i3 6100 good enough for RX 480?

[Arachnotronic]

My brother is currently using a Celeron G1820 + a Radeon RX 480. It plays the games he's currently into now just fine (Doom, Serious Sam HD), but this machine also needs to be ready to tackle future multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1 and CoD Infinite Warfare later this year.

I'm going to upgrade him to a Skylake setup (ordered H170 board, have some spare DDR4). I ordered him a Core i3 6100 which should be enough to drive an RX 480 in 1080p 60 gaming, but I'm wondering if I should return the i3 6100, bite the bullet, and get him a proper quad core CPU.

I don't want to spend more than is absolutely necessary, but I don't want to have to upgrade/touch this system for the next several years.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[NTMBK]

Would you not have been better buying a Haswell i5 for the board he already has?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Would you not have been better buying a Haswell i5 for the board he already has?

I'm going to be re-purposing the G1820 + board

 

[TeknoBug]

The i3 6100 will bottleneck the card in certain games like Witcher 3 or such. It might bottle neck Battlefield 1 as well (Frostbite loves threads more than IPC) but who knows. Right now my i3 6100 sort of holds back Planetside 2 for me especially in 96+ vs 96+ (and even 3 way) fights.

 

[RussianSensation]

My brother is currently using a Celeron G1820 + a Radeon RX 480. It plays the games he's currently into now just fine (Doom, Serious Sam HD), but this machine also needs to be ready to tackle future multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1 and CoD Infinite Warfare later this year.

I'm going to upgrade him to a Skylake setup (ordered H170 board, have some spare DDR4). I ordered him a Core i3 6100 which should be enough to drive an RX 480 in 1080p 60 gaming, but I'm wondering if I should return the i3 6100, bite the bullet, and get him a proper quad core CPU.

I don't want to spend more than is absolutely necessary, but I don't want to have to upgrade/touch this system for the next several years.

Any input would be appreciated.

No, i3 6100 is not enough for some games and worse the i3 6100 has 0 headroom for a future GPU upgrade.

Here is a famous Russian YouTuber that tests i3 6100 with RX 480. You can see in many popular games the i3 6100 is going all out at 90-100% CPU speed and cannot keep up with the RX 480. In CPU demanding games like NFS, an i3 6100 is simply not enough to maintain 60 fps. Watch the video for 5 minutes and see how i3 6100 is choking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buOqqkHctYo

FYI, here is the same reviewer with the same 480 card with an i7 6700K @ 4.6Ghz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7MzzzCPom4

Don't waste your money on the i3 6100. Get an i5 6600K and overclock it for him to 4.5-4.8Ghz. You don't need to touch the PC for 5 years and can pass on to him your older GPUs which will be much faster than the RX 480.

DX12 era will absolutely bury dual core CPUs because it takes better advantage of multi-threaded CPUs. The average FPS won't necessarily capture this.

 

[therealnickdanger]

I don't really see the point in the i5 CPUs anymore. If you need more cores and more Hz, get an i7 K-model. My last build was an i5 (3570K OC) and it was great for gaming in most instances, but I frequently found myself wishing I had bought the 3770K instead. Whether compressing video or playing the occasionally well-threaded game - or trying to do both - I was usually underwhelmed.

My next build will more than likely be a "low end" 6-8 core CPU like the 5820K. Whenever Skylake-E hits... probably the time to strike.

The i3-6100 is a good CPU if you need 4 cores. 2 cores with HT is just as good in many instances. Do you know if your motherboard allows for non-K overclocking? My friend's i3-6100 OCs to 4.5GHz on air. It's definitely not bottlenecking his 290X.

6100TE OC vs 6600K (it's the closest comparison AT has). Check out the gaming comparisons in the bottom half. Aside from some lower minimum frames in some games, they're neck and neck.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1544?vs=1645

 

[Face2Face]

I would make the stretch - A Skylake i5 would be a great match up with that GPU. A good overall 1080p gaming experience.

For what's it's worth I have a Core i3(w/HT) in my AW Alpha and it does surprisingly well, but some games like GTA V will experience sudden lag spikes. Presumable because of the CPU is at 100% load nearly all of the time.

Also, take a look at this video. 3570K w/GTX 970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ84k37HYfM

CPU usage is high, perhaps some CPU bottle necking looking at the GPU usage? Could just be bad optimization since it's still in Alpha? but he's still over 60 FPS @ 1080p ultra.
I would expect better or the same results with RX 480 and a Skylake Core i5, and A bit better when DX12 is enabled.

 

[RussianSensation]

6100TE OC vs 6600K (it's the closest comparison AT has). Check out the gaming comparisons in the bottom half. Aside from some lower minimum frames in some games, they're neck and neck.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1544?vs=1645

Those benchmarks are not representative of reality.

To see a true representation of i3 6100 vs. i5 6600K you need to capture continuous gameplay and look at the dips on the i3. i3 6100 gets hammered hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSU0UWFCa1Y

Also, the OP mentioned he wants to buy the system and not upgrade it for several years. The i3 6100 is already a bottleneck right off the bat which means in 2-3 years when it comes time to buy a new GPU, the i3 6100 will have to be replaced. If budget is an issue, it's even possible to buy the i5 6400/6500 and pair it with an Asrock Z170 board because Asrock still allows BLKC overclocking on Skylake.

i5-6400@4.6 vs i7-6700@4.7 in 11 games (980 Ti)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQVy9rYg1xw

MicroCenter has the ASRock Z170M Pro4S for $75 only. The board even has an Ultra M.2 32GB/sec slot and Intel I219V.

If budget is an issue, it's better to go with an i5 6400/6500 and a $75 Asrock Z170 board than an i3 6100 and some $100-120 board. The OP messed up right off the bat by ordering the H170 board. He should have gone with a cheaper Asrock Z170 and the cheapest i5.

 

[LTC8K6]

My brother is currently using a Celeron G1820 + a Radeon RX 480. It plays the games he's currently into now just fine (Doom, Serious Sam HD), but this machine also needs to be ready to tackle future multiplayer games such as Battlefield 1 and CoD Infinite Warfare later this year.

I'm going to upgrade him to a Skylake setup (ordered H170 board, have some spare DDR4). I ordered him a Core i3 6100 which should be enough to drive an RX 480 in 1080p 60 gaming, but I'm wondering if I should return the i3 6100, bite the bullet, and get him a proper quad core CPU.

I don't want to spend more than is absolutely necessary, but I don't want to have to upgrade/touch this system for the next several years.

Any input would be appreciated.

If you don't want to upgrade it for the next several years then you need an i7. 6700 or 6700K. Even without overclocking, the K will be faster.

 

[SPBHM]

for the i3 6100 buying a 1060 makes more sense.

 

[sxr7171]

I don't really see the point in the i5 CPUs anymore. If you need more cores and more Hz, get an i7 K-model. My last build was an i5 (3570K OC) and it was great for gaming in most instances, but I frequently found myself wishing I had bought the 3770K instead. Whether compressing video or playing the occasionally well-threaded game - or trying to do both - I was usually underwhelmed.

My next build will more than likely be a "low end" 6-8 core CPU like the 5820K. Whenever Skylake-E hits... probably the time to strike.

The i3-6100 is a good CPU if you need 4 cores. 2 cores with HT is just as good in many instances. Do you know if your motherboard allows for non-K overclocking? My friend's i3-6100 OCs to 4.5GHz on air. It's definitely not bottlenecking his 290X.

6100TE OC vs 6600K (it's the closest comparison AT has). Check out the gaming comparisons in the bottom half. Aside from some lower minimum frames in some games, they're neck and neck.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1544?vs=1645

I loved my 3570K and never wished for a 3770k but I always unitasked on that machine, gaming only. It ran at 4.8Ghz stable and I never found myself bottlenecked by it. Possibly, maybe Crysis 3 was by the lack of HT but I could never prove it.

 

[nerp]

For now, the i3-6100 can get by pretty well at reasonable resolutions for games. I don't know about future-proofing for future AAA titles.

 

[escrow4]

A quad is minimum for any half decent desktop in 2016. Even my cheap prepaid comes with a Snapdragon 210, poky compared to an 820 sure but even it is quad core. I have never seen the point of an i3. Its an awkward compromise. Spend more on a high clocked i5 or save and drop to a Pentium.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A quad is minimum for any half decent desktop in 2016. Even my cheap prepaid comes with a Snapdragon 210, poky compared to an 820 sure but even it is quad core. I have never seen the point of an i3. Its an awkward compromise. Spend more on a high clocked i5 or save and drop to a Pentium.

How do you feel about a "desktop / browser" box? My debate is, I just ordered an ASRock Deskmini STX box, that takes M.2 as well as two 2.5" drives, and it takes SO-DIMMs and desktop 1151 CPUs.

I already have my G4400 CPUs, and one i3-6100 in a mini-ITX, that I don't really want to remove out of that one.

Debating on the CPU to use. The cheaper the better. Though, since there's no option from a GPU, I'm wondering if I should also invest in another i3-6100, for its HD 530 iGPU.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Look at that Thuban minimum FPS, not that far from the Intel's latest i5 tech, truly amazing. Cores mean business in DX12 :thumbsup:

i don't want to spend more than is absolutely necessary, but i don't want to have to upgrade/touch this system for the next several years.

6700K or maybe even 6800K class CPU. But you mentioned about saving pennies? Definitely 6700K then. What's ~$300 extra for 4-5 years? Exactly, nothing and it's your brother after all. Show him some love

 

[VirtualLarry]

Look at that Thuban minimum FPS, not that far from the Intel's latest i5 tech, truly amazing. Cores mean business in DX12 :thumbsup:

Thanks for that, it answers another question I was going to ask, but hadn't yet - "How is gaming under DX12 with a Thuban?"

I guess it's not far off of an Intel Skylake i5, really. That's very encouraging.

I might change up my rigs, from J1900 Brix mini-PCs and Skylake G4400 dual-cores, overclocked, with 7950 3GB cards, to ASRock deskmini STX rigs for mini-PCs, (CPU TBD, but for now could use my G4400s), and then re-build my Thuban rigs with a modern mobo, and possibly double-up on the GPUs. Those would likely live in sleep mode most of the time, and only be powered-up for DC or gaming. The mini-PCs would get used most of the time.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Look at that Thuban minimum FPS, not that far from the Intel's latest i5 tech, truly amazing. Cores mean business in DX12 :thumbsup:


6700K or maybe even 6800K class CPU. But you mentioned about saving pennies? Definitely 6700K then. What's ~$300 extra for 4-5 years? Exactly, nothing and it's your brother after all. Show him some love

Yea, and Thuban is half the minimum of an i7.

Isnt ROTR a basically broken game anyway, or have they finally fixed it.

Back on topic, I would consider an i3 a decent match for a "midrange" card like the anticipated 470 or even 480/1060, but I would not pair it with a more powerful card, especially if I wanted it to last for several years.

 

[jacktesterson]

I have an i3-6100 and it has zero issues pushing a GTX 950 (overclocked to +960 performance) just fine. I would say in the majority of games it would push a 480 just fine.

I understand some games will have lower minimums, but I don't notice it in the games I play. (Mostly GTA 5, Rocket League and other single player campaign style games). I lock in at 60FPS just fine with highish settings @ 1080p. I don't do much for FPS style games though. So it really depends on what your playing too. Benchmarks are great and all, but if you can't notice it (Which many can't) than whats the point.

 

[nerp]

I have an i3-6100 and it has zero issues pushing a GTX 950 (overclocked to +960 performance) just fine. I would say in the majority of games it would push a 480 just fine.

I understand some games will have lower minimums, but I don't notice it in the games I play. (Mostly GTA 5, Rocket League and other single player campaign style games). I lock in at 60FPS just fine with highish settings @ 1080p. I don't do much for FPS style games though. So it really depends on what your playing too. Benchmarks are great and all, but if you can't notice it (Which many can't) than whats the point.

i3-6100/GTX950 is surprisingly potent. People don't realize. I have the same setup (not for long) so I know from experience.

 

[Arachnotronic]

6700K or maybe even 6800K class CPU. But you mentioned about saving pennies? Definitely 6700K then. What's ~$300 extra for 4-5 years? Exactly, nothing and it's your brother after all. Show him some love

What I'm going to do I think is give him the Core i7 6700 that's in my work system and I'll keep the i3 6100 for myself for use in that system. He is my brother after all and I do want to encourage him to game (if only for selfish reasons because I want somebody else to game with)

Problem solved.

 

[poofyhairguy]

What I'm going to do I think is give him the Core i7 6700 that's in my work system and I'll keep the i3 6100 for myself for use in that system. He is my brother after all and I do want to encourage him to game (if only for selfish reasons because I want somebody else to game with)

Problem solved.

Awesome solution!

I feel you on bribing people to game with you. That is why I always get two humbles bundles if I can one.

 

[Burpo]

He is my brother after all and I do want to encourage him

:thumbsup:

 

[Headfoot]

What I'm going to do I think is give him the Core i7 6700 that's in my work system and I'll keep the i3 6100 for myself for use in that system. He is my brother after all and I do want to encourage him to game (if only for selfish reasons because I want somebody else to game with)

Problem solved.

Hope he buys you a beer for your troubles!

 

[cusideabelincoln]

If budget is an issue, it's better to go with an i5 6400/6500 and a $75 Asrock Z170 board than an i3 6100 and some $100-120 board. The OP messed up right off the bat by ordering the H170 board. He should have gone with a cheaper Asrock Z170 and the cheapest i5.

Do H170 boards even support RAM faster than 2133?

 

[BeauCharles]

You'll be fine for two or three years. Just be sure to get fast RAM like DDR4 2666. Too much FUD flying around here - the RX 480 isn't that powerful.