[Tom's] Benching Intel's Unlocked Pentium G3258

[mindbomb]

i knew the increased cache, hyperthreading, and faster memory of the i3 would give it a leg up, but jeez, a stock i3 4330 is faster than a 4.5ghz pentium. That's pretty wild.

 

[piasabird]

Why don't they test an i3 with 4 Megs of Cache? Most people game in full screen mode, don't be ridiculous.

 

[jpiniero]

Do you guys think this is a worth the savings over an i3? For gaming I mean. I also wonder if it's not a better idea to drop in a haswell Celeron and upgrade to a 4690k or 4790k

I would just bite the bullet and buy the 4690K or 4790K now. It's not like anything significantly faster is going to come out any time soon; and as a result prices won't really fall at all. You'd be good for 5 years easy.

 

[Cerb]

You can get a Z87 board for <$50 at MC...

Plus the $40-50 of gasoline, and 3-4 hours round trip...and lots of folk aren't that close to a Microcenter. If you are closer, great, but it's not a good generalization for parts pricing.

 

[shrewdgamer]

Do you guys think this is a worth the savings over an i3? For gaming I mean. I also wonder if it's not a better idea to drop in a haswell Celeron and upgrade to a 4690k or 4790k

It could be a placeholder till Broadwell comes out.

 

[Stable]

It could be a placeholder till Broadwell comes out.

Won't Broadwell be in a different socket? I am thinking that having something now that can be upgraded easily without a new motherboard and ddr4. I wonder if the i3 would suffice for games.

 

[jpiniero]

It could be a placeholder till Broadwell comes out.

Broadwell-K's CPU isn't going to be any faster than Devils Canyon. Could even be slower if it can't hit the same clock speeds while overclocked. The GPU would however be much better.

 

[shrewdgamer]

Won't Broadwell be in a different socket? I am thinking that having something now that can be upgraded easily without a new motherboard and ddr4. I wonder if the i3 would suffice for games.

Broadwell will be on LGA 1150 but requires 9 series chipset.

Broadwell-K's CPU isn't going to be any faster than Devils Canyon. Could even be slower if it can't hit the same clock speeds while overclocked. The GPU would however be much better.

We don't know.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Seems like a fun chip if you wanted to build a killer retro gaming box that sucks little power but is incredibly fast for games that use dual core, like BF2 or UT2004 for example. Why not i say.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Another question: anyone know if the IHS/TIM situation for the G3258 will be identical to Devil's Canyon, or standard Haswell? Will you need to delid/relid this thing to get optimal temps (assuming you aren't running it bare die)?

 

[Torn Mind]

Broadwell will be on LGA 1150 but requires 9 series chipset.

Many 8-series chipset boards should work with a BIOS update. I mean, Haswell Refresh was alleged to not be compatible with 8-series chips, but a BIOS update is that's needed to make it work for many boards.

 

[blackened23]

Intel actually stated, specifically, that a 9 series chipset is required for Broadwell.

If that changes in the interim, we'll just have to wait and see. I kinda doubt it. But these are things that are pretty well down the road, so....

 

[ShintaiDK]

Intel actually stated, specifically, that a 9 series chipset is required for Broadwell.

If that changes in the interim, we'll just have to wait and see. I kinda doubt it. But these are things that are pretty well down the road, so....

Did they? The only paper on the subject is a power delivery paper. And there is no 9 series chipset for the business segment. There is Z97 and H97, thats it.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Did they? The only paper on the subject is a power delivery paper. And there is no 9 series chipset for the business segment. There is Z97 and H97, thats it.

Not yet. There's plenty of time for them to introduce another one if necessary.

 

[schmuckley]

eh..Tom's people can't bench nuffin

 

[shrewdgamer]

Another question: anyone know if the IHS/TIM situation for the G3258 will be identical to Devil's Canyon, or standard Haswell? Will you need to delid/relid this thing to get optimal temps (assuming you aren't running it bare die)?

Standard Haswell, it doesn't have the improved TIM of Devil's Canyon.

 

[DrMrLordX]

That's good to know. I sense many Pentium delid/relids in the future . . .

 

[crashtech]

Might be a good one to practice on, seeing as there is much less money at risk.

 

[ED-209]

this seems like the perfect cpu for a MAME box.

 

[Techhog]

Look at the pedestrian i3 beating the overclocked Pentium in every game and most synthetics. The frame time variances in particular make an H81 + i3 > Z8/97 + G3258.

Completely ignored that Asus board post, eh?

 

[Techhog]

Did they? The only paper on the subject is a power delivery paper. And there is no 9 series chipset for the business segment. There is Z97 and H97, thats it.

I think they're going to make it 9-series only. Even DC isn't fully compatible with all 8-series boards even after a BIOS update. (mine included )

EDIT: Just double checked, and I was wrong about my board other than weird omission of the G3258.

 

[crashtech]

Completely ignored that Asus board post, eh?

No, just posted that before I read about ASUS unlocking some of their lower end boards. That does change the equation somewhat. Are you going to buy one?

EDIT: I think the story about lower chipsets getting unlocked broke the day after that comment was made...

 

[tential]

After reading the reviews and seeing the charts where it compares to the FX-4300 and the i3, I'd say this is a pretty good processor pickup. FAR cheaper than the i3/FX-4300 but gives the same performance when OCed.

 

[SPBHM]

After reading the reviews and seeing the charts where it compares to the FX-4300 and the i3, I'd say this is a pretty good processor pickup. FAR cheaper than the i3/FX-4300 but gives the same performance when OCed.

it can be, but you have to consider the motherboard cost for OC, inferior IGP and cases where 2 threads just don't work, like some games (WatchDogs)

the non-Z OC story is to unclear at this point.

 

[cbn]

Too bad Tom's did not test with a heavily multi-threaded game like Crysis 3. I would have been very interested to see how the Pentium 3258 compared to the Athlon x4 750K using the test conditions below:


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/piledriver-k10-cpu-overclocking,3584-10.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487-10.html

P.S. I believe the top graph is mislabeled for the stock speed Athlon x4 750K and OC Athlon x4 750K.