I'm upgrading my computer and I'm thinking of going for an intel cpu and a Nvidia gpu again. I'm planning on playing 1080p 60fps but I don't know which is more worth it. If it helps, the games I will mostly play are PUBG, Hitman 2016, CS:GO, GTA V and probably more AAA titles in the future. Thanks at 1080p, there is nearly no difference between the 1060 3 and 6gb flavour. Also at 1080p not many games push over the 3gb vram limit, but some do. So that's a factor to consider. By getting the 8400 you will be able to make up for the minor difference between the cards. For the purpose of the 'future' in this case id say take the 8400 and the 1060 3gb. The 8400 is a much better CPU. It makes up in some ways for having the 3gb card. Having a 6 core 8400 will make things a lot smoother. The i3 will get maxed out in games like BF1 etc. So CPU power wins out for me, at the res your playing and with the 2 GPU's you've mentioned. The 1060 3gb is not going to give you 60fps at 1080p in most games without turning down the details. The 6gb will in most cases at full or ultra detail. The i3-8100 is essentially the same as the prior gen i5-7600 which is still a good gaming CPU. Of course the i5-8400 is preferable, but for gaming right now You're better off with the better GPU. And those 2 cores aren't going to make up for that GPU deficiency at all. A 4 core processor will still work for many years, plus the processor is the cheaper of the two to replace if you decide to in the future. Well, yes and no. There are only one or two games that can dynamically use more vram at that res. COD WW2 being an example, along with Wolfenstein 2. But for the most part even games like BF1 okay toned down a little bit on in game settings to maybe high , you still won't touch 3gb usage. With that said the games he mentioned the extra 3gb of vram on the 6gb card would really help. On the CPU thing, well, I disagree. More and more often I'm answering posts from people on why their kabylake gaming systems have stuttering while gaming, along with FPS drops. So, where 2 years ago an I5 7400 was rocking games with CPU resources to spare, it's just not so now. It will only continue that way. For normal tasks of course a 4c CPU will be fine, and plenty. But for gaming it's running into a wall soon enough. A 4 core processor will still work for many years, plus the processor is the cheaper of the two to replace if you decide to in the future. Well, yes and no. There are only one or two games that can dynamically use more vram at that res. COD WW2 being an example, along with Wolfenstein 2. But for the most part even games like BF1 okay toned down a little bit on in game settings to maybe high, you still won't touch 3gb usage. With that said the games he mentioned the extra 3gb of vram on the 6gb card would really help. On the CPU thing, well, I disagree. More and more often I'm answering posts from people on why their kabylake gaming systems have stuttering while gaming, along with FPS drops. So, where 2 years ago an I5 7400 was rocking games with CPU resources to spare, it's just not so now. It will only continue that way. For normal tasks of course a 4c CPU will be fine, and plenty. But for gaming it's running into a wall soon enough. In the case of the 1060 the 3gb version is significantly crippled to the 6gb version. And you are incorrect about VRAM usage, games have been sucking down as much VRAM as they can for a few years now, and its been proven that larger amounts especially with todays upscaled textures can make a big difference in game performance. As for the posts you mentioned, are we on the same forum? Because while I do see issues like that its often because people are trying to stream, or run 400 chrome tabs, or any other of a number of system problems. Also people often mistake things like screen tearing as stutter. Or they are running cheap slow monitors and wonder why everything is not smooth. Well if you're using a slow response rate 60hz monitor, that will happen. Or they do all their testing with a game like PUBG or Fortnite, both poorly optimized, and ONLINE and affected by connection. Then they play Battlefield or GTA V single player and its all smooth, hmm wonder why?! The 1060 3gb is not going to give you 60fps at 1080p in most games without turning down the details. The 6gb will in most cases at full or ultra detail. The i3-8100 is essentially the same as the prior gen i5-7600 which is still a good gaming CPU. Of course the i5-8400 is preferable, but for gaming right now You're better off with the better GPU. And those 2 cores aren't going to make up for that GPU deficiency at all. The difference generally between the 3gb and 6gb version at 1080p is anywhere between 5-10%, game dependant which translates often enough to just 2-3 fps At that res, the extra CPU horsepower certainly does make up the difference, not exactly the same but very close.. Once you go beyond 1080p, then absolutely I'd agree, the difference is much more noticeable. The 1060 3gb is not going to give you 60fps at 1080p in most games without turning down the details. The 6gb will in most cases at full or ultra detail. The i3-8100 is essentially the same as the prior gen i5-7600 which is still a good gaming CPU. Of course the i5-8400 is preferable, but for gaming right now You're better off with the better GPU. And those 2 cores aren't going to make up for that GPU deficiency at all. The difference generally between the 3gb and 6gb version at 1080p is anywhere between 5-10%, game dependant which translates often enough to just 2-3 fps At that res, the extra CPU horsepower certainly does make up the difference, not exactly the same but very close.. Once you go beyond 1080p, then absolutely I'd agree, the difference is much more noticeable. I don't know where you get your numbers from but no its not 2-3 fps One of the games there has a 30FPS difference! Most are between 7 and 15fps. It has 128 less CUDA cores. And all the games in that test are older, its since gotten worse. Prices for either GPU seem like they've been converted from another currency? Too high for USD, too low for CAD or AUD.... As for the question at hand, I'd opt for the i3-8100 + 6GB 1060 personally, you're going to get better gaming performance from the stronger GPU opposed to a stronger CPU. If you were looking to Game + Stream, I'd opt for the weaker card for the higher core count CPU. Either way, you'd have a pretty pleasant gaming experience at 1080p, but the 6GB 1060 will let you push the in-game details up more. But I'm not really limited to Intel cpu's, any suggestion for AMD Ryzen cpus for the prices of the i3 and i5? Also it costs more. Around the same price is the Ryzen 5 1500x, but the i5 would beat that CPU even more. In your case you are better off with Intel, especially if your primary use is gaming. Tough call this one really. I personally would still be inclined to go 8400 + 1060 3gb if absolutely necessary. The reason being that I think that cpu will see you out for 5 years+ whereas the way things are going a quad core won't. Thing is though, 3 years down the line both those gpu's are going to be looking old anyway. You'll most mainly be able to do 60fps solid on the 3gb just not at max settings. Between the 2 choices? A 4 core processor will still work for many years, plus the processor is the cheaper of the two to replace if you decide to in the future. Well, yes and no. There are only one or two games that can dynamically use more vram at that res. COD WW2 being an example, along with Wolfenstein 2. But for the most part even games like BF1 okay toned down a little bit on in game settings to maybe high, you still won't touch 3gb usage. With that said the games he mentioned the extra 3gb of vram on the 6gb card would really help. On the CPU thing, well, I disagree. More and more often I'm answering posts from people on why their kabylake gaming systems have stuttering while gaming, along with FPS drops. So, where 2 years ago an I5 7400 was rocking games with CPU resources to spare, it's just not so now. It will only continue that way. For normal tasks of course a 4c CPU will be fine, and plenty. But for gaming it's running into a wall soon enough. In the case of the 1060 the 3gb version is significantly crippled to the 6gb version. And you are incorrect about VRAM usage, games have been sucking down as much VRAM as they can for a few years now, and its been proven that larger amounts especially with todays upscaled textures can make a big difference in game performance. As for the posts you mentioned, are we on the same forum? Because while I do see issues like that its often because people are trying to stream, or run 400 chrome tabs, or any other of a number of system problems. Also people often mistake things like screen tearing as stutter. Or they are running cheap slow monitors and wonder why everything is not smooth. Well if you're using a slow response rate 60hz monitor, that will happen. Or they do all their testing with a game like PUBG or Fortnite, both poorly optimized, and ONLINE and affected by connection. Then they play Battlefield or GTA V single player and its all smooth, hmm wonder why?! The GTX 1060 6GB is the better card. If I were the OP I would pair the 6GB version with the i5 8400, NOT the 3GB. He can compare them side-by-side here: I understand that his budget might be limited at the moment. BUT this moment is not the only one he has - he could take the time to save just a bit more to get the better card so he can have a better overall gaming experience on his upgraded computer.
