Haswell i3 versus Ivy Bridge i3

[VirtualLarry]

Just trying to figure out which one would be better for my purposes, given their respective prices.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116773
i3-3240 $119.99 - $10 off promo code

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116946
i3-4130 $124.99

http://www.microcenter.com/product/419424/Core_i3_4130_34GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor
i3-4130 $99.99 + gas/tolls

http://www.microcenter.com/product/414453/Core_i3-3245_34GHz_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor
i3-3245 $119.99 + gas/tolls

Was thinking of getting the IB i3 for my mom's rig (currently a G1610), and maybe getting an i3 (either IB or Haswell) for my friend's rig, if I end up upgrading it.

I assume that the Haswell i3 is a little bit faster.

Another question is the 29.97Hz issue, which I'm not certain is even an issue with watching movie streams on a PC monitor that is already running at 60Hz refresh rate.

Is there any benefit to the i3-3245, for someone that just watches online videos and doesn't plan on gaming on the IGP? (Seriously, who games on an Intel IGP anyways? Have to be poor or insane to do that, on a desktop with a PCI-E slot. On a laptop, I could possibly understand.)

Then again, for a little more money I could get a Kaveri, but I kind of wanted an H77 / H87 chipset, such that I could set up my friend's HDD and SSD using SRT, something he's not able to do on his AM2+ mobo.

I would just get a G1620 from MC ($35 in-store) for my friend's rig, if it weren't for the fact that he's already running an Athlon II X4, and I don't want the new rig to be a step backwards.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I assume that the Haswell i3 is a little bit faster.

Another question is the 29.97Hz issue, which I'm not certain is even an issue with watching movie streams on a PC monitor that is already running at 60Hz refresh rate.

The video issue got fixed with Haswell and I think there are claims going around that it eventually got fixed in IB too with some kind of update, but I would go with Haswell just to be sure on that.

The Haswell is a bit faster and has a better IGP than the IB based i3, so if you are buy a motherboard & CPU from scratch, with the prices you listed, it makes no sense whatsoever to get the IB based i3.

Is there any benefit to the i3-3245, for someone that just watches online videos and doesn't plan on gaming on the IGP?

Unless they have a 1155 motherboard, no.

I would just get a G1620 from MC ($35 in-store) for my friend's rig, if it weren't for the fact that he's already running an Athlon II X4, and I don't want the new rig to be a step backwards.

And would need new motherboard too.

 

[mikeymikec]

Even if the (SB generation) board claims to be IVB compatible, I wouldn't trust it from experience.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My mom's rig has a B75 board, so she would need an 1155 CPU. It's not like she outgrew her G1610 either, I just thought I would do something nice for her.

Her previous rig was a Celeron 440, which is a C2D 65nm single-core 2.0Ghz CPU running XP with 1GB of RAM off of a 250GB IDE HDD.

Current rig is G1610, B75, 16GB DDR3-1333, 80GB SSD, Win7 64-bit.

Even with the (lowly?) G1610, it blows the doors off of her old rig.

Oh yes, she's still using a 1024x768 15" LCD. I have a 25" 1920x1080 LCD with speakers and HDMI that I wanted to give her. That's one reason to get the i3-3245 CPU, if it would play back videos better on a 1080P screen.

Edit:
And for my friend, I wanted something that could use SRT, for essentially as cheap as possible, with the caveat that the CPU and thus overall performance shouldn't be lower than a 3.0Ghz Athlon II X4 CPU. (Am I correct in surmising a 3.4Ghz i3, of either IB or Haswell, should be faster for most things?)

 

[tweakboy]

Great CPU for things like office suite Adobe Suites. to an ascent

Well even help you Overclock if that is a plan for you. Right now everything should be default.. stock CMOS

 

[nwo]

I have a 1620 Celeron and I don't have trouble with HD video playback but my monitor is only 720p.

Do you have to pay tax for MC and/or newegg? I have to pay tax for MC but not newegg, so if it were up to me, I would just go ahead and purchase the stuff from newegg. Save time and probably won't end up spending more $$$ than you would if you were to go to MC. You might actually save $$.

As far as the HD 2500 vs HD 4000 debate goes, here is a review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_2.html#sect0

I don't think that either one of them will struggle with 1080p videos. But as you can see from the review, there is a 50-100% performance increase going from HD 2500 to HD 4000. If the price difference is only a few bucks (as is the case here) then go with the HD 4000.

 

[ascalice]

I would buy a Haswell. The Haswell has lower power consumption, improved graphics, and 10-20% improved performance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

i3 CPUs have AVX and QuickSync, right? Do Haswell i3s have AVX2 too?

Maybe if I upgrade mom's rig with an i3, I can have it do distributed-computing for me in the background.

 

[Ventanni]

I'd go Haswell i3. The Haswell i3's are a bit faster than the Ivy Bridge dual cores they replace due to the architectural differences improving the HT efficiency, meaning that in more heavily threaded situations you'll see the Haswell chips really start to pull away.

The GPU is definitely superior on Haswell too.

 

[Ken g6]

i3 CPUs have AVX and QuickSync, right? Do Haswell i3s have AVX2 too?

Yes to all of the above.

 

[coolpurplefan]

The only reason I might go Ivy Bridge is if I wanted to dual-boot with XP and another more modern OS (with those motherboard manufacturers that still have XP drivers).
Haswell can apparently run with less power usage at idle.

 

[cytg111]

Since its "only" a dual core, id take the improved hyperthreading with haswell into consideration.

 

[bitech]

My mom's rig has a B75 board, so she would need an 1155 CPU. It's not like she outgrew her G1610 either, I just thought I would do something nice for her.

Her previous rig was a Celeron 440, which is a C2D 65nm single-core 2.0Ghz CPU running XP with 1GB of RAM off of a 250GB IDE HDD.

Current rig is G1610, B75, 16GB DDR3-1333, 80GB SSD, Win7 64-bit.

Even with the (lowly?) G1610, it blows the doors off of her old rig.

Oh yes, she's still using a 1024x768 15" LCD. I have a 25" 1920x1080 LCD with speakers and HDMI that I wanted to give her. That's one reason to get the i3-3245 CPU, if it would play back videos better on a 1080P screen.

Edit:
And for my friend, I wanted something that could use SRT, for essentially as cheap as possible, with the caveat that the CPU and thus overall performance shouldn't be lower than a 3.0Ghz Athlon II X4 CPU. (Am I correct in surmising a 3.4Ghz i3, of either IB or Haswell, should be faster for most things?)

The Ivy Bridge Celeron is a pretty powerful and cool (never hits 40 C) little monster for only $35.
My mom's PC is pretty much the same: G1610, 64GB Crucial M4, Windows 7 x64, except hers only has 4GB RAM. Why does your mom need 16 GB??

 

[abbcccus]

If you have a Fry's nearby, they have the i3 3240 on sale according to their Wednesday ad online (http://www.frys.com/ads/page10#AdNavi) for $88. Oddly enough, it doesn't show at that price on their website and it doesn't adjust even if you choose in-store pickup, but since it's in their ad I'd assume the store will sell it to you at that price.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If you have a Fry's nearby, they have the i3 3240 on sale according to their Wednesday ad online (http://www.frys.com/ads/page10#AdNavi) for $88. Oddly enough, it doesn't show at that price on their website and it doesn't adjust even if you choose in-store pickup, but since it's in their ad I'd assume the store will sell it to you at that price.

Thats a good deal, nice find. This would take care of OP's mom.

As for the friend, I assume you will need a mobo as well correct? If so, consider going to microcenter and getting an i3-4340 combined with Gigabyte GA-H81M mobo. Total would be $130.- AR

 

[sm625]

My mom's rig has a B75 board, so she would need an 1155 CPU. It's not like she outgrew her G1610 either, I just thought I would do something nice for her.

If you want to do something nice get a bigger monitor. She will likely not notice the step up from the celeron to i3, except maybe on some really busy web pages.

 

[Blue_Max]

Bigger, better IPS monitor plus maybe a cheap video card you might have lying around, like a Radeon 6450... though the Intel's IGP may be perfectly adequate for 1080P videos (@720P I prefer for bandwidth!)

...and I highly doubt she needs 16GB of RAM.

 

[DrDoug]

I would go with Haswell. Newegg now has a $15.00 off code on the i3-4330, which puts it at $124.99. 100 MHz faster, 33% more cache and 4600 graphics for the same price as the 4130.

I decided to go with a 4330 in our new HTPC and am very happy with the performance. I'm not using the iGPU though, instead going with a R9-270X for some gaming.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would go with Haswell. Newegg now has a $15.00 off code on the i3-4330, which puts it at $124.99. 100 MHz faster, 33% more cache and 4600 graphics for the same price as the 4130.

Thanks, nice find.