G3258 vs i3 4150

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The G3258 is only really useful if you are intending to play a subset of games,or intend to use it short term until you can get a better CPU. A number of new games seem to have issues with only two threads - I would be more inclined to get a Core i3 over a G3258.

If you are using the IGP - get the A8 7600,and it can be overclocked too like the G3258,and I suspect in a number of newer games will do better.

The A8 7600 was only £66 at Ebuyer recently and can be had for under £70 now.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here is my review of a first generation AMD APU,the A6-3670K:

http://forums.hexus.net/reader-revie...ew-thread.html

The A8 7600 has an IGP twice as fast.

GPU benchmarks


Diablo III

With over 6 millions sales in a few months,Diablo III is one of the most popular games to be released this year.

The game was run at 1440X900 at High settings with shadows and clutter switched off. Using FRAPS,a three minute run was done through two areas in Act I. The first was through the Old Ruins and the fields surrounding it . The second was the Cemetary of the Forsaken which has numerous crypts. Both areas have a decent number of spawned enemies.





In both cases the game was playable with minimum framerates above 30FPS.


Hard Reset

Next up is Hard Rest,a game which embraces the gameplay style of the old school of FPS games like Doom. The game is DX9 and was run at 1440X900 with high quality textures,AF switched off,low shadows,high post processing,high particles,default physics and high debris.



The first graph is from the internal benchmark which is included with the game.



A FRAPS measurement of a playthough through the first level until the last boss was also performed.

Although though there were some dips under 25FPS,the game seemed relatively playable still.


Civilization V

Civilization V is one of the most popular RTS games ATM with over 9 million sales. The game has various benchmark modes and among them is the late game benchmarks which simulates the game after 300 turns. A FRAPS measurement of the first 60 seconds was made. The game was run at 1440X900 under DX11 with leader scene quality set to low,low overlay detail,shadow quality switched off,minimum fog of war quality,medium terrain detail,low terrain tessellation quality,terrain shader quality switched off and low water quality and high texture quality. High detail strategic view was enabled. AMD driver controlled tessellation was kept activated.



Framerates hovered about the 30FPS to 35FPS mark. Zooming into parts of the map did reduce framerates though and was slightly jittery. However,the game should be reasonable playable overall.


DiRT 2

The final game tested was DiRT 2,which is a racing game. Using the Adrenaline Racing Benchmark tool,different stages of the game were benchmarked using FRAPS. The game was run at 1440X900 using medium quality settings under DX11 with no AA and 8 cars. AMD driver controlled tessellation was kept activated.



The first track tested was Battersea which is a stadium track which runs at nighttime.



The second track tested was Utah which is daytime desert track.



The third track tested was China which is daytime track with a combination of grassland and forest.

The game seemed quite playable on all tracks with adequate minimum framerates.

You are going to be more GPU limited anyway in most games,so the A8 7600 should survive a graphics card upgrade fine,especially in the £100 range IMHO.

[watercooled]

It may be worth bearing in mind though, if the OP wants to play games, that the integrated GPU on the Pentium is dire.

And that unlocked pentium keeps coming along with a recommendation to overclock, which as I said above I'd be cautious both expecting, and doing on a system you want to last and perform reliably. I just couldn't comfortably recommend an overclocked system to someone who may not be happy tinkering, getting system crashes, etc. And there's also the fact you need a more expensive motherboard capable of overclocking. And a decent cooler.

[kris88]

Hi, I'm building a cheap gaming pc to stick in a 7750HD I already have. I've opted for the G3258, as I think it will suffice for now, and leave the upgrade path clear to an i5 if I need more speed.

Also, I'm going for the H81M-P33 motherboard, which seems to be the best choice for a cheap board and allows overclocking. It was the one used in Tom's Hardware guide to overclocking the G3258.

Anyone have any suggestions as to this set-up?

thanks.

[Bonebreaker777]

No offence but any chance you would go for a second hand SB or IB i5 with a 1155 MoBo?

Your Pentium plus your chosen MoBo is like £80 or so? Excluding any 3rd party cooler purchases.

Second hand i5 (£70ish) plus new mATX motherboard with B75 chipset (SATA 6Gbps for SSDs and native USB 3.0 support) for £30-35. All would be for £105 and certainly faster I would say. Plus the 1600Mhz DDR3 support as a bonus if you choose an IB chip.Also no need for 3rd party cooler,Intel stock is just fine.

[kris88]

No offence but any chance you would go for a second hand SB or IB i5 with a 1155 MoBo?

Your Pentium plus your chosen MoBo is like £80 or so?

Second hand i5 (£70ish) plus new mATX motherboard with B75 chipset (SATA 6Gbps for SSDs and native USB 3.0 support) for £30-35. All would be for £105 and certainly faster I would say. Plus the 1600Mhz DDR3 support as a bonus if you choose an IB chip.Also no need for 3rd party cooler,Intel stock is just fine.

My main reasoning with the pentium would be that I could upgrade <year down the line with a 1150 CPU, rather than sticking to a 1155 mobo. Which i5 would I be looking for?

[Bonebreaker777]

My main reasoning with the pentium would be that I could upgrade <year down the line with a 1150 CPU, rather than sticking to a 1155 mobo. Which i5 would I be looking for?

I can see your predicament, but an i5 would serve you better now. Later you could get a better i5, i7 or a Xeon (all 1155 socket). Socket 1150 carries little improvement over 1155. I recently purchased from CeX an i5-3470S for £70 Inc delivery (pretty good price). Will be using it in a build later this week.

Any real i5 would be better that the pentium I would say (4 physical cores). Or maybe a nice AMD FX 4300/6300?

[kris88]

I found the 3470S for £75 on cex. Which mobo would you suggest to pair this with?
The memory on cex seems fairly cheap too, £35 for an 8gb stick. slightly concerned about the unknown source of components, but I guess their 12 month warranty covers it.

I think I'll bide my time for a week or so, and try to find the best deal for either a g3258 or something like the 3470s. Also, to give you some more background on this, i'm currently battling on with a HP microserver N36L with a 7750HD inside. For this reason, I think the jump up to g3258 would be huge, and the noticeable diff between that and an i5 would be fairly minor in comparison

Thanks for the help

[Bonebreaker777]

Any modern motherboard would do (B75 to start with) so you can take advantage of SATA 6Gbps port(s) for SSDs and native USB 3.0 ports.
As manufacturer goes, I used all the cheapest models across all value manufacturers (MSI,AsRock,BioStar) and never had the slightest issue.Would say choose by chipset.

EDIT: ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0 £38.33 from Amazon (£35 after Flubit). Or just noticed ASRock Z68M/USB3 for £41.17 (overclocking for 1155 CPUs in the future, plus still all the benefits of the SATA 6Gbps, RAID or USB 3.0). I would've chosen the Z68M/USB3 if I seen it on offer during the weekend...

[kris88]

Thanks, I'm really torn between the 2 options (2 cores-£35 vs. 4 cores), essentially.
I'll probably get an 1333mhz 8gb stick from cex for £28 as I don't think i'll see much benefit with 1600, and new paired sticks will cost me double. That leaves me with a choice of cases/PSUs. I see plenty of relatively cheap cases on amazon, often with PSUs. You seem to be well skilled at putting together a value build - any preferred cases? seperate PSUs seem to add to the cost a fair bit, are they essentially more power efficient/quieter?

And how do I give you a 'Thanks' on here? Can't seem to find the right button for it

[kris88]

Decided to go with the G3258 vis Flubit for £45

[Bonebreaker777]

Fair enough. I recently Flubit-ed a "quality" EVGA PSU for £29.25. Plus an AvP case for £11.03.

The EVGA seems to be all right, few reviews score it 75-82%.

The case is light, mATX, 2 x 5.25 external bays. Only USB 2.0 front ports but for £11 (Inc postage) you can't really get more. No sharp edges either. Interior is blacksame as the outside. No FANs supplied but there is s space to install front 120mm and rear 80mm.