intel core i3-2100 or i5-2400?

[simpliztik_]

i5-2400 doesn't support overclocking but will give me better performance in today's high-end PC games and tomorrow's.

 

[dma0991]

I would go for the Core i5 2400 instead as 2 physical cores are better than 2 virtual cores that the Core i3 2100 has. There is no guarantee that it will be future proof but most games run fine with 4 cores. Maybe more in the future but that is not certain yet.

 

[simpliztik_]

Would you suggest overclocking though? I need a PC that can run good games and I heard overclocking can help make it run even better.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

for an idea of stock performance between the two: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=289

However with tweaking the Turbo Boost you can overclock the non-K Sandy i5s and i7s to a certain degree but somewhere only around ~500MHz (the i3 cannot be overclocked at all, at least not until a K version)

so on an i5 2400 @ 3.1GHz over four cores you could get it to 3.6GHz on a four core load and 3.7GHz on 2-3 cores and 3.8GHz in a one core load: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1501/7/

but if you really want to overclock you'd need to go with a K series such as i5 2500K or wait for the rumored i3 2120K where overclocks beyond 4.5GHz are almost guaranteed (at least with modest aftermarket cooling)

whatever you go with ultimately depends on what you plan to do with the system and how long you intend to keep it before upgrading again

for an HTPC the i3 2100 is plenty, but for a personal computer the i5 2400 has considerable extra oomph should you ever do more than basic computing, while the sheer clockrate of a K series might add an extra year of acceptable performance

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I could physically tell the difference when i upgraded from a dual core Wolfdale to a Yorkfield in Unreal Tournament III.

 

[betasub]

i5-2400 doesn't support overclocking but will give me better performance in today's high-end PC games and tomorrow's.

Tomorrow's? That we can only guess about, but the trend is towards utilising more cores.

Would you suggest overclocking though? I need a PC that can run good games and I heard overclocking can help make it run even better.

If the game is CPU-limited, then overclocking to increase CPU clock-speed will help. But it will depend on the game and your graphics card. You do have a specific graphics card in mind, right?

 

[simpliztik_]

Tomorrow's? That we can only guess about, but the trend is towards utilising more cores.



If the game is CPU-limited, then overclocking to increase CPU clock-speed will help. But it will depend on the game and your graphics card. You do have a specific graphics card in mind, right?

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (EVGA Superclocked)

 

[betasub]

^ Nice card. Worth getting your i5 choice of CPU to drive it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

go quad. i did for the VT-d