Best Intel Core i3 CPU ?

[dandrix]

I will sound a lil bit noobish here, but im really confused with Intel's CPU naming schemes. Can someone please tell me which at the moment is the top of the line Haswell refresh based i3 CPU ? Not looking for best bang for the buck, simply the very best i3 you can get.

[AlwaysFSX]

What platform?

[JoaoPRSousa]

If 1150, G3258

 

Why would you want an i3 BTW?

[harrynowl]

The 4370, however in the UK it's probably like £10 cheaper than an i5 4460.

[ImBleu]

Pentium G2358 (Pentium K).

 

No i3 can beat that.

[Lotus]

I agree, the G3258 is better, especially considering you can get it and an aftermarket CPU cooler for less than an i3, and it'll perform way better in single threaded once overclocked, and similar in multi-threaded performance because the higher clock speeds can make up for the lack of hyper threading. I'd never get an i3.

[JoaoPRSousa]

If 1150, G3258

 

Pentium G2358 (Pentium K).

 

Period.

[DirkW]

If 1150, G3258

 

Why would you want an i3 BTW?

 

Which is a Pentium, not an i3, as was asked for. Of course you can recommend something different as well, but should we not at least answer the question that was actually asked, before taking off into another direction?

 

@dandrix

 

Best i3 (if i remember correctly) is the i3-4370. However, if it really needs to be an i3... the 4370 is quite expensive for that kind of CPU.

[themaniac]

Pentium G2358 (Pentium K).

 

No i3 can beat that.

 

 

I agree, the G3258 is better, especially considering you can get it and an aftermarket CPU cooler for less than an i3, and it'll perform way better in single threaded once overclocked, and similar in multi-threaded performance because the higher clock speeds can make up for the lack of hyper threading. I'd never get an i3.

 

 

Period.

what if the op doesn't want to overclock and the i3 is a great cpu regardless of what its against except for the 8320/50 i7's and i7 Extremes

[Guest]

For the price of the best i3 you could get a decent i5...

[ImBleu]

what if the op doesn't want to overclock and the i3 is a great cpu regardless of what its against except for the 8320/50 i7's and i7 Extremes

 

There is no market for i3s, let alone High-end i3s.

 

Mid-range i5-4xxx or Pentium G3258 or bust.

[NeatSquidYT]

If 1150, G3258

 

Why would you want an i3 BTW?

That's pentium

[themaniac]

There is no market for i3s, let alone High-end i3s.

 

Mid-range i5-4xxx or Pentium G3258 or bust.

there is a market for i3's they are great little cpu's the i3 4130 does quite well against the i5 4670k if you don't believe me than watch this 

[dandrix]

For the price of the best i3 you could get a decent i5...

Money aint the problem, also if im correct i3 has hyper threading, while i5 doesnt, so im not losing out on anything much.

[ImBleu]

there is a market for i3's they are great little cpu's the i3 4130 does quite well against the i5 4670k if you don't believe me than watch this 

 

Pentium K: $70

i3-4130: $120

i5-4670K: $235

 

Tell me why you'd buy the i3. Outside of Laptops, ChromeOS and Prebuilt OEMs I see no use for them.

[themaniac]

Money aint the problem, also if im correct i3 has hyper threading, while i5 doesnt, so im not losing out on anything much.

well the i3 does have hyperthreading if your able to get an i5 with a simalar clock speed than the i5 would do better but the two i3's that i would only recommend are the lowest and second lowest clocked i3's because they are the only i3's worth the money and they are for haswell refresh i3 4150 and i3 4160

[themaniac]

Pentium K: $70

i3-4130: $120

i5-4670K: $235

 

Tell me why you'd buy the i3. Outside of Laptops, ChromeOS and Prebuilt OEMs I see no use for them.

the video proves that the i3 is worth it if your on a budget and want the hyperthreading and the pentium k will be gone within a year

[Lotus]

The ONLY way an i3 beats the G3258 is if you don't take overclocking into account. Considering you can get a 212 Evo and a G3258 for less than the i3, and the G3258 can overclock on h chipset MoBos, there's no reason not to overclock, and so no reason to ever get an i3. The G3258's single threaded performance is so good that even with only its two threads, it can match the i3's multithreaded performance even though the i3 has 2 cores w/ HT (4 threads). Really, there's never a reason to get an i3 unless you decide, irrationally, not to overclock.

[Guest]

Money aint the problem, also if im correct i3 has hyper threading, while i5 doesnt, so im not losing out on anything much.

 

Oh yes do you... The i5 performs much better in games. Don't you want more FPS for the same price?

[typographie]

Pentium G2358 (Pentium K).

 

No i3 can beat that.

 

Where did you hear that?

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8232/overclockable-pentium-anniversary-edition-review-the-intel-pentium-g3258-ae/4

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,3849.html

At best, the G3258 at 4.5-4.7 GHz matches an i3-4330, but just as often falls behind. In some games (those that abuse cores more than others) it can fall behind a Haswell i3 by quite a lot. And frame variance often suffers much more than raw framerates, too.

 

The G3258 is impressive for its price, but as always, if you can spend more you will get more. I'd only recommend it if its meant to be a temporary option if one is waiting to upgrade to an i5 or i7 later on.