Intel Core i3-2120 vs AMD Phenom II X4 965

[w4ssup]

which is better for gaming,video editing, and 3d (ur opinion) :3 (because idk which to get... im a gamer but i wanna do some 3d to :I)

[IGoing]

The i3 is better, although the Phenom II has 4 physical cores. I would get the AMD because of this. But try getting at least a i5 2400, which is way better then both.

[w4ssup]

Originally Posted by IGoing

The i3 is better, although the Phenom II has 4 physical cores. I would get the AMD because of this. But try getting at least a i5 2400, which is way better then both.

that a 189.99 though

[venomblade89]

See for yourself They didn't have an i3-2120, so results will be a bit better than what you see.

[masta121]

For most games the i3 has the edge, but it's very slight and in some games non existent. With a mild overclock, the Phenom will overtake it in gaming in most all situations. For video related stuff the Phenom is better.

[Sjeik]

Track down an i3 2130 if you can, it rivals the i5 2500K in the vast majority of games (which don't make use of 4 cores anyway)

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by masta121

For most games the i3 has the edge, but it's very slight and in some games non existent. With a mild overclock, the Phenom will overtake it in gaming in most all situations. For video related stuff the Phenom is better.

the 2120 is easily faster in games while consuming way less power. even if you oc the Phenom 2 X4 it will still only break even overall and will still lose in a cpu intensive game like SC 2 all while needing an aftermarket cooler and using WAY more power than it already does.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...0_5.html#sect0

[masta121]

Originally Posted by cannondale06

the 2120 is easily faster in games while consuming way less power. even if you oc the Phenom 2 X4 it will still only break even overall and will still lose in a cpu intensive game like SC 2 all while needing an aftermarket cooler and using WAY more power than it already does.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...0_5.html#sect0

Easily faster? Maybe 10fps max in some games. There's almost no games the Phenom cannot get an average of 60 or higher in. Also, Starcraft 2 hardly counts as "CPU intensive" when it only uses two cores. And the OP never said power consumption was a top priority. It's not even fair to directly compare power consumption considering that A: the Phenom has more cores and thus a larger power footprint by default, and B: It's based on a 45nm process while the i3 is 32nm.

[cannondale06]

Originally Posted by masta121

Easily faster? Maybe 10fps max in some games. There's almost no games the Phenom cannot get an average of 60 or higher in. Also, Starcraft 2 hardly counts as "CPU intensive" when it only uses two cores. And the OP never said power consumption was a top priority. It's not even fair to directly compare power consumption considering that A: the Phenom has more cores and thus a larger power footprint by default, and B: It's based on a 45nm process while the i3 is 32nm.

did you even look at the link because in some games the i3 2120 over 20% faster and in one game its 35% faster. and cpu intensive does not have to mean uses four cores you know? if a game needs two really fast cores and scales with faster cpus then it is still cpu intensive.

and it is fair to compare the power consumption since the OP is comparing two different cpus. the point is how do the cpus compare to each other and the end result is that the i3 is faster while also using less power.

so again the slower X4 already uses more power than the 2120 i3 so why even bother with it? the overclocking excuse does not fly because you will need to spend more money on a cooler and use WAY more power just to match the i3 overall in games.

[Doc_Gonzo]

I'd go for the i3, for no other reason than you can upgrade to a 2500k or better in the future

[General Jameson]

Phenom II is pretty much EOL and even in a AM3+ motherboard the outlook does not look very promising for a future good performance upgrade. I would say go with Intel at this time.

[dosbox]

Originally Posted by Doc_Gonzo

I'd go for the i3, for no other reason than you can upgrade to a 2500k or better in the future

This. Plus you get better PCI-E and SATA performance out of Intel chipsets.

[caveman26]

look at it this way whats the fastest cpu amd has and an i7 2600k beats it so if you get the i3 now you can drop and i7 in later

[madpistol]

Originally Posted by masta121

Easily faster? Maybe 10fps max in some games. There's almost no games the Phenom cannot get an average of 60 or higher in. Also, Starcraft 2 hardly counts as "CPU intensive" when it only uses two cores. And the OP never said power consumption was a top priority. It's not even fair to directly compare power consumption considering that A: the Phenom has more cores and thus a larger power footprint by default, and B: It's based on a 45nm process while the i3 is 32nm.

I have to agree with this. I've seen almost no games where i3-2100 or 2120 actually benefited from the extra speed per core. Most games now benefit from more cores, and those that don't are so old that it doesn't matter anyway.

For modern games, the 965BE is better simply because it's a quad core, and a decent one at that. If you want to upgrade later to a different SB processor, the i3 makes a case for itself. However, for games, the X4 is going to outlast it.

Why people still recommend a dual core for a gaming rig is beyond me. Even the fast dual cores still don't match up to an older quad core when it comes to multi-threaded games.

[laazrockit]

The i3 will be slightly better for many current games, but games that are actually heavily multithreaded will perform better on the Phenom. The i3's main advantage would be for games that have really poor multicore optimization like skyrim. Both CPU's should play today's games alright. The phenom may be the more future proof processor, since it has 4 physical cores. If you go for the i3 it may give you a better upgrade path though, you could always upgrade to a socket 1155 intel i5 or i7 quad later on.