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Intel I3-4130T vs I5 4590T worth extra $120?

M

Morcilla

Junior Member
Hello,

I'm a bit rusty here, I'm in the process of trying to buy a casual gaming / office PC. I would like it to be extremely small so I chose ... (never thought I'll ever consider buying an AW smh) Alienware Alpha. But I've been hearing some good reviews regarding the price for performance.

Anyways, they have 3 options between the processor chips. I3, I5, I7. Don't an need I7. So that's out. But the cost difference between I3 and I5 is like $120 bucks.

Will I see a difference in performance while doing Office and Gaming use such as web browsing with over 20+ Tabs open, streaming sports, or watching youtube videos while gaming on dual screen etc.? I typically play Heroes of the storm, Starcraft 2, Diablo and such.

Thanks,
 
No point buying a low TDP i3. The power savings are miniscule. If you want tiny you may as well go for a 4370 and a mini-ITX H97 board. That i3 is clocked at 3.8GHz (!) and will no issue with what you want to do. An i5 would be $80 or so more. You don't exactly need 4 cores, choice is yours.
 
Are you gaming on the integrated graphics, or do you have a discrete card? Also, are you buying a pre-built or are you building your own? I was a little confused by the mention of alienware in the first post.

For reference, here is the Intel ARK comparison:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/78928,77481

If you're gaming on the igpu, it looks like the i5s HD4600 is a pretty noticeable step-up from the HD4400. If you have a discrete card, they both provide pretty solid single-threaded CPU performance which is the driving factor in games and applications that you describe.
 
dark zero said:
Wait until Skylake. The improvements are massive.
Click to expand...

Dark Zero, I hear the I7 will be the only ones available for the first few months, and that's an overkill. They expect that to be released in August. So by December we'll see I3s and I5s? That's too long for me to wait 🙁
 
You're going to be using this for quite awhile. A dual core in 2015+? No way.. Don't gimp yourself.. Get the i5..
 
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None of those games use 3-4 cores so an I-3 will be fine. I would still get the i5 for the future if you can afford it though, it will be much better in the next few years.
 
Essence_of_War said:
Are you gaming on the integrated graphics, or do you have a discrete card? Also, are you buying a pre-built or are you building your own? I was a little confused by the mention of alienware in the first post.

For reference, here is the Intel ARK comparison:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/78928,77481

If you're gaming on the igpu, it looks like the i5s HD4600 is a pretty noticeable step-up from the HD4400. If you have a discrete card, they both provide pretty solid single-threaded CPU performance which is the driving factor in games and applications that you describe.
Click to expand...

Hey Bud,

Sorry for the confusion and thanks for your reply. I am considering the Alienware Alpha. They're tiny little mini PCs that pack a decent punch for the price. The i3 Model is like $530. and the i5 Model is $643.

I have a gaming rig at my home. I was trying to avoid going through the hassle of building another PC hence why I picked the Alienware Alpha. This will be used at my office.

Not sure if I am allowed to post the link, but I wanted to shed some light on any confusion.
http://www.alienware.com/landings/alpha/
 
Wait till September/October and get a 35W Skylake-S. Base clocks are much higher and it probably sustains Turbo speeds for longer periods compared to Haswell, not to mention the faster iGPU.

zpyflw6.jpg
 
escrow4 said:
No point buying a low TDP i3. The power savings are miniscule. If you want tiny you may as well go for a 4370 and a mini-ITX H97 board.
Click to expand...

Essence_of_War said:
If you're gaming on the igpu, it looks like the i5s HD4600 is a pretty noticeable step-up from the HD4400.
Click to expand...

The i3-4370 has HD4600 too. If using the iGPU then opt for an H97 which allows OC.

Much better iGPU will eventually come with Skylake-S LGA but only in higher priced i5.

Skylake-H BGA is coming in i3 but then not as good iGPU.
 
TeknoBug said:
Don't buy an Alienware Alpha, you can build a system with same specs for at least $150 less.
Click to expand...

Yeah but will I be able to get that tiny size?

I've looked everywhere for something as small as the AW Alpha. It's absurdly small, like a Nintendo Wii.

I would definitely build a PC if I could find a case that small and a GPU that could fit inside, but I can't... I've searched everywhere. I liked the Gigabyte Brix but it's even more expensive than the Alienware.
 
No offense meant, but I dont really understand why people insist someone build their own system when they specifically say they dont want to.

In any case, the Alienware Alpha seems quite reasonable for the cost. It does include a dgpu, although the Dell site does not give details. I think it is comparable to 750Ti/860M. For a machine this small, I think the i3 would be sufficient.
 
Morcilla said:
Yeah but will I be able to get that tiny size?

I've looked everywhere for something as small as the AW Alpha. It's absurdly small, like a Nintendo Wii.

I would definitely build a PC if I could find a case that small and a GPU that could fit inside, but I can't... I've searched everywhere. I liked the Gigabyte Brix but it's even more expensive than the Alienware.
Click to expand...

Silverstone RAVEN case
 
A custom build can get close to as small, but the Alpha really isn't a bad buy if the parts fit your needs. I'd probably opt for the i3 version, as it's a good match (arguably over-matched) for the low-end GPU included.
 
Morcilla said:
Yeah but will I be able to get that tiny size?

I've looked everywhere for something as small as the AW Alpha. It's absurdly small, like a Nintendo Wii.

I would definitely build a PC if I could find a case that small and a GPU that could fit inside, but I can't... I've searched everywhere. I liked the Gigabyte Brix but it's even more expensive than the Alienware.
Click to expand...

Brix with i5 4570R it cost $372 (amazon).

If you add 4gb ram and some ssd/hdd it would still be cheaper than alpha.
 
Core i3s are excellent value and you don't feel you're ripped off from Intel vs. the overpriced i5. All the i3s are 4 threads in two cores, and works like a quad-core, plus most i3s have higher single-thread performance score than i5s. Why not i3-4160T clocked 200MHz faster than i3-4130T.

In case you can bear with 53W standard power, i3-4160 3.70GHz is the #1 best value you will find:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252033183504
 
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frozentundra123456 said:
No offense meant, but I dont really understand why people insist someone build their own system when they specifically say they dont want to.
Click to expand...

Because we're on a forum that encourages custom systems. 😛

With Skylake literally around the corner, I don't think it'd hurt you to wait a bit OP. But if you absolutely want to buy a system now, I'd definitely go for the i5 for gaming.
 
Morcilla said:
Anyways, they have 3 options between the processor chips. I3, I5, I7. Don't an need I7. So that's out. But the cost difference between I3 and I5 is like $120 bucks.
Click to expand...
Carefully check for additional differences between systems, like amount of RAM, WiFi chip, GPU model etc. (depending on model/retailer, there might be)

  • If they are identically matched, buy the i3 build. Browsing will be identical, gaming will be GPU bound.
  • If i5 build has any other better specs (ex: 2x2 Wifi instead of 1x1, more RAM, bigger storage etc) then go for this one instead. Overall you will probably get better value out of it, or come out even.
 
the processor on the alienware alpha is very easy to replace, you undo the four screws on the bottom, and there are four screws holding the heatsink on. with that being said, iwould go with the i3 as its cheaper, if you find that it doesn't meet your needs, then upgrade it. if it meets your needs, then you have saved $120.
 
I had some interest in the Alienware Alpha i3 for a while, but right now they're $699 CDN and I can build the exact same system for $450 CDN, that's how expensive the Alienware is right now, for some reason they did launch at $499 CDN but hiked to $699, $699 was the i5 model launch price.
 
You guys rock.

Thank you all for your advice. Seems like most people suggested the i3 version.

@coercitiv definitely good advice. I will make sure they are all equal besides the Processor chip first.

@TeknoBug I hear you man, but here in the U.S. I can get the i3 version for $529, it comes with the Win 8.1 OS installed. If I build my own PC that $100 difference will be equal because I would still need an OS unless I get a bootleg version, which I am not a fan of.
 
coercitiv said:
Carefully check for additional differences between systems, like amount of RAM, WiFi chip, GPU model etc. (depending on model/retailer, there might be)

  • If they are identically matched, buy the i3 build. Browsing will be identical, gaming will be GPU bound.
  • If i5 build has any other better specs (ex: 2x2 Wifi instead of 1x1, more RAM, bigger storage etc) then go for this one instead. Overall you will probably get better value out of it, or come out even.
Click to expand...

Well bud,

You were right, the i5 comes with a 2x2 WiFi and the i3 has a 1x1 WiFi.

Everything else is identical. Do you think an extra $120 bucks is worth it for an i5 and 2x2 WiFi? To be honest I've never really paid attention to this 1x1 or 2x2 WiFi stuff. But I learned today that it has to do with the Antennas inbound and outbound. So thank you for that. 🙂
 
If the WiFi module is on a mini-PCIe card, you can replace it yourself (if you feel the need). You can get a nice Intel 7260 2x2 card for ~$25. I've replaced about half of the WiFi modules in the desktops/laptops in my house.
 
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