i3 6100 to replace i7 920 @ 3.5GHz

[krypto1300]

Been running my 920 for 6 or so years now. It's been a great cpu. Time to replace cpu and mb with a skylake and thinking about a 6100 until next year. Will this cpu be faster than my old 920 @ 3.5GHz, no HT?

I have a R9 270x that I play CoD:AW, BF4, Project Cars and would like to get Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. Also I like to play at 1080p, high settings and sometimes think my 920 is already holding me back.

 

[PointBreak]

It seems like it is holding you back. Upgrading is defiantly worth it for Witcher 3 and Fallout 4.

 

[SPBHM]

why no HT on the i7?

the i3 6100 is potentially faster on the games you mentioned, considering it goes well against an i5 2500, and it would be a lot faster on games like star craft 2

but for someone who kept a 920 for 6 years I think it might be the wrong option, you will get less MT performance from the i3 6100, it's just that the ST performance is so much better that it works quite well for gaming most of the time.

considering the lower power draw, and replacing components that are more likely to fail after 6 years with something which supports the latest USB/Sata, it might be worth it,

some people here will probably recommend you one of those 6 core Xeons,
but it lacks the same ease as the i3 (no OC, no old hardware), ST performance an so on...

those games might be also limited by your VGA at 1080P, it could be a good move to upgrade the VGA first,

 

[DrMrLordX]

I don't think the i3-6100 will do as well as you might imagine, especially not in games. A hexcore Xeon 5650 would be a good replacement if your board can handle it (and if you can keep it cool).

That being said, if you're on 6 Gb of RAM, that alone may be causing you headaches. 8 Gb is sort of the minimum now.

 

[krypto1300]

Thanks for the reply. HT died about a year ago. Can't get stable overclocks with it on. CPU is slowly dying. Used to run at 4GHz at 1.25v, then had to back it down to 3.8, then HT off. It's been stable at 3.5GHz, 1.2v for a year now.

I'm running 8GB ddr3 at 1333 in dual channel and a ginormous Noctua cooler (nh-d14 or something)

The Xeon X5650 is pretty tempting. I've seen them for $100. And I feel confident I could overclock it pretty high.


1080p is hard with my R9 270x. I do need to dial medium to medium-high sometimes and even back down the resolution to 900p which is fine. I do also have a GTX 750 ti in a i5-2400 rig if that would be better I could swap them.

In any case, I was hoping I could get a boost in gaming performance with msi z170 mb, i3 6100 and 16GB of ddr4 3200 ram for around $340 or so. Then next year go for a K cpu.

 

[SPBHM]

if you your x58 motherboard is in good shape and the CPU is degraded /problematic the Xeon 6 core could be a very good choice.

i5 2400 (3.2GHz under load with turbo) should be at least a little bit better than the i7 Nehalem at 3.5GHz with no HT.

 

[toyota]

getting an i3 makes no sense in your situation and will be gimping you from day 1. if you want to get the most out of games now and down the road either get a 6700k or dont bother upgrading to a new platform.

 

[krypto1300]

My i5 2400 is an office pc Dell Vostro, not very robust components. My x58 mb is still pretty good. Ive got a usb 3.0 and sata 3.0 pcie card in it. I'll bid on a Xeon to hold me over, then just build a new system next year.

 

[frozentundra123456]

getting an i3 makes no sense in your situation and will be gimping you from day 1. if you want to get the most out of games now and down the road either get a 6700k or dont bother upgrading to a new platform.

A 4690k or 6600k overclocked to 4+ ghz would be a huge upgrade. Even an i3 would be sufficient to feed a 270x, although I agree a quad core is a much better option for the long term. Even if one decides to go with an i7, 4790k is probably a better buy right now than skylake, since there are good deals on it and skylake prices are inflated.

 

[toyota]

A 4690k or 6600k overclocked to 4+ ghz would be a huge upgrade. Even an i3 would be sufficient to feed a 270x, although I agree a quad core is a much better option for the long term. Even if one decides to go with an i7, 4790k is probably a better buy right now than skylake, since there are good deals on it and skylake prices are inflated.

an i5 already gets pegged in some games. as I have said on many occasions, a cpu is something most people keep for at least 3 to 4 years so it makes no sense not to get what you need. getting an i5 today is foolish if you want the best experience in demanding games and expect to get the most out of a high end card.

 

[Zodiark1593]

an i5 already gets pegged in some games. as I have said on many occasions, a cpu is something most people keep for at least 3 to 4 years so it makes no sense not to get what you need. getting an i5 today is foolish if you want the best experience in demanding games and expect to get the most out of a high end card.

The funny thing is aside from cache, an i5 should have the same theoretical compute capability as an i7 per clock. It's just the pipeline has become complex and wide enough (especially compared to the consoles) that it seems to be difficult to fully utilize them with a single thread each, aka a very big mouth being fed one little piece of food at a time. Hyperthreading better allows the use of unused resources (which may be quite substantial) by putting it into another thread, utilizing closer to 100% of the processor's true capability.

In addition, the ability to address more threads simultaneously may mean (and by that, I mean I'm probably completely wrong) less overhead from switching between threads, regardless of the actual load placed on the cpu by said threads.

 

[DrMrLordX]

It is theoretically possible to write software such that HT provides very little benefit. Stuff the pipeline full, keep everything in cache, blah blah blah

Or, you can just utilize so few threads that HT provides no real gains.

 

[AtenRa]

Been running my 920 for 6 or so years now. It's been a great cpu. Time to replace cpu and mb with a skylake and thinking about a 6100 until next year. Will this cpu be faster than my old 920 @ 3.5GHz, no HT?

I have a R9 270x that I play CoD:AW, BF4, Project Cars and would like to get Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. Also I like to play at 1080p, high settings and sometimes think my 920 is already holding me back.

For BF4, Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 you better get an i5/i7 or 8-Core FX. Core i3s have very high FrameTimes.

 

[DrMrLordX]

For BF4, Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 you better get an i5/i7 or 8-Core FX. Core i3s have very high FrameTimes.

Ah, but none of those chips fit in his current motherboard! x5650 is the way to go, until he can save up for a better upgrade. Fortunately he has 8 Gb of RAM already.

 

[ShintaiDK]

For BF4, Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 you better get an i5/i7 or 8-Core FX. Core i3s have very high FrameTimes.

And FX is very slow. Its i5 or i7 then.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Been running my 920 for 6 or so years now. It's been a great cpu. Time to replace cpu and mb with a skylake and thinking about a 6100 until next year. Will this cpu be faster than my old 920 @ 3.5GHz, no HT?

I have a R9 270x that I play CoD:AW, BF4, Project Cars and would like to get Fallout 4 and Witcher 3. Also I like to play at 1080p, high settings and sometimes think my 920 is already holding me back.

Your 270X is what's holding you back.

Get a GTX970 and enjoy multithreaded drivers as well that will be of great benefit to you.

Then you can always upgrade the CPU+Mobo+memory in a year or 2. But the weakest link is your GPU. Its awfully slow.

 

[AtenRa]

Ah, but none of those chips fit in his current motherboard! x5650 is the way to go, until he can save up for a better upgrade. Fortunately he has 8 Gb of RAM already.

If he can OC that x5650 to 3.6 or higher yes its much better.

 

[AtenRa]

And FX is very slow. Its i5 or i7 then.

The 8-Core FX is close to Core i5 in those games and almost half the price.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The 8-Core FX is close to Core i5 in those games and almost half the price.

But again its irrelevant. Since his issue isn't CPU, but GPU.

 

[krypto1300]

Shintai, my issue is cpu. I won't be replacing the gpu. It's either a Xeon upgrade or mb, cpu, ram upgrade. The hope is that the cpu upgrade will boost my minimum fps as I'm fine with my current 60fps averages, they just dip quite a bit sometimes.

And as i mentioned earlier, I'm fine with my gpu at medium to medium-high settings and dropping to 900p if needed.

I can spend $100 now on cpu, then $500 for mb, cpu, ram next year. Or I can spend $340 now on mb, cpu, ram and then upgrade that cpu next year if needed. Then if I'm not happy with gpu, I'll upgrade that too.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Thanks for the reply. HT died about a year ago. Can't get stable overclocks with it on. CPU is slowly dying. Used to run at 4GHz at 1.25v, then had to back it down to 3.8, then HT off. It's been stable at 3.5GHz, 1.2v for a year now.

I'm running 8GB ddr3 at 1333 in dual channel and a ginormous Noctua cooler (nh-d14 or something)

The Xeon X5650 is pretty tempting. I've seen them for $100. And I feel confident I could overclock it pretty high.


1080p is hard with my R9 270x. I do need to dial medium to medium-high sometimes and even back down the resolution to 900p which is fine. I do also have a GTX 750 ti in a i5-2400 rig if that would be better I could swap them.

In any case, I was hoping I could get a boost in gaming performance with msi z170 mb, i3 6100 and 16GB of ddr4 3200 ram for around $340 or so. Then next year go for a K cpu.

Buy a used Core i7 980X and nab a GTX 970. Nice cheap upgrade that will probably last you for years. Then you can save up for a big overhaul in a few years' time.

 

[dark zero]

Your 270X is what's holding you back.

Get a GTX970 and enjoy multithreaded drivers as well that will be of great benefit to you.

Then you can always upgrade the CPU+Mobo+memory in a year or 2. But the weakest link is your GPU. Its awfully slow.

3.5 Gb?
No thanks, go for 980 or 390X
And if you have the luck a 290X with discounted prices.

Shintai, my issue is cpu. I won't be replacing the gpu. It's either a Xeon upgrade or mb, cpu, ram upgrade. The hope is that the cpu upgrade will boost my minimum fps as I'm fine with my current 60fps averages, they just dip quite a bit sometimes.

And as i mentioned earlier, I'm fine with my gpu at medium to medium-high settings and dropping to 900p if needed.

I can spend $100 now on cpu, then $500 for mb, cpu, ram next year. Or I can spend $340 now on mb, cpu, ram and then upgrade that cpu next year if needed. Then if I'm not happy with gpu, I'll upgrade that too.

Go Xeon then but buy a Liquid based Cooler in order to maintain fresh the chip.

 

[happy medium]

3.5 Gb?

May I ask, what is wrong with 3.5 gb for 1080p?

Krypto1300, A i3 6100 and a gtx 970 will be a great upgrade but first I would try just a gpu upgrade. Find a gtx970 for bout 250$ it will play most of the games you want on high/ultra settings @ 1080p with your current cpu.
I play project Cars its a great race game. I have Black ops 3 also. Ican play both of those games @ 1080p high settings at about 60 to 100 fps and I only have a gtx960.

 

[krypto1300]

3.5 Gb?
No thanks, go for 980 or 390X
And if you have the luck a 290X with discounted prices.



Go Xeon then but buy a Liquid based Cooler in order to maintain fresh the chip.

I have a Noctua cooler that I'll be reusing.

 

[krypto1300]

May I ask, what is wrong with 3.5 gb for 1080p?

Krypto1300, A i3 6100 and a gtx 970 will be a great upgrade but first I would try just a gpu upgrade. Find a gtx970 for bout 250$ it will play most of the games you want on high/ultra settings @ 1080p with your current cpu.
I play project Cars its a great race game. I have Black ops 3 also. Ican play both of those games @ 1080p high settings at about 60 to 100 fps and I only have a gtx960.

I'm not getting a video card at this time. It's my cpu that is problematic.