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Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: September 2012

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: September 2012
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In this month's update, we reveal new Ivy Bridge-based Core i3, Core i5, and Pentium CPUs, some of which affect our recommendations. Unfortunately, we're still waiting for Vishera, AMD's updated desktop CPU built around the Piledriver architecture.

If you don’t have the time to research 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:

This month's big news is the launch of Intel's Ivy Bridge-based Core i3 processors. For the most part, they're very similar to their Sandy Bridge-based predecessors, including 3 MB of shared L3 cache and two physical cores with Hyper-Threading technology turned on. Of course, the new models are built using a 22 nm manufacturing node.

So far, we're seeing a Core i3-3220T, -3220, -3225, and -3240 for sale. [Ed Note: Sadly, we're not seeing the Core i3-2550T in the United Kingdom.]

The Core i3-2550T is a low-power model, sporting a 35 W TDP, a 2.8 GHz clock rate, HD Graphics 2500 and a £90. The Core i3-3220 has a 55 W TDP, two 3.3 GHz cores, and HD Graphics 2500 for the same price. Intel's Core i3-3240 is rated for 55 W as well, but it operates at 3.4 GHz and sells for £110. Finally, the Core i3-3225 shares the same specifications as the -3220, but improves 3D performance with HD Graphics 4000, making it the first third-gen Core i3 we've seen with Intel's highest-end graphics engine. Priced at £110, it looks like a better buy than the Core i3-3240 for anyone content with on-die graphics processing.

We're not, though. So, we think the £90 Core i3-3220 has the most potential for budget-oriented gamers. We'd circumvent its HD Graphics 2500, anyway, and use a discrete GPU. This CPU takes the place of the Core i3-2120 in our recommendations.

Intel added an Ivy Bridge-based model to the Pentium family as well with DDR3-1600 memory support and a 1.3 GHz core clock. Its G2120 replaces the G870 running at the same speed, priced at the same £70. That older CPU's memory controller can only handle DDR3-1333, though.

We've also seen a new Core i5-3350P running at 3.1 GHz (up to 3.3 GHz with Turbo Boost) and a 69 W TDP for £140. This part lacks integrated graphics entirely. There's a new Core i5-3330 as well, which operates between 3 and 3.2 GHz. Its TDP is 77 W, and Intel is asking £140 for it. Finally, although it isn't new, we noticed the Core i5-3450 now costs £145.

AMD's portfolio is a lot more stagnant. The company moved prices around slightly, but there weren't any launches. Perhaps the biggest news for AMD is a small drop on the FX-6200 CPU that now sells for £105. We're still waiting on news about the company's upcoming Piledriver-based Vishera design for the desktop.

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 US prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary. Of course, these are retail CPU prices. We do not list used or OEM CPUs available at retail.

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  • 1 Hide
    mi1ez , 26 September 2012 17:43
    Quote:
    Intel added an Ivy Bridge-based model to the Pentium family as well with DDR3-1600 memory support and a 1.3 GHz core clock.

    1.3GHz? or 3.1GHz?