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Best Gaming CPU: Mid-range

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2012
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Best Gaming CPU for £95: Tie

FX-4170

FX-4170
Codename: Zambezi
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores: 4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 4.2 GHz (4.3 GHz)
Socket: AM3+
L2 Cache: 4 x 1 MB
L3 Cache:   8 MB
HyperTransport: 4000 MT/s
Thermal Envelope:
125 W
At its stock clock rate, AMD's FX-4100 isn't a particularly compelling gaming product compared to lower-priced options from Intel. However, enthusiasts are sure to appreciate its unlocked ratio multiplier and plenty of headroom to scale up. When it's pushed, this processor helps enable similar frame rates as some of our favorite Core i3 CPUs, though it uses significantly more power in the process.

But the FX-4170 comes with a much higher 4.2 GHz base clock, and consequently offers compelling performance out-of-the-box. With the price recently lowered (in the U.S. at least), it makes good competition for the Core i3-2120. Unfortunately the FX-4170 uses almost twice the power to accomplish similar frame rates, but from a pure price/performance perspective it's a viable competitor.

Core i3-2120

Core i3-2120
Codename: Sandy Bridge
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 2/4
Clock Speed: 3.3 GHz
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 2 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Thermal Envelope:
65 W

As our sub-£160 CPU gaming comparison article proved, the budget Core i3-2120 is a surprisingly capable gaming processor with the ability to beat some of the quad-core CPUs we've recommended at this price in the past.

Yes, you have to essentially forsake the potential for overclocking, given (what we consider to be) enthusiast-unfriendly locks on the multiplier and a base clock with very little room to scale beyond 100 MHz. But its stock performance is compelling, and this CPU still warrants a recommendation.

Read our review of the Sandy Bridge-based CPUs here.

Best Gaming CPU for £140:
Core i5-2310

Core i5-2310
Codename: Sandy Bridge
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 2.9 GHz (3.2 GHz)
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Thermal Envelope:
95 W

Intel's Sandy Bridge architechture is undeniably fast. Test data suggests that the Core i5-2310 can stand toe-to-toe with older LGA 1366-based processors when it comes to gaming performance. We're not talking about the entry-level models, either. This affordable processor has the chops to compete with Intel's thousand-dollar Extreme Edition chips.

Read our review of the Sandy Bridge-based CPUs here.

Best Gaming CPU for £145:
Core i5-3450

Core i5-3450
Codename: Ivy Bridge
Process: 22 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.1 GHz (3.5 GHz)
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Thermal Envelope:
77 W

As fast as Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture is in games, the 22 nm Ivy Bridge design performs slightly better per clock cycle, while using less power. For under £150, the Core i5-3450 promises to offer predictably impressive performance, based on our experiences with Sandy Bridge-based chips in the same price range.

It is also worth noting that the third-gen Core processor features a lower TDP and includes 16 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 connectivity. If you're buying a 7-series motherboard and Radeon HD 7000- or GeForce GTX 600-series graphics card anyway, enabling a faster connection between the CPU and GPU might be an important check-list feature (even if it isn't currently an important performance consideration).

Read our review of the Ivy Bridge-based CPUs here.

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  • 0 Hide
    brianthesnail , 31 August 2012 04:42
    ive just upgraded from the pentium E5700 to the pentium G620.. and for the price (£40) i am impressed.... granted its limited with no hyperthreading or turbo but along with 4gb of 1333mhz ram and a GTX550ti im running the latest games without any probs......
    its great to see toms hardware recommending these low end cpu,s ,however they may be low end but they have mid range performance... as the review above stated they can take on the FX4100 and even the 8 core bulldozers.. and can keep up with a quad core phenom..... i dont know how intel have acheived this but this allows guys like myself with limited budgets to build budget gaming rigs on a shoestring.....
    its nice to watch these channels on youtube with quad crossfire and overclocked i7,s but unless you have a 40K+ yearly salary or your folks are mega rich this kind of hardware is way out of your reach...
    theres many decent sites that can recommend good budget hardware but "toms hardware" is the best source of information anywhere online.... the best cpu and gpu monthly reports are second to none and this was the basis of my choice to go with the G620.....
  • 2 Hide
    MajinCry , 31 August 2012 23:50
    Eh. I upgraded from an E6700 to an AMD Phenom II X4 965 and it's awesome. It has literally doubled my frame-rates, and I can now play things like Skyrim and Fallout 3 with max render distances, loads of NPCs and shizzle with no slow-downs. Got everything throttled at 40FPS, and it's silky smooth. Cost me £80, £170 if you include Mobo and RAM.
  • 0 Hide
    jemm , 3 September 2012 06:08
    Good to see people confirming in real world the tips from Tom´s!
  • 0 Hide
    jay_nar2012 , 5 September 2012 04:04
    I love how the picture for this thread (when you are about to click on it) has just AMD cpus in it....