i3-2100 $89.99 + shipping @ TigerDirect AC

[richierich1212]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...297&CatId=6983

$114.99 - $25 coupon code LUB33235 (Expires 6/30) = $89.99 + shipping

Nice deal.

 

[Nizology]

Hmmm. Very enticing. I've been trying to decide between this one, or the 2120...

 

[Zap]

Save your money and get the 2100. You probably won't notice any difference if you don't benchmark it. For something actually faster, you will want to bump up to a Core i5. Better yet, sink the dollar savings into an SSD.

 

[Away]

Nice deal, beat Micro Center by $10.

 

[Nizology]

Save your money and get the 2100. You probably won't notice any difference if you don't benchmark it. For something actually faster, you will want to bump up to a Core i5. Better yet, sink the dollar savings into an SSD.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. I'm building an HTPC and this should be plenty to power that.

 

[RPD]

For an HTC wouldn't the 2100T be better?

 

[dandruff]

is i3-2100 good for htpc that will also act as dvr / media server (2 tuner - OTA) for itself and 4 other TVs / devices. No gaming / photoshop etc. also using a Z68 board ? TIA !

 

[Nizology]

For an HTC wouldn't the 2100T be better?

For what reasons?

 

[RPD]

Anandtech guide suggests it?

Honestly not sure, but the smaller design power required?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001157&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=343|19-116-394^19-116-394-TS%2C19-115-078^19-115-078-04%23

 

[Roland00Address]

That's pretty much what I was thinking. I'm building an HTPC and this should be plenty to power that.

Yes it is plenty of power to do a HTPC. I am currently running a 2100t (the 2.5 ghz little brother that is more energy efficient 35w vs 65w). It is plenty fast with a 40gb intel-v ssd, for everyday computing not involving gaming I can't tell the difference between my i7-920 with indinnix ssd.

is i3-2100 good for htpc that will also act as dvr / media server (2 tuner - OTA) for itself and 4 other TVs / devices. No gaming / photoshop etc. also using a Z68 board ? TIA !

Easily as long as the tv tuners are using hardware decoding instead of software decoding.

For what reasons?

The 2100t uses less power than the 2100. They have very similar idle power but maximum power consumption on the 2100 is a little higher. Only real reason to get the 2100t instead the 2100 is if you want to run the cpu passively cooled and you feel better knowing that the cpu shouldn't go over 35w.

 

[Zap]

For an HTC wouldn't the 2100T be better?

Not necessarily.

Silent PC Review tested it

The performance gap between the Core i3-2100 and i3-2100T is much wider, about 15% ... With a typical workload, it consumes about 5W less than the i3-2100, but the difference at idle is too small to count. If you're going to build a system that's going to idle mostly, there's really no advantage.

The only time you'd want to spend more money for the 2100T, IMO, is if you were planning to use it in a mini ITX case that has a really low wattage PSU, such as the Antec ISK 300-65 with a 65W PSU. Getting the 2100T in this case would insure that the CPU never draws too much. However, if you have a PSU of sufficient wattage like the Antec ISK 100 which comes with a 90W PSU, then you will be fine with the normal 2100.

 

[RPD]

Wow thanks! Damn it why does the coupon only last til tomorrow, I literally just started digging in to the HTPC stuff arrrggghhhh!

 

[code65536]

The only time you'd want to spend more money for the 2100T, IMO, is if you were planning to use it in a mini ITX case that has a really low wattage PSU, such as the Antec ISK 300-65 with a 65W PSU. Getting the 2100T in this case would insure that the CPU never draws too much. However, if you have a PSU of sufficient wattage like the Antec ISK 100 which comes with a 90W PSU, then you will be fine with the normal 2100.

Furthermore, the T is just an underclocked version of the non-T, and if you have a board that lets you underclock and limit the maximum ratio, the two should be the identical.

The T does come with a HSF that's 1.4cm shorter than the standard SB HSF (great for low-clearance cases; my G620T's HSF was only about 1 or 2mm higher than my RAM (which were standard-sized; no heatspreaders).

 

[ArtShapiro]

I've been looking for the proverbial good deal on a 2100T, after folks here suggested it would be more appropriate than the 2100 for the 300-65 case. Seems like the 2100 is often on a good sale, but even finding the 2100T, let alone at an attractive price, is tough. But I'm not in a huge rush - the recipient's birthday isn't for a couple months.

Art

 

[code65536]

I've been looking for the proverbial good deal on a 2100T, after folks here suggested it would be more appropriate than the 2100 for the 300-65 case. Seems like the 2100 is often on a good sale, but even finding the 2100T, let alone at an attractive price, is tough. But I'm not in a huge rush - the recipient's birthday isn't for a couple months.

If the HSF clearance is not an issue in the 300-65, and your board supports underclocking the CPU, it would make sense to underclock the 2100 instead of getting a 2100T. Just this week, I recall seeing the 2100T in one of those Newegg coupon-code newsletters. The price was not that much lower than the usual price...

 

[ArtShapiro]

Just this week, I recall seeing the 2100T in one of those Newegg coupon-code newsletters. The price was not that much lower than the usual price...

Thanks for the heads up - it looks like a fine deal to me. I just sprung for it and the little ITX Asus H61 board. I'm happy to not have to diddle BIOS settings to underclock the vanilla 2100 - just want to build something that works out-of-the-box for this recipient. Now to find some CL8 memory and we're set, as the case, SSD, and DVD are sitting in my living room.

Art