With Intel processors being so expensive these days, is the 860k viable?

[Blue_Max]

I don't know why but Intel processors (at least in Canada) have been ridiculously expensive. The cheapest i5 is now $75 more than it once was a generation or two ago. 🙁

So with the i5's out of reach, is the 860K still a sensible option? Want to build a tiny ITX cube for moderate gaming...

The A8-7600 is $30 more and gives that "free" video... lower thermals and less power use but no overclocking...

 

[ShintaiDK]

A 860K would also cost equally as much more. Unless its old stock.

The reason is the currency exchange.
https://www.google.com/finance?q=usdcad

Select 1 year chart view.

The 860K is much much slower. And it uses more power.

 

[Blue_Max]

A 860K would also cost equally as much more. Unless its old stock.

The reason is the currency exchange.
https://www.google.com/finance?q=usdcad

Select 1 year chart view.

The 860K is much much slower. And it uses more power.

The 860k I can get for a lousy $80 Canadian vs. $145 for the lowest i3 or $240 for the lowest i5. It's tempting...

 

[TheELF]

The 860k I can get for a lousy $80 Canadian vs. $145 for the lowest i3 or $240 for the lowest i5. It's tempting...

Search for gaming benchmarks,the g3258 is much better then the x860 at gaming if you will use a discrete GPU.

 

[Yuriman]

Stock vs stock, an 860K is not an i3 competitor. Pair it with a better motherboard, and a good cooler, and give it a healthy overclock, and it'll trade blows, losing in games and programs that aren't well threaded, and winning in those that can load all 4 cores. However, you're spending extra money on the board and cooler, partially closing the cost gap.

Most would probably agree a Pentium G3258 is the closest Intel equivalent, and that chip is overclockable on cheap Intel boards, but despite being more than 50% faster per core than the Athlon, a dual core is a hard sell for me today.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I would look at the G3258. Then you can also upgrade later.

 

[janeuner]

The 860k I can get for a lousy $80 Canadian vs. $145 for the lowest i3 or $240 for the lowest i5. It's tempting...

Intel i3 is always a bad deal. Check the price of Intel G3258.

But yes, 860K is viable. You'd need to move to a Intel CPU to make the most of a >$150 video card. But paired with a $120 video card, it offers little disadvantage compared to any Intel processor when gaming.

 

[PC Master Race]

Intel i3 is always a bad deal. Check the price of Intel G3258.

But yes, 860K is viable. You'd need to move to a Intel CPU to make the most of a >$150 video card. But paired with a $120 video card, it offers little disadvantage compared to any Intel processor when gaming.

Ecept in game engines where the CPU performance matters like all online games.

 

[schmuckley]

Not really.

 

[Yuriman]

Intel i3 is always a bad deal. Check the price of Intel G3258.

But yes, 860K is viable. You'd need to move to a Intel CPU to make the most of a >$150 video card. But paired with a $120 video card, it offers little disadvantage compared to any Intel processor when gaming.

I'd argue that isn't true. The Pentium requires a healthy overclock to match a stock i3, and will need an aftermarket heatsink to do so.

Taken from Anand's Pentium Anniversary review:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8232/...ary-edition-review-the-intel-pentium-g3258-ae

i3 is unpopular here because it's locked, but it's a very respectable chip.

 

[cbn]

Want to build a tiny ITX cube for moderate gaming...

If you want Mini-ITX, just remember to factor in AMD FM2+ boards costing more than Intel Non-Z overclocking boards.

 

[cbn]

Stock vs stock, an 860K is not an i3 competitor. Pair it with a better motherboard, and a good cooler, and give it a healthy overclock, and it'll trade blows, losing in games and programs that aren't well threaded, and winning in those that can load all 4 cores. However, you're spending extra money on the board and cooler, partially closing the cost gap.

Do you have any links of OC 860K beating an i3 in gaming?

 

[AtenRa]

I don't know why but Intel processors (at least in Canada) have been ridiculously expensive. The cheapest i5 is now $75 more than it once was a generation or two ago. 🙁

So with the i5's out of reach, is the 860K still a sensible option? Want to build a tiny ITX cube for moderate gaming...

The A8-7600 is $30 more and gives that "free" video... lower thermals and less power use but no overclocking...

What games do you want to play ??

 

[Yuriman]

Do you have any links of OC 860K beating an i3 in gaming?

I don't, and I suppose my post was unclear, I meant to imply "and winning in programs that can load all 4 cores" with the gaming part being a separate clause.

Perhaps AtenRa can help us find some gaming benchmarks that compare an overclocked 860K and stock i3? Seems to be in his area of expertise.

 

[Yuriman]

This seems to be what we're looking for:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/kaveri-7850k-overclocked-benchmarks/2/

^ I have to wonder about their methodology though, as the scaling doesn't seem right.

EDIT:
Their conclusion:

There’s no question that the CPU portion of the Kaveri APU is relatively weak compared to Haswell. Having said that, the $170 (MSRP) A10 7850 it is often able to outperform Intel’s similarly priced $160 Core i3 4340. Of course, you’re comparing a quad core running at up to 4 GHz to a dual core running at 3.6 GHz, but that’s not what matters. What matters is actual performance, and how much we pay to get it.

Our 4.7 GHz overclock yielded performance increases between 13-17% depending on the test being performed. In some cases, this allowed Kaveri to outperform the Core i3 where it would fall behind at base speed (particularly in 3ds Max and Cinebench). In most cases, the 7850K actually outperforms Core i3 while running at stock speed, so that extra 15% is just gravy on top.

As far as gaming goes, I still think it would be a better choice to go with a Haswell based CPU, as it allows high end GPUs like the R9 280X we used to run at full potential. The Core i5 looks particularly good in modern engines that push the boundaries, like Crysis 3, Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed 4. Even if you can’t overclock a non-K series Haswell processor, it just delivers smoother frame times and an overall better experience.

 

[Ratman6161]

The 860k I can get for a lousy $80 Canadian vs. $145 for the lowest i3 or $240 for the lowest i5. It's tempting...

Yes but...what about a motherboard? If you happen to already have a working motherboard in your parts bin it might be worthwhile. But if not, Intel says that's a socket 1156:

http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/Intel-Core-i7-860-Processor-8M-Cache-2_80-GHz

Newegg doesn't even sell those anymore though I'm sure you could dig one up somewhere. Still, you'd be spending your money on old technology. To me it would only make sense to buy the 860 if you already had the other parts you needed to build a system around it.

 

[cbn]

Yes but...what about a motherboard? If you happen to already have a working motherboard in your parts bin it might be worthwhile. But if not, Intel says that's a socket 1156:

http://ark.intel.com/products/41316/Intel-Core-i7-860-Processor-8M-Cache-2_80-GHz

Newegg doesn't even sell those anymore though I'm sure you could dig one up somewhere. Still, you'd be spending your money on old technology. To me it would only make sense to buy the 860 if you already had the other parts you needed to build a system around it.

He is actually referring to this FM2+ AMD processor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819113379

P.S AMD's prior FM2 Athlon processors were 750K and 760K for FM2, coincidentally Intel had lynnfield equivalents to those model # as well with i5-750 and i5-760. 😉

 

[Redentor]

Do you have any links of OC 860K beating an i3 in gaming?

There is this review with a lot of benchmarks: http://www.bitsandchips.it/9-hardware/5027-athlon-x4-860k-versus-pentium-g3258?showall=1

 

[Yuriman]

There is this review with a lot of benchmarks: http://www.bitsandchips.it/9-hardware/5027-athlon-x4-860k-versus-pentium-g3258?showall=1

Much appreciated. I wish they would have included an i3 and an FX-6300 for reference though.

 

[exar333]

You can grab a SB or IB CPU + MB combo off ebay for ~$200 and budget a little more for international shipping. Or just get the CPU and source the MB locally. That's a cheap way to get a fully-unlocked Intel option....

I checked NE prices on newegg.ca and it is high! :/

 

[cbn]

There is this review with a lot of benchmarks: http://www.bitsandchips.it/9-hardware/5027-athlon-x4-860k-versus-pentium-g3258?showall=1

Here are the results for that review:

More results coming

 

[cbn]

 

[cbn]

 

[janeuner]

I'd argue that isn't true. The Pentium requires a healthy overclock to match a stock i3, and will need an aftermarket heatsink to do so.

The fastest i3 (4370) is 3.8 Ghz. Here is G3258 at 3.8Ghz on a B85 motherboard, with a stock cooler:

The G3258 costs $60, and the i3-4370 costs $150. If anyone really thinks Hyperthreading and an extra 1MB of cache is worth $90, well, a fool is born every day.

 

[cbn]

Much appreciated. I wish they would have included an i3 and an FX-6300 for reference though.

Here is a review with both of those and the Athlon x4 860K and G3258:

http://pclab.pl/art60391.html