Best Gaming CPU: $50-$100
Best gaming CPU for $60:
Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (Check Prices)
| Athlon 64 X2 5200+ | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Brisbane |
| Process: | 65nm |
| CPU Cores: | 2 |
| Clock Speed: | 2.7 GHz |
| Socket: | AM2 |
| L1 Cache: | 2 x 128KB |
| L2 Cache: | 2 x 512KB |
| HyperTransport: | 2,000 MHz |
| Thermal Envelope: | 65W |
For about $50, the Athlon 64 X2 5200+ is a great gaming baseline. Performance results show us that two CPU cores are roughly the minimum for a respectable gaming machine, and the 2.7 GHz clock speed allows this CPU to deliver playable performance in all but the most demanding titles.
AMD's Athlon 64 X2 5200+ is a good starting point for people who want to put together a budget machine on the AM2+ platform, and then maybe upgrade to a Phenom II processor later.
Best gaming CPU for $75: Tie
Athlon II X2 250 (Check Prices)
| Athlon II X2 250 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Regor |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 2 |
| Clock Speed: | 3.0 GHz |
| Socket: | AM3 |
| L1 Cache: | 2 x 64KB |
| L2 Cache: | 2 x 1MB |
| HyperTransport: | 4,000 MHz |
| Thermal Envelope: | 65W |
For $70, you can buy the Athlon II X2 250, based on the new newer Phenom II architecture instead of the older Athlon designs. The Athlon II X2 250 sports a solid 3 GHz clock speed, so despite its lack of shared L3 cache, this CPU performs very well for the price.
Pentium E6300 (Check Prices)
| Pentium Dual-Core E6300 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Wolfdale-2M |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 2 |
| Clock Speed: | 2.8 GHz |
| Socket: | LGA 775 |
| L2 Cache: | 2MB |
| Front Side Bus: | 1066 MHz |
| Thermal Envelope: | 65W |
Not to be mistaken for the older Core 2 Duo E6300, the Pentium E6300 is actually similar to the E5300. However, it offers a higher clock speed as well as a faster front side bus speed. The Pentium E6300 costs a few dollars more than the Athlon II X2 250, but it almost certainly has higher overclocking potential for tweakers.
Best gaming CPU for $90:
Phenom II X2 545
| Phenom II X2 545 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Callisto |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 2 |
| Clock Speed: | 3 GHz |
| Socket: | AM2+ |
| L1 Cache: | 2 x 64KB |
| L2 Cache: | 2 x 1MB |
| L3 Cache: | 6MB |
| HyperTransport: | 4,000 MHz |
| Thermal Envelope: | 80W |
The Phenom II X2 545 gives the sub-$100 CPU market a full 6MB of L3 cache in addition to a 3.0 GHz core clock speed. There's not much more to say except that this is a deadly fast CPU for this price. The only downside is that this isn't a Black Edition processor, so it's clock multiplier is locked.
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Was looking into getting a new rig to play Batman on. But the game needs windows live account for its DRm. So I'll never buy it. That saved me a few hundred!!! This DRM tosh saves me a fortune every month.
"With rapidly-increasing prices over $200 offering smaller and smaller performance boosts in games, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-750"
but then
"While the Core i5 performs closely, there are a few applications and games that can take advantage of the Core i7 900-series' HyperThreading and triple-channel memory features"
so there IS a reason to stretch a little more for i7 920 then as you clearly state that there are some games out there that will benefit from the technology present in the chip.
What if I want my gaming PC to play everything at the very best quality? Can an i5 handle 5870s in Quadfire? How much faster do hyperthread-aware games run on the i7? Granted we are talking high-budget machines here but why is this sort of data ALWAYS omitted from these types of comparisons?
Yes, there is no point in going i7 975 when the i7 920 can overclock to match (and beat), but there is a point in considering the i7 920 over the i5 750 when it can do something the cheaper chip can't - the $250-$300 bracket is a perfectly valid one to consider.
Totally agree with LePhuronn, in fact I'd go further, the "best gaming graphics cards for the money" and "best gaming cpus for the money" articles really need to be combined.
What I'd like to know is what cpu's are best paired with what gfx cards and vice versa. (To avoid bottle necks that is)
I was having a conversation with my housemate this week as he is thinking about upgrading and he says that he alternates upgrading the cpu and the gfx and always gets be best available of each. I explained that that is counter productive as you will just be alternating your bottle necks and never getting the full value for money out of either...
I'm thinking about getting one of the higher Phenom Black Editions and pairing it with a 5850, is that good? Hard to tell right now!
Well, this didn't tell me what I wanted to hear (ie. That a Q9550 would be an excellent buy) but maybe that's a good thing.
I agree that a $250-300 bracket should be included. Even if many of us don't have the cash, some people do. (I would bring up the $ on a .co.uk website point again, but it doesn't look like it's going to change soon and I suppose it's an 'international' site.)
friggin socketmania
im so sick changing motherboard whenever i want to upgrade cpu
yay, found a BNIB Q9400 from PC World for under 100GBP to put some life back into my 775 system! Decent GTA 4 frames here we come!
People with Budget PC's, that took the leap in buying AMD Athlonx2 on an AM2 back in the day, really can't complain as yet. I was running my 4600+ x2 for about 2+years, and only upgraded GPU's, and finaly, when my CPU started to sruggle, I popped in a Phenom II X4 Black Edition 955, in the SAME AM2 mobo and voila, good to go for another long run....