Source: Tom's Hardware UK – Keywords: best, gaming, cpu
Categories: Gaming
Introduction
If you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right processor for your next gaming machine, fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming CPUs offered for the money.
September Updates
There were a number of CPUs introduced since our last installment of this series, both from Intel and AMD, so let's start with an overview of these new models.
First up is Intel's new Core i5 for the new LGA 1156 interface. The fundamental differences between the i5 and i7 designed to drop into the same socket are really limited to Hyper-Threading and slightly less-aggressive Turbo Boost bin configurations. As far as games are concerned, Hyper-Threading isn't really a boon, for the most part, and dual-channel memory is able to serve up plenty of bandwidth to the platform. So, it turns out that the Core i5 offers real value to the gamer. Intel's Core i5-750 runs at the same 2.66 GHz base clock rate as its Bloomfield-based Core i7-920 cousin. But, at $200, it costs almost $100 less. For more on the i5 and its architecture, check out our launch coverage.
Some new Core i7 models for the LGA 1156 interface have also been introduced, including the Core i7-860 and 870. These CPUs do sport Hyper-Threading (just like their high-end LGA 1366 Core i7-900-series cousins), but they center on the same "mid-range" Lynnfield die, which is limited to a dual-channel memory controller, while offering integrated PCI Express 2.0. Once again, the performance is very similar to the Core i7-900-series.
In the AMD camp, which has been dominating the sub-$150 CPU market, we have the new Athlon II X4 620. This is the first quad-core CPU at a $100 price point, and it can really perform exceptionally well at AMD's asking price. While it does lack the Phenom II's large L3 cache (in fact, it has no shared L3 cache at all) the greater core count is more than able to compensate for the lost cache, especially in multi-tasked environments or threaded applications. Check out our launch coverage of that one, here.
Other than the introduction of these few models, prices haven't moved much. But the presence of these new CPUs have certainly impacted our recommendations.
Some Notes About Our Recommendations
This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, then the CPUs on this list may not be suitable for your particular needs.
The criteria to get on this list are strictly price/performance. We acknowledge that there are other factors that come into play, such as platform price or CPU overclockability, but we're not going to complicate things by factoring in motherboard costs. We may add honorable mentions for outstanding products in the future, though. For now, our recommendations are based on stock clock speeds and performance at that price.
Cost and availability change on a daily basis. We can’t offer up-to-the-minute accurate pricing information in the text, but we can list some good chips that you probably won’t regret buying at the price ranges we suggest (and our PriceGrabber-based engine will help track down some of the best prices for you).
The list is based on some of the best U.S. prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary. Of course, these are retail CPU prices while we do not list used or OEM CPUs.
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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.
It seems odd that last time you recommended the i7 920 above all others but you're now going for an inferior chip. Tripple channel memory isn't actually that much more expensive, at least where I shop (UK). Yes the motherboards are hard to find for under 100GBP, but even the "cheap" x58s have so many built in features that they do represent excellent value.
The i5 is a smart choice for the budget conscious, but if you only upgrade your system every two or three years then you probably want a slightly more future-proofed setup. By the time you upgrade again you may be glad you went for an i7.
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!
^+1 Interesting idea. The PC I'm using to write this has an i7 paired with a GeForce 7. There is a valid reason for this odd pairing, but it's not hard to guess which one is the bottleneck... ;-)
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....