Is an I3 'good enough' for gaming?

Hardware Hub CPU
1

My friend is trying to build a new PC on a budget and needs a new monitor with it. I want to keep the machine costs low so that he does not have to put up with a cheap TN panel like I did when I bought my computer.

So I wanted to know wheather a CoreI3 would be enough for a computer that will only be gaming and doing general internet.

(Or if there's a "Decent" budget IPS panel below £150 that could also be an option!)

 

    Thanks-

             ~pipnina

2

I have a PC with an i3 550 3.2GHz and a 9800GT. I can get some pretty decent FPS on Battlefield 3 medium 1280x720. The newer Gen i3s should do much better then the old LGA1156 I was talking about. But you won't be maxing out any games if that's what your asking. I remember seeing benchmarks of some old Intel Duo Core over clocked to 3.2GHz getting some pretty decent FPS on BF4. I forget what the GPU was and the settings were.

3

short answer: probably

longer answer: well it depends on exactly what it's being used with, lets say it's being used with a 6670 at 600/800 it's overkill, lets say with being used with a 780 at 4k it's going to be a problem

if it's less than a 770 and no more than 1080p it'll probably be fine, it may even be good past that, but i don't have the parts or knowledge to say

also: some games (i believe i heard this when bf4 came out) have started moving certain things across cores so that if you have any less than a quad core you will be playing without certain things/effects

4

no way.

5

Yes it is.

6

Yes, if you paired say an I3-4370: http://ark.intel.com/products/77495/Intel-Core-i3-4370-Processor-4M-Cache-3_80-GHz with a R9-270: http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/R9270DC2OC2GD5/specifications/ you could theoretically have a fairly decent gaming rig. Most modern games aren't TOO cpu intensive. Therefor the R9-270 can pick up the slack of the I3. I would expect decent frames @ 1080p on mid to high settings. But don't expect to be playing Planet Side 2 on ultra settings @ 1080p +.

Also, this should go without saying, never settle for less than 8GB of RAM.

7

Really old thread lol.

But yeah, for anyone who wants to know; an i3 is good enough to get by.