Best Gaming CPU: $200 And Up
Best gaming CPU for $200:
Core i5-750 (Check Prices)
| Core i5 750 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Lynnfield |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 4 |
| Clock Speed: | 2.66 GHz |
| Socket: | LGA 1156 |
| L2 Cache: | 4 x 256KB |
| L3 Cache: | 8 MB |
| QuickPath Interconnect (QPI): | - |
| Thermal Envelope: | 95W |
The new Core i5 brings top of the line Core i7-class performance down to the $200 price point. We recently awarded it our Recommended Buy honor, seeing it stand up to more expensive CPUs in games and other demanding apps.
Past the Point of Reason:
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. This is especially the case since the Core i7-750 can be overclocked to great effect if more performance is desired, easily surpassing the stock clock rate of the $1,000 Core i7-975 Extreme.
Then again, while we recommend against purchasing any CPU that retails for more than $200 from a value point of view, there are those of you for whom money might not be much of an object and who require the best possible performance money can buy. For those of you, we recommend the following CPUs:
Best gaming CPU for $280:
Core i7-920 (Check Prices)
| Core i7 920 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Bloomfield |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 4 |
| Clock Speed: | 2.66 GHz |
| Socket: | LGA 1366 |
| L2 Cache: | 4 x 256KB |
| L3 Cache: | 8MB |
| QuickPath Interconnect (QPI): | 4.8 GT/s |
| Thermal Envelope: | 130W |
Intel's Core i7 has proven itself to be the most powerful gaming CPU option available based on the data we have gathered. The Core i7-920 is a great choice for systems coupled with multiple graphics cards in an SLI or CrossFire configuration. The motherboards and DDR3 RAM that the i7 architecture requires will bring the total platform cost higher than other systems, but the resulting performance should be worth the purchase price.
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 spending the extra money on the Core i7-920 can pay off, especially if you plan to overclock.
Best gaming CPU for $1,000:
Core i7-975 Extreme (Check Prices)
| Core i7 975 Extreme | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Bloomfield |
| Process: | 45nm |
| CPU Cores: | 4 |
| Clock Speed: | 3.33 GHz |
| Socket: | LGA 1366 |
| L2 Cache: | 4 x 256KB |
| L3 Cache: | 8MB |
| QPI: | 6.4 GT/s |
| Thermal Envelope: | 130W |
This is the big kahuna, the fastest gaming CPU currently available for purchase, as our game tests show. Is it worth $1,000? If you have money growing on trees, are afraid to try to overclock the Core i7-920, want the ease of overclocking that the Extreme Edition's unlocked multiplier provides, and are willing to pay for the bragging rights, then it just might be.
Otherwise, the Core i7-975 Extreme is a hard sell from a value standpoint; you'd be better off investing more in graphics or solid state storage.
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....