Yet another "which cheap Haswell do I want" question

[biervat]

(04-19-2015, 03:35 AM)IVCrumpet Wrote: Hey thanks for the reply, but I still have some concerns:

(04-19-2015, 03:09 AM)biervat Wrote: I am currently using the overclockable anniversary Pentium G3258 dualcore, and it's fine at 3,2Ghz

"Fine" as in fullspeed? Probably not, or you wouldn't have bothered OC'd it to 4.0, right?

Quote:at 4.0 GHz dolphin plays most games well, 3x resolution and at fullspeed.

I fully expect an OC'd G3258 to beat an i3 at Dolphin- my question is whether the i3-4160@3.6GHz would be good enough for fullspeed Metroid Prime.

Quote:Also GTA V apparently runs well, according to youtube. skyrim also hasn't got any issues.

Skyrim would run well on anything now, it's a 2011 game. As for GTAV- the player on YouTube has it at 4.4, he has all the fun sliders like population density tuned down, and he has a stuttery 30-ish FPS with a 750ti. Playable sure, but it doesn't bode well for the future.

DA:I, Rise, and Far Cry 4 are examples of games that either refuse to start with <4 logical cores, or run VERY poorly. Check the video in the Eurogamer article for an example of Rise's performance. The Witcher 3 looks to be flatly insisting on it, too.

Quote:So to conclude, an i3 would also be fine, but you could save the money and go for a cheap motherboard and this pentium, whilst having a decent graphicscard is necessary.

I'll be getting a cheap mobo either way They all have SATA600 and USB3 now, so I don't really need a high-end one at all. As for graphics, I was just going to keep my 5770. The Dolphin FAQ actually names that very card as one that will be okay for games at HD.

I kind of remain unconvinced that I'd get as much mileage for new and upcoming games from the Pentium as the i3. I'm basically hoping someone who has an i3 will tell me whether Metroid Prime is fullspeed on it with current Dolphin revisions :]

Well, where to begin, mine runs well at 4.0 GHz,it will do 4.2 and 4.3, but needs a bit of volting. 4.4 is doable, but not necessary. currently it's running on stock 3.2, which may not be sufficient for many games.
metroid mostly runs at full speed, but has some weird issues, i never play the game so might be something in the configuration, i doubt it would be a lack of processing power.
and to answer your question, i doubt the i3 would be fast enough to do atleast 3x native resolution and play metroid at full speed, in Full HD (3x native minimum)

its true that modern games need more cores, i dont have a need for modern, an i3 would be evenly insufficient powerwise, eventhough hyperthreading offcourse gives the i3 the advantage in modern games.

a z97 motherboard isnt necessary to overclock if you would go anniversary pentium.
anyway, my pentium will kick any i3's ass, especially if you consider it's pricepoint, the next best thing may be atleast 100$ more expensive, if not 200$.

i had to make the same decission, it was either modern gaming with an i5/i3 or pretty zelda, i went with zelda.