Is i3 3255 better then amd bulldozer fx 4100 for gaming???
Over 80% of games only utilize 2 cores, and Intel processors have much better single-threaded performance than AMD. There are a few games which utilize 3-4 cores but those are rare. In those titles a decent AMD quad-core like the Phenom II X4 965 would outperform the Core i3. But in general, the Core i3 is a better gaming CPU. By the way, games are NOT generally moving towards using more cores, it's very difficult for developers to program and debug, the more threads there are. Expect most games to continue to using 2-3 cores and only the highest-end games to use 4 cores.
They are similar. The Intel is more expensive, but uses less power than the amds. My understanding is the Intels are slightly better than the latest FX. We're talking 3-5 fps in recent benchmarks. Some people think that is a failure on the part of AMD. I disagree because the AMDs cost 30-40 bucks less than an Intel. Sort of like comparing a corvette and a camero, Intel and AMD. A Camero is never going to be a Corvette, but it's still a fast car and doesn't have a corvette price tag. If you really want an AMD, the best you can get right now are the high end black edition Phenoms, but they use 125w and need a motherboard that can support a 125w processor (not all can, and means you'll spend maybe 20-30 bucks more on an ATX motherboard instead of a mini-ATX one. That's a moot point if you want the features of the ATX anyway - like SLI / Crossfire compatibility.) Most games are two-threaded now, which is why processors like the Pentium G80 and the i3 tend to do really well when benchmarked in games against AMD's 4, 6, and 8 core processors. With the AMDs, it really helps to get a higher clocked version of the CPU, like a 4170 @ 4.2 ghz (but remember, it's a 125w cpu, and technically, the Phenom II x4 has better benchmarks, but due to its age, may use more power on a day to day basis). That being said, games probably will begin to use four and more cores, and I think that will leave you in a better position in the future, compared to someone with only two cores.
th FX-4300 because of its slightly higher 3.8ghz clock and its a generation newer than the FX4100 line. Remember though the strength of the FX 4170 and 4300 is that they can both hit nearly 5ghz clock while the i3 3220/3225 are stuck at their stock 3.3ghz.
that may have been because of the upgrade path to the Ivy bridge i5 or i7 *** I run an i3 2150 with an HD 6870 graphics card for gaming and its fine. Frame rates in EVE Online regularly run over 100 [what good is fps = 150? none afaik -- it's impractical to respond faster anyway].
