Intel Core i3...opinions ?

[Georg Grech]

Is Intel core i3 (3rd generation) any good for gaming ?? 

 

I will add a graphics card but as a CPU, will it be able to handle games such as Battlefield 3 ?? 

 

Or should I wait till core i5 goes down in price and go for an i5 ?? 

 

 

 

[Faceman]

A 3rd generation i3 is not that good. A Haswell i3 on the other hand is very good for gaming. I would still recommend waiting until you can get an i5 though.

[Comessy]

Just save up for an i5, the 2 cores that an i3 has is not enough for gaming

[Faceman]

Just save up for an i5, the 2 cores that an i3 has is not enough for gaming

While an i3 does only have two physical cores, it does have hyperthreading which really helps the i3 game well, as long as its a Haswell or newer i3.

[typographie]

Or should I wait till core i5 goes down in price and go for an i5 ?? 

 

I wouldn't plan on that happening, out-going Intel product generations never really seem to drop in price much.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Or should I wait till core i5 goes down in price and go for an i5 ?? 

well...that's not gonna happen mate so you will have to save more...

that said, the core i3 of third generation are only 5-7% slower than the haswell core i3 if at the same clockspeed...they can run battlefield 3/BF4/hardline just fine on medium/high settings when paired with a mid-range GPU. (a good match GPU for 1080p gaming would be R9 270, GTX 760, R9 280...something along those lines (i'd go R9 280)...will provide anywhere from 45 to 60FPS in battlefield and in most other games as well provided you are okay with lowering some settings.)

Hope this help you making an informed choice.

[Anarchyz11]

Locked i5-4440 wont be much more than an i3, and will perform leaps and bounds better.  Go mow the neighbors lawn for the extra $30 or something.

[SteveGrabowski]

Core i5 CPUs never go down in price much. I doubt Haswell i5 will go much lower than they are now. No worries though, you could stick a GTX 960 with your i3 and have a system that can run the Battlefield games awesome.