# i3 2120 vs E8400



## KingEojj

im in the process of doing some upgrades/rebuilding.  With ivybridge a few months away i dont feel the need to drop money on an i5/i7 1155 processor and was thinking of going with an i3 until ivybridge drops.  all i really do is game..a lot, i might get into some video editing/photoshop and the like but who knows.

currently im using an E8400 and its great but i was wondering if the i3 2120 is THAT much better.  hyperthreading is nice, sure so thats one plus the i3 has.  however i cant overclock the i3.  like i said though, this is only placeholder until i can grab an ivybridge to throw in my z68 board(which im also currently figuring out which to get).

for $130 and getting hyperthreading (which i5 doesnt even have) i feel like this isnt a bad move, and ill have it left over to do another build with it after!


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## JaredC.

If the ivy bridge is 5 months away, then a i3 build isn't completely worthless. If you think it is worth the money then why not? 5 months is a long time in the computer world!


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## jonnyp11

it will be a good upgrade, you should notice a nice difference, but if you can game fine on that e8400 then you may as well save your money. and i'd like to point out that (since you said the i5 doesn't even have ht'ing) the i series in order 3/5/7 has cores/threads 2/4, 4/4, 4/8. the hyper threading isn't that good of a thing, i believe it is rated to increase performance up to 1.3x on apps threaded for 4 cores, so it isn't really a game changer. but again, i'd recomend saving up till ivy is out as they are releasing several new chipsets along with it, i believe one is like the z77


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## TrainTrackHack

I personally would stick with the E8400, it's a very capable CPU and no, the i3 won't be THAT much better for gaming. It will be better, but not worth $130, unless you're absolutely starved for raw CPU power but if that's the case, you might as well go for an i5 now instead of having the measly i3 try to hold you over. For gaming, though, I personally don't think it's worth it unless you play really CPU intensive games, all your cores are nearly constantly pegged at 100% and you frames are too low for your liking.


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## Fooozball

e8400 is still a great processor. if it's oc'd.


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## BurningSkyline

hackapelite said:


> I personally would stick with the E8400, it's a very capable CPU and no, the i3 won't be THAT much better for gaming. It will be better, but not worth $130...



This, unless you can get one used for cheap.


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## Okedokey

They perform about the same, don't waste your money.


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## nolefann

I know this thread is old, but posting here incase anyone stumbles upon it like i did asking the same question as the op. Here are gaming benchmarks using the e8400 @ 4ghz vs the older i3 2100 and g620. Going by the benches here, an I3 2120 would bench even faster, so imo worth the $120.

http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7977&pageid=8058


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