[Processor] Intel Pentium G4560

[Bm4n]

Hello everyone, I bring you a review of this processor Intel Pentium G4560. I've been using it for a couple of days now, plugged into an MSI Z270I Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard along with a Shapphire RX480 4GB and 8GB DDR4 3000MHz Corsair. The idea was to build a small computer to play with a budget of 600€, with the possibility of expanding.

First of all, why Pentium? Well, because in the Kaby Lake generation Intel has unlocked Hyper Threading for this range, so we have 2 cores and 4 threads, which provides quite a bit of extra performance compared to the previous generation. Even so, Skylake had the extra of unlocking the multiplier to do OC and in this one, for the moment, it cannot be done. And obviously the most important thing, the price, which is around 56€ and makes it one of the processors with the best performance/price ratio.

How does it perform? Its performance is more than enough for any non-professional use, whether it's multimedia, office work, design, etc. The biggest difference in performance will be found in processes that make better use of cores, such as encoding a video, compressing files, etc. and it will be quite noticeable compared to the i5 with 4 cores.

Does it work with current games? Yes, we can play any game and depending on the graphics card, even with ultra graphic settings at 1080p. With a caveat, that obviously the CPU will always be hovering around 90-100%, there will be moments when if we have a very powerful graphics card it will prevent us from getting the full performance and there may be sporadic frame drops for example when playing online in the most demanding modes; as you can see in the video below, although they usually stay around 50-60fps, in some short moments they drop to 30.

Even so, it is possible to record video, talk over audio, monitor or use several tasks while playing games, it has no problem running multiple heavy processes simultaneously thanks to HT.

What graphics card should I pair it with? In my opinion, good candidates would be the RX470 or the 1050, even so if we use a higher range as in this case we will get more performance but we won't use it at 100%. So if we think about making a closed configuration it wouldn't make sense to put it in a premium system, but if in the future we think about expanding the PC's capabilities it can be a good option.

Bottlenecks. I know it's a controversial topic that interests a lot of people so I'll give you my personal opinion, and we refer to when the processor can't perform as fast as the graphics card needs and that causes the performance and FPS to drop.

Does this happen with this processor? Yes, the fact that it only has 2 cores means that any demanding current game that uses multiple threads will have half the power available that it would with a 4-core CPU. This doesn't mean that our system has half the power but specifically the processor, and games dedicate the main workload to the graphics. Is it serious? No, nowadays almost all laptops have 2-core processors just like many desktops so it's not a necessity for almost any game with a medium-high graphic configuration so we can play as seen in the following video.

But is it noticeable or not? As a good Galician I'll tell you that it depends, it totally depends on the game and the configuration. In some if we are demanding and put the settings to ultra we won't get the maximum frames per second that the graphics card can offer, as we see in the video below, and we may even have to lower the graphic configuration. But in general, as we have seen, we can play without any problem and possibly if we weren't monitoring the FPS we wouldn't even notice. The big question is whether it's economically worth it or not the difference in price and the answer is very simple: it depends on how demanding we are; and if we are demanding we will probably have to spend more money because talking about 250€ for CPU+GPU I don't see many configurations that can give that much performance.

Consumption and noise. Perhaps its best aspect since it is designed with a maximum consumption of 54W and even with the factory cooler it is a cool and quiet micro, therefore an excellent candidate for an HTPC, an affordable home server or a good office PC.

Conclusions. It's a great CPU for the price that doesn't have much to envy to the i3, ideal for reduced budgets.

Pros.

• Price
• Consumption and temperatures
• Single-thread performance

Cons.

• Multi-thread performance

Price.

• 56€

I will continue testing it these days and add more content, so if you have any questions or want me to test it in some way, let me know.

[Fassou]

This micro is a good solution for those who want to play + office software and save a good few euros

The look on your face when you see how little optimized the games are for multi-threading

Salu2!

[cobito]

It is very interesting that a microcomputer under 60€ can handle games. The only issue is the lifespan of the PC for that task, although for that price it should not matter too much to change it when it starts to falter.

[Bm4n]

New content: Bottlenecks paragraph and new video! Comment

[Tecnho]

@Bm4n very interesting I liked it a lot let's see if we try with more games lately I have had more problems with storage disks than graphics and cpu in games.

[Bm4n]

Well, the last video has been added!, and I think you can already see a pretty representative variety of what we will find if we play with this micro, games in which it goes perfect like Battlefront, others that although a bit limited go well like Battlefield 1 and also some in which although playable in high quality we can lose up to 20% of frame rate.

What do you think, is it worth spending more?, maybe it would be better to lose performance in the graphics to gain it in the CPU?, or could it be a good option for a budget gaming PC?

[cobito]

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think it's a very balanced team for current games: pretty decent performance at a moderate price.

On the other hand, I don't see a major leap in processor performance in the coming years, so spending hundreds of euros on a micro now can be a very long-lasting investment. On the other hand, with just a micro, its end of life is much closer.

In the short term, this team is cheaper than a high-end one (obviously). But if there's no big surprise in semiconductor development, in the long term I don't see it so clear.

[Bm4n]

@cobito said in Intel Pentium G4560:

On the other hand, I don't think there will be a significant leap in processor performance in the coming years, so spending hundreds of euros on a micro now could be a very long-lasting investment. On the other hand, with just a micro, its end of life is much closer.

You're right about that, today a high-end processor can last 5 or 6 years, however a processor like this can last you 1 or 2 years. Economically, even so, the cheap one is worth it, let's say that if a processor of 300€ lasts 6 years it comes out to 50€ per year (without OC it would be a little less, 200€ in 5 years over 40€) and if one of 60€ lasts 2 it comes out to 30€ per year. But the difference is that you will be able to have better results all those years with a high-end one than changing every two years for a low-end one. With that I give you all the right, if you can spend on a good processor go for it.

The question is if you don't have the budget what to do?, and we would have to do some calculations. Let's say we have more budget than I propose because for 250€ it's absurd to spend 200€ on the processor and hold out for 2 years with a graphics card of 50€ that barely even works for Minecraft. Does it make sense to spend more money on the processor than on the graphics card?

Let's say we put 150€ in the graphics card and 200€ in the processor (a 470 and an i5), the results we will get in many games will be the same as with the most economical configuration and we will have also spent 100€ more from the start. As you say the processor will last us say 4 or 5 years (since it doesn't allow for OC) but we will have to update the graphics card, let's say if the 480 can last us 3 years we will keep it for 2 years. We would be talking about that 150€ last us 2 years, it comes out to 75€ per year compared to the 66€ per year of the 480.

Let's add up: in the first case combining CPU+GPU we spend 99€ per year and in the second case we spend 115€ per year. So economically the cheap processor continues to be worth it.

But we forgot an important detail, that the first outlay when building a PC is the largest because we need all the components, so from the start perhaps a more economical processor is a good option because over time we may have the budget to make some expansions and it won't hurt us as much to get rid of a piece that costs 60€ as one that costs 150€. Now that obviously all this is talking about a low budget.

[garfield]

Another utility of that micro is also left behind. Many times (I include myself in that niche) we need to change computers in a short time, more for power needs than because it doesn't work, and in the end those parts end up being used in other PCs in which the requirements are not so exteremos, but we need to update it for other programs. I put my case:
PCs with c2d, which for designing don't serve me, but for using to cut with a laser machine, or with a cutting plotter they are more than enough. But to those I got a couple of Xeons 771@775 (thanks Yorus) and that due to the requirements of the new programs were dragging. Change of micro and continue.
So I have 4 PCs in my job, all equipment in which at the time there were no bitches to catch it at the beast, but knowing how the market goes, more than one will break the board, won't get another, and will sell their micro for two bitches and there we will be.

[Bm4n]

Hello! It's been 4 years and I'm telling you that I had to upgrade the CPU because for certain things, the Pentium was getting too slow for me. But as you can see, the G4560 has been a pleasant surprise, it has lasted twice as long as expected. And although obviously comparisons are odious, now that I have replaced it with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X which is just the opposite because it costs 8 times more and has 4 times more processors and I don't know the raw performance compared... Obviously this makes photo and video encoding much faster, which is what I wanted and the reason for upgrading.

But on the other hand, the circumstance has arisen that I have tried Battlefront 2 (Which they are giving away on the Epic Store) which uses the same engine as the first one and is quite similar, and surprisingly the performance is very similar, this game uses only between 15-30% of the CPU when before it used 95%. But it really is nonsense to spend that price difference to raise a dozen FPS, it is clear that this is a specific case, now I will try to test it with current games that I suppose will make use of more processor power and see what happens. But I must say that I do not regret the purchase.

In case anyone, apart from the anecdote, reads us; say that obviously in 2021 it is not the purchase that I would recommend because that today the software is better optimized for the use of more cores and the Ryzen of the low range are probably much more recommendable.

Goodbye.

PD. It performs 6 times better, but only double in single-threaded.
G4560: https://bm.hardlimit.com/result.php?bm=53b041e9a3b5c4f24859c2a8420c30e6569
5800X: https://bm.hardlimit.com/result.php?bm=9a097cddd73d84f545cac018d1500cf72124

[cobito]

@Bm4n I'm glad to read from you again.

You say that in single-thread it only yields double the Pentium but it remains in fourth position globally in single-thread, very close to the first one which is a Coffee Lake overclocked to 5.8Ghz. Yours, by the way, seems to have 200MHz of oc so other comparisons can't be made. In any case, it yields 6 times more performance in multi-thread than the Pentium with "only" double the TDP. So the improvement is everywhere.

[Bm4n]

@cobito would be a "solo" the double, in quotes, because obviously it improves a lot the Pentium, without a doubt jajaja. Anyway it has no OC it is factory, I don't know why it appears to you like that.

These Ryzen are better in every aspect that you compare, they are 4 years of difference and in which AMD has done the homework. It must also be said that they are different animals, for the difference in price it seems that it should perform even more, and in many everyday things you don't notice the difference. But well just as I was satisfied with the purchase of the Pentium, I think that this Rryzen 3 is going to give me good results, which it is already giving me the photographic edition is much faster, but it is still early to draw conclusions...

Regards.

PD. I repeat the test just in case: https://bm.hardlimit.com/result.php?bm=7731aa65059b25d1d98197df21a87fc32125
It's all standard, I think:

[cobito]

@Bm4n Well, that's news... Now it turns out that the frequency meter doesn't work with the Zen3. Let's see if I can find some time to look into it.

Thanks for the repetition.

[krampak]

@Bm4n at 90 degrees you have received it with the factory cooler as standard are you using the factory cooler?

[_Neptunno_]

@Bm4n on the topic of the 5800X price, keep in mind that we are in an era where prices are very inflated due to stock shortages, not to mention that by not competing with the Ryzen 3000, it ends up influencing the price.
If you had opted for a 3800X you would have paid a little less, although you would have noticed the difference in performance, but maybe it would have compensated you possibly…or not hehe.

I have a Pentium G3260 and I always thought it had great performance for the uses I have given it, considering that it cost me less than 50€...and at that time an i3 was much more than double the price but not in performance!

Greetings!!

[Bm4n]

@krampak I'm not sure if it's real, with the bench it does reach 80°C but under normal load it's usually around 70°C and without load it's around 40°C. I don't understand how these sensors measure that go up and down 40°C in two seconds... Of all things I have something very basic, a small 120mm RL kit so it doesn't take up much space since the case is small. And I don't plan to do OC, I prioritize that it doesn't make noise

If in the future I get the bug then I don't know what the hell I would have to mount, possibly I would have to change the case, but really this performs more than enough as it is stock.

@_Neptunno_ well if in the end the scarcity was what led me to buy so soon, but well after a few years of seeing how the market was going that instead of going down the trend is upward... And that I had been waiting for these Ryzen for a while. Obviously we always underutilize the possibilities of hardware, 95% of the use is at 10% of its capacity, that's why I prefer a console to play it's much more profitable. But after so much time without spending anything then look I gave myself the whim and stopped having to wait when I have to do editing

Do you think the market will stabilize this year? Because I think we're going to keep going like this until 2022 or beyond.

[_Neptunno_]

I think we are going to have very similar things this year in terms of prices, at least until the first part of the year. Anyway, it's not just about processors, GPUs are skyrocketing and we will see if we don't notice it in some more components since I read that ram was going to go up in price.

Greetings!!