i3 vs i5 for budget gaming build?

LordPablo · 23 Oct 2015 at 12:02

Should I look at an i3 (with a better GPU) or an i5 (with an OK GPU) for a budget gaming build?

Looking at playing BF4, Battlefront, GTA, Witcher etc

Danny75 · 23 Oct 2015 at 12:10

For those games, i5-4690K while it's cheap, with a 770 or 780. Graphics quality can always be tuned down to give you better performance (and will still look nice enough) till you upgrade, but you can't give an i3 more oomph.

linktoinsanity · 23 Oct 2015 at 14:18

i3s are good for speedy low-budget web-browsing PCs that are going to be doing a little light gaming and occasionally other more demanding tasks.

i5s are better for budget PCs whose main focus is gaming and will occasionally do other more demanding tasks.

i7s are good for higher-budget gaming machines and other power-user tasks.

Personally I'd go with an i5 if I were you, you can upgrade the graphics card easier later.

LordPablo · 23 Oct 2015 at 14:22

Whilst I don't game a ton at home currently (I used to, and now get my BF4 fix at work) I think it will be classed as doing more than light gaming for sure.

Think I'll look at the i5 then

Now I just need to try and get the totla build price down as much as I can haha.

linktoinsanity · 23 Oct 2015 at 14:43

The i3 is not a bad processor and would certainly cope, but I feel an i5 would be a better choice. Good luck.

Biomorphs · 23 Oct 2015 at 16:03

My Partner has a 3.7Gz i3 and a Nvidia 960 4Gb graphics card, and she plays Witcher 3 on High settings and on her 1080p screen it is smooth as butter. She plays World of Warcraft on ultra and gets the best part of 60fps (with Vsync) all the time also.

I would say any money you can save on the CPU would be better spend getting a better graphics card - you will always see more improvement over a better graphics card than a better CPU

ndaar · 23 Oct 2015 at 16:48

Yeah I dont think an i3 is a bad choice for budget gaming, but it depends on your overall budget.

I also would consider the newer skylake CPUs (price dependant obviously)

elitehellokitty · 23 Oct 2015 at 20:53

a review showed i3 runs all the latest games fine, the only exception was Crysis. i5 ran all including Crysis fine. The difference probably comes from the fact the Crysis Devs did a sloppy job coding. omg predictive text stoooooop

LordPablo · 30 Oct 2015 at 13:54

Thanks for the help folks

I'm not in a position to buy just yet, so I'm sure I'll come back when I am to ask more daft questions!

Sandycheeks · 30 Oct 2015 at 15:20

LordPablo said:
, and now get my BF4 fix at work..

colour me intrigued...is this even allowed?

Randall8686 · 30 Oct 2015 at 17:27

with out doubt you will get more FPS with an i3 and a say 970 than an i5 with a 960 etc. people really dismiss the i3 as a gaming chip but having seen a i3 running GTA V on a 970 very very well and not maxing the CPU i would personally say you are much better off with a better GPU if gaming if the main task.

FixupSellon · 31 Oct 2015 at 23:34

I have an i3 myself, it's a 4160 @ 3.6ghz mated to 8gb ddr3 ram and a gtx 750(non ti) and BF4 was very playable on ultra with anything from 35-55fps and it played the Battlefront beta with ease also, along with WOWS and WOT.... My computer was a prebuilt and just under £500 brand new from shop and considered a mid gamer, it was a gift and it does everything I want currently, don't own any GTA yet to trial

But I did see better specs for same or less price used or new online(I build computer,s, so always looking) so there are very good options out, but I wouldn't go any lower than an i3, well I would, but not for gaming..

Freddie1980 · 1 Nov 2015 at 07:34

Get the I3 and put more money towrds the video card. It might even be worth getting the overclockable Pentium version nd sve even more money. Those games should play nicely with a dual core and you can alwys get a quad core latter if you find it's becoming bottleneck.

LordPablo · 2 Nov 2015 at 11:18

Sandycheeks said:
colour me intrigued...is this even allowed?

Well, on my lunch I play BF4. I work for a software development company (we actually do a ton of "creative" digital stuff including VR, AR, art, apps etc etc) and most of us plays games at lunch. We have our own Minecraft server running and used to play a lot of Killing Floor co-op

tres_kun · 2 Nov 2015 at 12:02

Willie it is true that you can buy an I5 at a later date
We have already seen that as the platform gets older the lower chips become unwanted and the better chips keep value
A Pentium g aniverdarry will become useless fast and its price will be very low
Wile the I5 costs 100 pounds More
Whatever you spend on a low chip will be wasted money
Bottem line 60 pounds cpu today another 100 more to upgrade in 2 years
Why not get it today and have the extra horsepower ?
You are going to pay that money regardless
That is how I see it
If you never plan to upgrade I3 is perfect