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

[cbn]

 

[Yuriman]

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

IMAGE

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.

If you take a look at cbn's benches, I'd say it's worth it, though I wouldn't buy that i3. I'd get a $125 one,at a $65 premium. In some cases the 3.6GHz i3 is 33-50% faster than a 4.7ghz Pentium for whatever reason. In others, it's a tie with the heavily overclocked Pentium, which is probably in a more expensive motherboard ($0-20) and with an aftermarket cooler ($30), making them cost around the same. The i3's speed is guaranteed, and it's likely using less power and making less noise doing it.

You're also getting AVX, FWIW.

 

[rootheday3]

If you are planning on using the igpu, the i3 also gets you hd4600 GT2 (20eus, 2 texture units) instead of gt 1 (10eus), plus video processing features (clear video). I believe it also supports higher display resolutions as well.

In addition to AVX, core i3 also includes AES-NI for faster crypto.

 

[Leyawiin]

If a game is so taxing it can't run well on the Pentium it probably won't run well on an i3, Athlon or low end FX well either.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Only advantage for the 860K over the Pentium it seems is to dupe games that "require" quad cores and or AVX. Though it's entirely possible some games that require 4 cores really need them thanks to crappy coding (AC Unity, Dying Light).

 

[Blue_Max]

WOW!!! Fantastic information in here, guys... thank you!

I'm sure glad I asked because the AMD chip sure left me disappointed. The cheapest H81 mobo + i3 seems a far better choice overall.

Heck, I should hunt for some used i3 or i5 processors. My local kijiji has a couple deals to be had, one place even had a used i5-2500(non-K) for $95 CDN which is very tempting. Newegg still sells 1155 ITX H61 boards. I even saw a G520 Celeron for a lousy $20 but I'll lose the onboard WIFI that route....

Looks like the AMD route is cheap for a reason. Such a shame... I used to be a big AMD fan for the value+performance.

 

[escrow4]

Only advantage for the 860K over the Pentium it seems is to dupe games that "require" quad cores and or AVX. Though it's entirely possible some games that require 4 cores really need them thanks to crappy coding (AC Unity, Dying Light).

I have a 5930K @ 3.7GHz and Dying Light still dips to 35FPS or above in some places (lots of fire/foilage) for some mysterious reason. GPU is a 780 Ti GHz @ 1215MHz which I doubt would have issues @ 1200p with 50% draw distance.

Point is poor coding will gimp any hardware. AMD will suffer way more than Intel in that situation though due to those weak modules.

 

[Ramses]

WOW!!! Fantastic information in here, guys... thank you!

I'm sure glad I asked because the AMD chip sure left me disappointed. The cheapest H81 mobo + i3 seems a far better choice overall.

Heck, I should hunt for some used i3 or i5 processors. My local kijiji has a couple deals to be had, one place even had a used i5-2500(non-K) for $95 CDN which is very tempting. Newegg still sells 1155 ITX H61 boards. I even saw a G520 Celeron for a lousy $20 but I'll lose the onboard WIFI that route....

Looks like the AMD route is cheap for a reason. Such a shame... I used to be a big AMD fan for the value+performance.

There's still some value there for the performance, but you need to either game less for that old four core, or step up to an 8x CPU and be doing a moderate mix of gaming with regular PC use. They aren't too bad a deal then, least in US dollars. Aren't getting any younger though.

 

[exar333]

WOW!!! Fantastic information in here, guys... thank you!

I'm sure glad I asked because the AMD chip sure left me disappointed. The cheapest H81 mobo + i3 seems a far better choice overall.

Heck, I should hunt for some used i3 or i5 processors. My local kijiji has a couple deals to be had, one place even had a used i5-2500(non-K) for $95 CDN which is very tempting. Newegg still sells 1155 ITX H61 boards. I even saw a G520 Celeron for a lousy $20 but I'll lose the onboard WIFI that route....

Looks like the AMD route is cheap for a reason. Such a shame... I used to be a big AMD fan for the value+performance.

I think you are on the right path. get the best for your money. Newer boards are great, but really the core features (USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, etc) are pretty much all available on the last couple gens. A cheap, used SB/IB still hold their value well because they are still solid-performers. Any i5 quad from SB or newer will be an ideal gaming part. Jack of all trades.

 

[tential]

Dunno how you can even consider the 860k.

Didn't you already have another thread/posts in a thread earlier about going to a 4790k blue max?

 

[ElFenix]

860k on sale at fry's today $64.

 

[cbn]

Sorry to cross post, but check this out:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37170572&postcount=618

So maybe we see DX12 give AMD some legs back (when used with larger dGPU at medium or high settings)?

 

[sm625]

The problem with the 860k is that it gets beaten by first gen i5 which is cheaper and the hardware is plentiful albeit not new. (Arguably even more plentiful than the 860k) Since I work with over a dozen PCs that have been running for more than 8 years, and several that have been running for 10 hours a day for 15 years, I do have an obvious bias towards used hardware.

 

[Ramses]

Hard to compare new vs used in any organized fashion. I don't disagree on the value of going used to get more for the money, but it's tuff to compare new/used prices.

 

[coercitiv]

So maybe we see DX12 give AMD some legs back (when used with larger dGPU at medium or high settings)?

All CPUs will get some legs back, no matter the brand. This bechmark is supposed to be a worst case scenario for CPU load, so there's a good chance 4 threaded CPUs will be able to feed all but the top end GPUs.

 

[cbn]

All CPUs will get some legs back, no matter the brand. This bechmark is supposed to be a worst case scenario for CPU load, so there's a good chance 4 threaded CPUs will be able to feed all but the top end GPUs.

That is true, because the Core i3 also gained in DX12. But the AMD A8 and A10 gained even more in DX12 and completely closed the gap in performance vs. i3 at the medium and extreme settings. At low settings the Core i3 and A8 and A10 APUs both gained in DX12, but the gap between Core i3 and A8 and A10 still remained rather large.

With that mentioned, I do realize this test was a "worst case scenario" and in addition DX12 games are still a good ways off. In the meantime AMD still needs to be competitive with Intel at X price point for the DX11 titles.

 

[Blitzvogel]

860k on sale at fry's today $64.

I saw that today too. Building a console killer is so cheap now.

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

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 personally wouldn't game on anything lower than an unlocked i5. My G3258 can make a decent casual gamer, but way too many modern games need more than 2 threads for good perfomance.

A dual core is a waste of money in 2015.

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

860k on sale at fry's today $64.

You really can't beat that price for an unlocked quad core.

 

[cbn]

A dual core is a waste of money in 2015.

Mine (OC G3258 with R7 250X) works great on BF4 64 player when using Mantle API on 1080p low. Not sure about Nvidia cards on the same game though.

P.S. I've also had great results on Crysis 3 with the same video card on 1080p low.

 

[cbn]

860k on sale at fry's today $64.

Good deal.

In 4 one. :thumbsup:

Looking forward to doing some comparisons with my OC G3258.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just an FYI: beware any review featuring a Kaveri quad (860k, 7850k, etc) clocked over 4.5 ghz. There are many FM2+ motherboards that effectively restrict Kaveri chips to 4.5 ghz, beyond which point there is no scaling with clockspeed whatsoever. Some users have reported slower results at 4.6/4.7 ghz than at 4.5 ghz.

The ASRock board used in the hardcoreware.net benchmark is certainly guilty of scaling problems beyond 4.5 ghz.

The problem may be more of an issue with the APUs than with the 860k, though I've certainly heard of people still having the problem with an 860k before.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just an FYI: beware any review featuring a Kaveri quad (860k, 7850k, etc) clocked over 4.5 ghz. There are many FM2+ motherboards that effectively restrict Kaveri chips to 4.5 ghz, beyond which point there is no scaling with clockspeed whatsoever. Some users have reported slower results at 4.6/4.7 ghz than at 4.5 ghz.

The ASRock board used in the hardcoreware.net benchmark is certainly guilty of scaling problems beyond 4.5 ghz.

The problem may be more of an issue with the APUs than with the 860k, though I've certainly heard of people still having the problem with an 860k before.

So... I wonder why that is? Is it a rather hard cutoff point, and not a curve?

Is it the IMC/Uncore? Memory bottleneck? Something chipset-related?

 

[Blue_Max]

Dunno how you can even consider the 860k.

Didn't you already have another thread/posts in a thread earlier about going to a 4790k blue max?

Noooooohohohoooooo... not I, said the guy with the much smaller budget for toys.

In the past I've snagged cheap i3's from people upgrading. Now would be an excellent time for one to pop up locally! :awe:

If we had Fry's in Canada, that $6x price tag would be too cheap to resist. That's less than half the cost of any i3!

 

[Blue_Max]

OMG! The price of Intel processors just keeps going up here in Canada!

Yeah, I know our dollar has taken a hit recently, but the price of Intel stuff seems to have increased at a rate higher than that. The i7 4790k is $419.99 compared to the ~$300 the 3770k was. Ugh.

So with the A8-7600 being much cheaper than any i3, it's more tempting than ever...
*sigh* Crazy times... no good used stuff on kijiji to make this problem moot.