Intel Core i3-4340 Haswell vs. AMD FX6300

[Malvin]

Hi,

I am very new to PC building and wanted to make an inquiry about a possible system I am planning to build (first timer).

My goal is to build a system in the $600 range for regular day-to-day usage and occasional gaming. For the former, I think AMD FX6300 would suffice, however, for the later, such as Skyrim ES or GTA 5, after reading quite a bit, I am, now, on the fence and do not know which way to go.

I am not a hard core gamer, and my intentions are not to put together a top of the line gear (as the price range hints). Nonetheless, I would like to know which CPU can deliver a better performance for multi-tasking and gaming. I also understand that my request also depends on other components, but I thought, if I can nail down the CPU, I can put the remaining puzzle pieces together.

Thank you.

 

[jacktesterson]

I'd go i3-4340

 

[Yuriman]

I'd go with the i3, though it depends on the game as to which is the better choice. If we're talking Battlefield, the FX is likely to pull better numbers at stock and has overclocking on top of that. Skyrim / Guild Wars, the FX is an embarrassment.

 

[Malvin]

I'd go with the i3, though it depends on the game as to which is the better choice. If we're talking Battlefield, the FX is likely to pull better numbers at stock and has overclocking on top of that. Skyrim / Guild Wars, the FX is an embarrassment.

I am not fond of B4 or CoD (personal preference), and I understand these are the latest gaming generation, and thus, they are not suitable for the system I'm planning to build.

What about GTA 5? Would i3 performance far exceed FX6300?

 

[Arkaign]

It hurts so much to say this, but DO NOT BUILD for that price. Just a legal copy of Windows is $90 of your $600. The PCs on sale from sites like techbargains are the way to go, even if you have to buy a PSU and GPU to 'complete' them. I'll give you a quick example :

To beat that deal, you'd have to :

Get a Haswell i5 CPU, S1150 mobo, 8GB Ram, 1TB HDD, Case, DVDRW, and Windows License. Can't be done unless you find some AWESOME deals at Micro Center (in store sale bundles only, they don't give the awesome deals online, sadly).

You can complete it with a GPU like this :

and a PSU :

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...jt3vUgrsdVCyDA

Boom, legit system! $600ish. And the i5 won't leave you feeling like you made a mistake getting a dual core for 2014+.

 

[Malvin]

It hurts so much to say this, but DO NOT BUILD for that price. Just a legal copy of Windows is $90 of your $600. The PCs on sale from sites like techbargains are the way to go, even if you have to buy a PSU and GPU to 'complete' them. I'll give you a quick example :

Get a Haswell i5 CPU, S1150 mobo, 8GB Ram, 1TB HDD, Case, DVDRW, and Windows License.

Thank you Arkaign.

The problem I see with such arrangement is that the bundled components might be of inferior quality than the ones selected through research, i.e. the mother board might have a not so reliable voltage regulator, etc..

Besides, I am planning to include an SSD hard drive as I see the I/O as a bottleneck. But I can make up for that, because I do not need the Windows license (I already have one for Windows 8).

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

He will need a new case then as well because the heat dissipation is very poor on OEM cases. My friend is actually having that problem with a 3770 and 650Ti in a stock HP case.

 

[Arkaign]

Hmm. I'm running an overclocked 7870 with a 6350 in a used mATX case as an HTPC Works great. Some are better than others I suppose.

 

[Arkaign]

Thank you Arkaign.

The problem I see with such arrangement is that the bundled components might be of inferior quality than the ones selected through research, i.e. the mother board might have a not so reliable voltage regulator, etc..

Besides, I am planning to include an SSD hard drive as I see the I/O as a bottleneck. But I can make up for that, because I do not need the Windows license (I already have one for Windows 8).

Eh, the basic motherboards in HPs/Dells these days are no different than standard Asrock/etc mATX boards, only real difference is the locked BIOS (no OC support). The reason is that it's simply too expensive to justify truly separate assembly for non-OEM boards unless the volume is high enough to make up for the hassle.

The board in those looks about identical to this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130703

Haswells are so incredibly low power that the board is almost certainly the last thing you'd have to worry about. Not so long ago that wasn't the case obviously.

In any case, you'd want an i5 for sure, whether you build one or buy one. 2014 is a no-go for a dual-core, you'd just regret it.

 

[Lil Frier]

This is a similar issue as to what I am having. The difference for me is that ALL I want to change is the CPU in my build, as I will be fine on everything else (got new RAM and case last year, going to get a second video card and new PSU already, it seems).

Right now, I have a Phenom II x2 550 BE unlocked as a quad. Quite frankly, I don't do enough gaming to warrant a $275+ investment for an i5 (the Ivy is $230, Haswell is $240, right now). So I'm more looking to stick around $120 for a CPU, and I'm not sure whether I'll prefer to get an i3 or an FX-6300. What really messes me up is where Kaveri would fit in. Is there any chance it has performance marks in-line with an i3-4330/FX-6300? Is it best to just wait and see with it? Is my Phenom enough to handle most of what I'll play (Dishonored might be the most-taxing title I get this winter)?

I was leaning FX-6300 for a while, until I heard that the i3 can easily beat it in single-thread performance, since I won't touch heavily-threaded games like Battlefield, which put me back on the fence. I'm fine with waiting to see what AMD offers up in a month or so, but if it's something where Kaveri really won't compete with either chip, I might prefer to just grab whichever is better between the i3 and FX-6300, because unless I can talk my dad into an i5 for Christmas, the alternative would be waiting until AT LEAST the summer to consider an i5, at which point I might just prefer to wait for Broadwell.

 

[lehtv]

Including an SSD in a $600 budget is really going to hurt gaming performance.

Do you happen to have a Microcenter nearby? They have the lowest prices on CPU and motherboard bundles.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

 

[frozentundra123456]

Including an SSD in a $600 budget is really going to hurt gaming performance.

Do you happen to have a Microcenter nearby? They have the lowest prices on CPU and motherboard bundles.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

Those are some sweet prices on the FX6300. Are the free motherboards in those bundles any good?

 

[BSim500]

Go for the i3. You'd be surprised at what it can do even in heavily-threaded games like BF4, Crysis 3 or Metro: Last Light:-
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/3/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/4/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/5/

As for lesser well threaded games like Skyrim, etc, the i3 is 20-30% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-6.html

And for some games like Starcraft 2, it's up to 50% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-5.html

 

[DigDog]

the question is ...

$600 now, or $600 forever?

will you have any more money coming in, in the near future?

 

[NTMBK]

The problem I see with such arrangement is that the bundled components might be of inferior quality than the ones selected through research, i.e. the mother board might have a not so reliable voltage regulator, etc..

That only really tends to be an issue if you want to overclock. If you are running your CPU entirely within spec, and the motherboard lists it as supported, you shouldn't run into any issues. The only times I've seen people have real problems is with exploding caps a few years back, but that was a one-off industry wide disaster that hit all kinds of products.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Hmm. I'm running an overclocked 7870 with a 6350 in a used mATX case as an HTPC Works great. Some are better than others I suppose.

I am running a Dell xps with an i5 and a hd7770, and I have no overheating issues at all. That could change if you ran a more powerful card I suppose, but I would be more concerned about the card fitting into the case.

As to an i3 vs FX6300 that is a tough call. I would lean to the FX as being slightly cheaper and more future proof as games start to use more threads, but the i3 will be faster in poorly threaded games. I think gta games which the op mentioned do like lots of cores.

 

[Gikaseixas]

It's a really tough choice but i would go with the FX setup.

The single thread issue can be dealt with a easy overclock, say 4.5ghz. That would make the FX 6350 tear through every game or app with ease.

On the other hand, I like Intel's chipset performance, SSDs perform better on Intel hardware and you would be missing some of the latest features as AMD really needs to update their motherboard lineup.

 

[Jimzz]

Those are some sweet prices on the FX6300. Are the free motherboards in those bundles any good?

The free ones are usually older chipsets missing many current features. For $20-30 more you can get a 900 series board that has SATA6 and USB3 plus other better traits.

 

[Malvin]

The reason is that it's simply too expensive to justify truly separate assembly for non-OEM boards unless the volume is high enough to make up for the hassle.

Haswells are so incredibly low power that the board is almost certainly the last thing you'd have to worry about. Not so long ago that wasn't the case obviously.

In any case, you'd want an i5 for sure, whether you build one or buy one. 2014 is a no-go for a dual-core, you'd just regret it.

I understand that the separate purchase would certainly cross the budget line. And I'm really considering your recommendation to bump up to a 4-core CPU as my plans are to keep this system for the next 3 years.

I am also reconsidering my initial post with regards to gaming. I might as well not focus too much on that aspect after all, but I would like to plan ahead (and rightfully people can tell me to, "make up your mind").

 

[Malvin]

This is a similar issue as to what I am having. The difference for me is that ALL I want to change is the CPU in my build, as I will be fine on everything else (got new RAM and case last year, going to get a second video card and new PSU already, it seems).

In my case, I "need" to purchase every piece as I do not have an existing system that can be cannibalized.

 

[Malvin]

Including an SSD in a $600 budget is really going to hurt gaming performance.

Do you happen to have a Microcenter nearby? They have the lowest prices on CPU and motherboard bundles.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

Since I live in a small town, I do not have access to one of these stores. But for holidays, I'm at a place where there is indeed a Microcenter store, and those bundles do look promising (I am even tempted to consider A10's now). I wonder if I can put together a CPU/MB with the same price...

Now, something I cannot parse from your response is that the SSD might "hurt gaming performance". Why is that?

 

[Malvin]

Go for the i3. You'd be surprised at what it can do even in heavily-threaded games like BF4, Crysis 3 or Metro: Last Light:-
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/3/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/4/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/5/

As for lesser well threaded games like Skyrim, etc, the i3 is 20-30% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-6.html

And for some games like Starcraft 2, it's up to 50% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-5.html

That was indeed one of the comparison reviews I came across that made me question FX6300 in most regards. It seems like the second article is also validating the first one although I might add that it is difficult to deduce what methodology employed to conduct such testing (I don't read Polish).

And it also appears that the first test took the best ratings rather than taking the average!

 

[Malvin]

On the other hand, I like Intel's chipset performance, SSDs perform better on Intel hardware and you would be missing some of the latest features as AMD really needs to update their motherboard lineup.

I am not too sure, but it appears that the AMD CPUs, in this range, are missing a support for instructions that the new games take advantage of. I need a clarification on this.

 

[inf64]

I am not too sure, but it appears that the AMD CPUs, in this range, are missing a support for instructions that the new games take advantage of. I need a clarification on this.

If there is a thing AMD CPUs are ain't missing it's the ISA support. All the way from lowly dual core Trinity parts to 8C FX they all support almost all instructions (they lack AVX2 and a few other irrelevant ones for games). So nope, AMD CPUs do not lack anything in that respect. AMD is not cutting off the virtualization or AVX/AES and similar ISA support even on the lowest end parts.

 

[Ventanni]

Go for the i3. You'd be surprised at what it can do even in heavily-threaded games like BF4, Crysis 3 or Metro: Last Light:-
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/3/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/4/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/5/

As for lesser well threaded games like Skyrim, etc, the i3 is 20-30% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-6.html

And for some games like Starcraft 2, it's up to 50% faster:-
http://pclab.pl/art54006-5.html

What surprised me most about these tests (and I'd love to see them verified elsewhere too) is not how strong the i3 4340 is compared to the FX-6300, but how much the i3-4340 dominates the i3-3240 as well. Did anyone else notice that? It looks like those 2 extra ports and doubling of cache buffers allows Haswell to HT much, much more efficiently than Ivy Bridge in threaded situations. For a 6% boost in clock speeds, it appears you get a ~20% boost in framerates (Metro and BF4 see even higher boosts at +42 and +22%, respectively, at least according to this assembly of tests).