Old school enthusiast needs advice on x4 860k.

Hey there, I'm 41 years old and I started my building and overclocking journey back in the late 90's with a P2 350@465 and a couple Voodoo 2s in SLI (sweet UT glide times). My last system build was done in 2008 with a core 2 duo E8200, the one in my sig. Only major upgrade since was my GTX 460 1Gb. So I've been out of touch with new stuff.
Now I'm itching for a more modern system with an SSD and 8Gb of ram, but with a tight budget (my big spender days are long gone) so bang for the buck is paramount. I really don't care for top tier stuff anymore, just a well performing rig that'll keep up with 1080p gaming.

My idea is getting these:

Athlon II x4 860k
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Asus A88x plus
2x4Gb DDR3 1866
120Gb SSD

For now I'd keep my nv 460 because I feel it still serves my needs very well.
I'd just like to know if this would be a very noticeable upgrade from my E8200+Asus p35+2Gb DDR2 system for the €300 I'd be spending give or take.
Thanks a lot for reading, and for taking the time to reply if you wish to.

 

what kind of games are you playing?

 

BF3
Dirt 3
Grid 2
Metro 2033
and I also want a snappier, more responsive system, it's taking too long to boot and open apps. Since I'm doing a fresh win 7 install I might as well wait till I have a new system.

 

You won't notice much difference. If you want a real upgrade on a budget, go with a G3258 build. It will smoke your E8200 AND that 860K. Or, if you are okay with spending a bit more, a Core I3 4330 build will be even better. Both of these processors will give you the snappiness you want, even though they're only dual core. Intel's core performance is just so far superior these days.

Pentium G3258
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117374

I3-4330
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116945

 

Thanks for the links IcE, but the i3 costs almost as much as the 860k + A88x mobo... and I still need cash for the ssd and the ram. As for the Pentium, I'd really like to go for 4 cores because this build will have to last me for the next 5 years.

 

The extra 2 cores don't really matter except for video rendering and streaming.

Anything gaming and or general usage will absolutely smoke the x4 860k.

 

What would be the minimum acceptable motherboard chipset for the G3258?
I always looked at the mobo as the most important component of a build.
Is there a nice sk 1150 board for under €100? I will only ever use a single graphics card.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128662

 

Nuno, you can find Z97 motherboads under €100:

http://www.aquapc.com/loja/produto.php?p=10907

http://www.globaldata.pt/index.aspx?p=ProdDetailRef&ProdRef=ASRZ97ANNIVERSARY#.VHJHfsmryz4

http://www.globaldata.pt/index.aspx?p=ProdDetailRef&ProdRef=Z97-G43#.VHJH0Mmryz4

 

I would deffo listen to this advise if its gaming or most things really lol then intel have much better choice of cpu even intel offers cheap cpu's these days that have really good gaming/price performance

 

I know it goes against logic, but look what this thing can do:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,3849-3.html

 

That little penitum ........ I didn't know Intel had it in them. Lighting fast dual core without the premium price tag.

 

If this is meant to be your gaming rig for the next 5yrs, don't get a Pentium. Don't buy any dual core, 2nd hand is always an option if money's tight.

As ICE already said 860k and G3 have similar performance, G3 can be faster at single threading, but in moderately threaded apps it will tank. This means basic all recent and future FPS.

Check out some BF3 MP benches and you'll see what I mean.
Hilbert said the G3's low price and high overclocking potential made it appealing for LN2 overclockers, or maybe a light duty home server.

 

I recently built a new comp with the 860k CPU... It was built as an over elaborate blu ray player...

And i have to say for a cheapy CPU it does rather nice.... I paired the CPU with a cheap R7 260X and so far have only played star trek online and neverwinter on it and it runs them both flawlessly at max settings.... ohh and i did benchmark super street fighter 4 and got around 110 - 150 fps

The only drawbacks i can find is that you have to make sure the mobo your buying has a bios that will support the 860k installed or you will need an older CPU to enable it to boot to do the flashing. That and you need to ditch the crappy AMD aluminum reject heatsink and slap something a bit beefier on it

 

video here of a pentium g3258 vs 860K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVmIVSalP-s

 

more video here...G3258 4.7Ghz vs FX-8350 4.7Ghz in 12 heavy games (tests only, head 2 head FPS) feat GTX 970, all max settings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEEuXQf29Z4&feature=player_detailpage

 

Ice, I respect that you were recommending something on a budget for him though but a dual core? In 2015? I find it incredibly shocking that anyone would still recommend a dual core processor in this day and age. I don't care if the two cores are light speed fast as holy sh!t, dual core is OUT. I mean out like tube televisions! Quad core or better - or bust.

Sorry, but absolute nonsense ^ Multitudes of software makes use of more than 2 cores other than what you mentioned, including games. Every day tasks like extracting zipped/compressed files, multi-tasking desktop or any photo editing program. No need to create a big list, but let's be honest to the OP here! Your second line may ring true, but the first comment is ridiculous.

^ What Pill said.

 

Yep not to mention Windows it self makes extremely good use of multiple cores on its own. Sharing the load very in Windows 8 between as many threads as your CPU has no matter how the programs were coded. Windows will spread the load how it sees fit. Which is one of the main reasons whey Windows 8 and 8.1 are "smoother" and faster than any other version of Windows.

I would seriously consider going the second hand market and looking through ebay and places like that.

Try and find something like a 2600K or even a 2500K they are both still great chips and they can overclock extremely well. Also they have 4 cores and 2600K has 8 threads too which will help dramatically in newer games.

Also if you ask me 8GB is going to be cutting it close soon also in therms of gaming.

We have seen consistently recent games recommend 8GB RAM.

AC Unity, BF HL, Dying Light, to name but a few.

So even though 16GB is overkill, it is still the best way to go for true future proof.

But maybe get 8GB now and then add another 8GB when the time actually needs it (which I don't think will be too long).

 

You forgot one thing guys, nuno don't have enough money for i5. He has very limited budget. And with price tag on that G3258 plus the low-end cheap mobo (like MSI H81M-P33) which can overclock this puppy to 4.6 - 4.8Ghz there is no competition regardless...

The Pentium G3258 Cheap Overclocking Experiment by Tom's Hardware

 

Um, is that your own vid because the testing is quite flawed....

Like FX is overclocked using turbo therefore hits 4.7 on only 4 cores, not 8. Turbo and APM need to be disabled.

And MetroLL bench has Vishera @120/11 fps, then Pentium @90/6, yet both avg 50.4 and max out @ 60 in fraps.
Also it's hard to tell what settings are being used on the FX side because the OSD is missing for most of the first 3 games.

Lastly the G3 seems to have 3 cores according to RSS?


I didn't really watch the rest....:nerd:


I just read THG and it is crap site ... I mean look:

I don't want to sound like a fanboy but they're testing 2 very old DX9 engines (Skyrim/Starcraft), and a DX11 title (FC3).

This is meant to be for a new 2015 build? Not very realistic imho... If you just wanna play Skyrim why upgrade at all?


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html