3-80-ghz.html

 

And if you are going to ge the 10100f anyway, why go back to a 3rd gen CPU?

I *was* considering it, and have decided to wait for Intel's other 12th gen CPU's announcement when i came across that deal, i might even be able to resell it for more than what the seller's asking

[YoungBlade]

What graphics card would you be pairing it with and what amount of fps would you be targeting?

 

The 10105F would probably beat the 3930K in most games. The 3930K should perform similarly to a 2600K in terms of framerates but should be able to handle some more CPU intensive games with its 2 extra cores. If you are not targeting 150+ fps, then you'll probably be fine with a 3930K. It would likely dip to about 100 fps in a game like Valorant during heavy fighting. And all of that assumes you have a GPU that can keep up. However, raw performance isn't the real issue with a 3930K - it's alright in that department. The problem is that you're missing out on modern features like NVMe support that are now standard on motherboards and any DDR3 you invest in is basically worthless once you're done, while DDR4 is at least going to be compatible with 600 and 700 series Intel boards (and possibly with 600 series AMD boards, too, although that hasn't been confirmed) to give you some ability to migrate to a newer platform.

 

That said, the i3 12100 would destroy both options if the rumors are true. I've heard anywhere from 15-30% better performance compared to the 10100, because Alder Lake P-cores are more powerful and supposedly Intel decided to actually give the chip a reasonable amount of cache. Whether that ends up being true or not will remain to be seen, but I think it's possible. The issue is that a cheap B660 board paired with a 12100(F) will probably cost you over $200, given the price creep that Z690 had compared to Z590.

 

If we assume the combo runs $225, then that's a 67% price increase compared to the deal you found. However, since DDR4 RAM prices are good right now, and DDR3 isn't crazy cheap, then the fact that you'll need to buy 4 sticks with the 3930K system to populate all the channels erases some of the savings. (The RAM deal you found combined with a Xeon would be interesting if you needed a lot of RAM for some reason, but putting 8x8GB into a system that old only benefits some niche use cases.) This then opens up the discussion of the B560+10105F, which is also a fair choice at that price point. (And if you were willing to spend $200+ on the CPU and mobo, then it also opens up the possibility of going with an i5 10400F, too.)

 

TL;DR - I don't think you are stupid to look into that deal, and if you decide to go with it, I don't think it would be a terrible purchase, but I also don't think it's a complete steal and getting a system that old comes with drawbacks like DDR3 and lack of NVMe support that might sting a bit a few years down the line. Whereas at least an i3 (10th or 12th gen) would have decent upgrade paths and you'd be on a modern platform.