help me decide i3 530 vs i5 750

[AzNPinkTuv]

so i bought a new rig, didnt assemble yet (dont have time, parts didnt arrive yet, prolly gonna assemble it in 3weeksish when i go back home and pick up some of the parts cus newegg charges tax in CA) http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2052724

now what happened is i bought an i3 530 at MC because well. lets put it this way, 99 was too hard to pass up.

now that being said, I did some reading here and you guys are all adamant about spending the extra 80 for an i5 750. I havent really built a computer in a while so this will be a hugeeee upgrade for me regardless (last desktop was my old P4ht 3.2 northwood with a 9800se then upgraded to a 7800GS) and my laptop has been a p8400 w a nvs160m. I dont game too much anymore, (used to play alot of wow and cs1.6 at tourneys and lan parties and stuff) but those days are behind me (need to study) but this laptop isnt really cutting it, the heat is getting worse and worse even with frequent cleanings. currently i just play alittle bit once in awhile. now for every day stuff, browsing and what not i know the i3 will be way more than enough.

what kind of apps would i have to be using for me to justify going outside of my planned budget by ~100 (counting in gas and stuff to return/pickup) and going to an i5 750. Most games these days, which i dont even play like crysis or anything from what i see dont really benefit from anything over 2 cores so how long do you think this setup will last me. I will however be doing some SC2 and D3 and WoW and some other games most likely (light gaming at the most) or some free lance adobe premier editing and watching movies at 1080p.

my original plan was to use this for a year or two, then get a 750 for cheaper hopefully next year or whatever the equivalent is then, and spend an extra 150 or so to use the i3 and turn it into an HTPC type system (speculation of course)


and to those of you who said i should have gotten a 965BE instead, i know the argument, but i think that also kind of falls into the debate between i3 vs i5. atleast similar (could of saved maybe 50 bucks for a phenom II build)

and for the ppl who are bound to ask if im going to OC or not, i plan on doing a light OC to 3.4ish? would i need aftermarket for that?

TY

 

[MrK6]

I'd argue for the i5 750, but it's not exactly like a an i3 530 is a bad processor. Considering you're not planning on overclocking much, I think that would swing the decision even in greater favor of the i5 750, as the i3 530 makes up the performance delta in clockspeed, especially in it's greater overclocking potential. Still, most applications aren't that heavily multithreaded yet, and both SC2 and D3 won't have that stringent of requirements simply so that they reach a larger market. I'm just curious, how bad of a drive is it back to MC?

 

[pjkenned]

You'll be fine with the stock cooler @3.4ghz as it'll hit that either stock voltages or max .1v extra. Stock cooler is super quiet also. The i3 will be fine for now, and if it lasts you 2 years, something 2-3x as fast will be $99. Only thing I would have suggested to do differently is wait for a Fry's deal since those have i3's and i5's at super low prices w/ motherboard.

 

[aggr1103]

I fought the exact same battle you're having up until two weeks ago when I built my new system. I couldn't pass up the $99 i3 530. Just like you I'm not playing any games that really utilize 4 cores (I primarily play wow and games based off the source engine). It just seemed like the right decision, and so far I'm really happy with my decision. Gameplay in WoW has been a night and day difference since moving from an x2 6000 to this i3 530. There's still lag in dalaran but my load times have been cut tremendously and that's at stock speeds - I don't plan on oc'ing until I get a decent aftermarket cooler.

$80 may not seem like much when you think about what you're getting when you move to an i5 750, but I put everything in perspective - I only use this system for playing wow, internet browsing, and some music. I do a little dvd burning and ripping too, but nothing major or taxing. I do plan on picking up an i5 750 within the year once prices drop on the used market, but for now I'm happy and I can use the $80 I saved towards a newer video card to replace my 8800gt .

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

I'd argue for the i5 750, but it's not exactly like a an i3 530 is a bad processor. Considering you're not planning on overclocking much, I think that would swing the decision even in greater favor of the i5 750, as the i3 530 makes up the performance delta in clockspeed, especially in it's greater overclocking potential. Still, most applications aren't that heavily multithreaded yet, and both SC2 and D3 won't have that stringent of requirements simply so that they reach a larger market. I'm just curious, how bad of a drive is it back to MC?

id be driving from LA to the one in tustin so its not tooo bad.

as for the othe rguy who said wait for frys deals for mobo + MC, i have a busy schedule and dont have time to drive to the B&M whenever the deal pops up so i paid about a $50 premium.

i still havent opened the box and i have a 5% off at MC off next purchase. so now im going to wait i guess and see if anything gets better before my 30 days end and i gather all my parts together to assemble. (more cash or better deals)

 

[OBLAMA2009]

id be driving from la to the one in tustin so its not tooo bad.

As for the othe rguy who said wait for frys deals for mobo + mc, i have a busy schedule and dont have time to drive to the b&m whenever the deal pops up so i paid about a $50 premium.

I still havent opened the box and i have a 5% off at mc off next purchase. So now im going to wait i guess and see if anything gets better before my 30 days end and i gather all my parts together to assemble. (more cash or better deals)

how did you get the mc 5% discount??

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

i should rephrase that. its 5% off of next single item purchase. it might be because i signed up for that promotion for the flash drive? got a new windows boot disk =D

 

[Spikesoldier]

i would venture to say you are good to 4.0 with the stock cooler on the i3

 

[cbn]

I think the Core i5 750 is a much better processor, but Core i3 530 is not bad for the money.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

i might be getting the i5 750 instead as i found in my pocket a $50 dollar bill that i didnt know i had earlier. feels like i made money.

anyone else think i should get the i5 750?. is the stock cooler on that enough to OC it abit?

 

[Dadofamunky]

You won't regret getting the i5. I'd say go another step up.

 

[cbn]

i might be getting the i5 750 instead as i found in my pocket a $50 dollar bill that i didnt know i had earlier. feels like i made money.

anyone else think i should get the i5 750?. is the stock cooler on that enough to OC it abit?

I think the Core i3 has a better margin for overclocking on the stock cooler, but AFAIK nobody has tested this.

Intel did a good job on their 32nm (even though memory performance ended up lower than a lot of people thought it would be).

 

[tamilarasu.ku]

i'd definitely suggest u i5-750 because it has 784million transistors in processor ,where as i3-530 has only 392 million transistor (but it has integrated gpu inside,i5 dosent)

Go for i5-750 definitely no way other than this,..........

 

[bryanW1995]

I'd stick with the i3, you already have it and it will be much easier to OC it on the stock cooler.

 

[Castiel]

I3 should hit 4.4ghz and is no slouch

 

[AtenRa]

I have put a review between an AMD Phenom II X4 955 vs an Intel Core i3 540

have a look

http://forum.oktabit.gr/content/intel-core-i3-540-review

English Translate
http://translate.google.com/transla...m.oktabit.gr/content/intel-core-i3-540-review

My opinion, take the core i3 530 now, just OC a little bit up to 3.6GHz with stock cooler and stock v-core and you will be fine.

 

[Concillian]

what kind of apps would i have to be using for me to justify going outside of my planned budget by ~100 (counting in gas and stuff to return/pickup) and going to an i5 750. Most games these days, which i dont even play like crysis or anything from what i see dont really benefit from anything over 2 cores so how long do you think this setup will last me. I will however be doing some SC2 and D3 and WoW and some other games most likely (light gaming at the most) or some free lance adobe premier editing and watching movies at 1080p.

Those games run fine on a mild OC i3. They'll run better on a mild OC i5 750, but not worth $100 IMO. WoW raiding is completely flawless for me with an i3 at 4.0. The i5 is faster, but I haven't noticed any slowdowns, ever, so I doubt it would make a difference to me.

SC2 I don't have firsthand experience with, but i3 shoul dbee fine for casual play. D3 I'd be really surprised if it doesn't play well at settings that look fine with an i3, but nobody knows since it's not released. Blizz tends to make stuff scale down really well, so I'd expect some settings that will make it plenty playable on an i3.

The only question is how important the Premiere work is. It will be significantly faster on the i5 when crunching. Probably 50% faster or so. If that's not important to you, then keep the i3. If that's worth $100 to you, then move up to the i5.

Also people recently bought new Sandy Bridge systems and i5-750 / 760 were popular CPUs. Take a look in the FS / FT forum and see if people are unloading some i5s. It may be cheaper than $100 to move up.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

way to necro a thread guys haha

I ended up doing the i5 750 last year and ended up handing it off to family as I stopped having usage with work.

I did however build a i7 2600k 2 weeks ago and it has been flawless

 

[Herr Kutz]

I use an i3-530 (stock speed) and 4GB of ram with the following usage and do not experience any problems with regards to speed:

(all running at the same time)
- Matlab
- Several firefox windows, most with multiple tabs, open
- iTunes
- A few pdf files
- Word and/or Excel Files
- And sometimes playing CS:S or AOE3 with all of these programs open

 

[tweakboy]

Whats the deal guys. Both of those CPU do not have HT if so.

Then if you dont do video edit or audio production or adobe,, you can go with the i3 4 core 4 threads.. gl let us know

 

[Markfw]

Whats the deal guys. Both of those CPU do not have HT if so.

Then if you dont do video edit or audio production or adobe,, you can go with the i3 4 core 4 threads.. gl let us know

How many times do I have to say it. NO ! 2 cores, 4 threads w/HT for the 540 at least. The 530 is not referenced at the egg now.

 

[tweakboy]

[
It will be fast, you dont do no video or audio production that i3 looks good, 4 cores right ?

Herr you can also open up 10 winamps and watch high def video all of them going at same time,, plenty of CPU power remains.. thx

 

[Markfw]

[
It will be fast, you dont do no video or audio production that i3 looks good, 4 cores right ?

Herr you can also open up 10 winamps and watch high def video all of them going at same time,, plenty of CPU power remains.. thx

NO Damn it, again, the I3 has 2 cores, W/HT for 4 threads. Big difference.

Are you looking for a vacation here ? I already corrected you above.

Knock it off.

 

[tweakboy]

How many times do I have to say it. NO ! 2 cores, 4 threads w/HT for the 540 at least. The 530 is not referenced at the egg now.

Im soo sorry I missed that. Ok get it now,, You should be able to get this for a unheard of price,,, good one,, ty

 

[tweakboy]

NO Damn it, again, the I3 has 2 cores, W/HT for 4 threads. Big difference.

Are you looking for a vacation here ? I already corrected you above.

Knock it off.

Sorry