Practically speaking, this is supposed to be a value processor. Sure, it's enjoyable to tinker with and if that's what you're looking for, you absolutely won't be disappointed. This processor overclocks incredibly well compared to most other processors on the market today.
But if you're trying to get the most bang for your buck, and you have to spend ~$30+ on an aftermarker cooler to get a decent overclock, well, you're probably close to an i3 money-wise, which gives you hyperthreading, a faster memory controller, and some additional instruction sets. It depends on your application as to how beneficial each of these features are, compared to the higher clock speed you can get with the g3258. For most users, I would say if you're looking into aftermarket cooling for this processor, you're probably getting a better value by spending a little extra on the processor itself (probably an i3 or fx-6300) instead of spending it on a heatsink. If you can find a good deal on an aftermarket cooler, or if you've got one lying around, you could probably squeeze some extra performance out of this guy without completely ruining the value proposition. Suffice it to say I do not understand the builds I see online that have this thing paired with a $100 liquid cooler.
Fortunately for this processor, you don't need an aftermarket cooler to get a decent overclock. I have it running stable at 4.0ghz at stock voltage. Prime95 temps maxed out around 65-70 with the stock heatsink. I haven't tried to push it further, I'm pretty content with the performance as it is now.
As far as specific applications go, I can only speak to what I'm using it for, which is light gaming. I've got it pared with an r9 270 (slightly overclocked as well) and 4gb of ram. This build should be able to play anything you throw at it. Maybe not at ultra high settings, maybe not at 1440p, but it certainly gets the job done without breaking the bank. As a general indication of the performance, the 3dmark firestrike score is 5013 (6152 graphics, 4156 physics, 2411 combined).
The obvious contender to this cpu is the Athlon x4 750k/760k. Judging based on the benchmarks I've looked at (3dmark, passmark, etc), there's really not much to choose between the two. Looking around the web, tomshardware and the like show the pentium coming out slightly ahead in most games. Honestly though, I think either one would work for this application. The athlon cpu is ~$5 more but the overall build might be slightly cheaper. However, I really don't know how well the athlon overclocks using the stock heatsink. This is something that would definitely be of interest if anyone was seriously comparing the value of these two cpus. It is also worth noting that you can now find non-z intel motherboards that can overclock this processor, so that definitely helps keep the build costs in check for the pentium.
If you're looking at a super low budget for a gaming pc(<$500), you may want to take a look at the ~$40 haswell celerons, paired with something like a gtx 750 (or better if you don't mind your cpu being the bottleneck while you save up for something better). You might be stuck on lower settings and fly a little too close to 20fps for the most demanding games, but just about anything should be playable. I bring this up because this pretty much wipes out the pentium k as a short-term solution. If you're saving up for an i3 or better and plan on upgrading in maybe a year or so, you should be going for a celeron (The 1840 is $44. How ridiculous is that?) instead of the g3258.
I am 100% satisfied with this processor's performance. It's a good processor at a good price. As long as you have a well thought-out idea of what you want before you decide to buy it, I don't see how anyone could be disappointed with this thing.
| Processor | 4 GHz pentium |
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