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Best Gaming CPU: Entry-level

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: October 2012
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Best Gaming CPU for ~£50:

Pentium G850

Pentium G850
Codename: Sandy Bridge
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 2
Clock Speed: 2.9 GHz
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 2 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Thermal Envelope:
65 W

It turns out that the budget-oriented Sandy Bridge-based Pentium family performs very well in games. Specifically, Intel's Pentium G630 beat the FX-4100, -6100, and -8120 in our sub-£160 CPU gaming comparison. In fact, it finished right on par with the Phenom II X4 955.

At 2.9 GHz, the Pentium G850 is 200 MHz faster than the G630, earning our recommendation at the £50 price point. There's not much else to add, except that if you consider the Phenom II X4 to be a capable gaming CPU, Intel's Pentium G850 is an even faster option that uses less power.

Best Gaming CPU for £70:

Pentium G2120

Pentium G2120
Codename: Ivy Bridge
Process: 22 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 2
Clock Speed: 3.1 GHz
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 2 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Thermal Envelope:
55 W

The extra £20 you spend beyond Intel's Pentium G850 buys an additional 200 MHz, DDR3-1600 memory support, and the company's 22 nm Ivy Bridge architecture in its Pentium G2120. Because the LGA 1155-based Core i3s and Pentiums are unfortunately crippled by locked multiplier ratios, paying a little more for a higher clock rate is worth the cost, we think. At 3.1 GHz, the Pentium G2120 is actually a capable budget gaming processor.

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  • -1 Hide
    Anonymous , 18 October 2012 04:56
    CPU power in game rigs is irrelevant, Ive done research into many top end game engines and NONE use the cpu anywhere near to full use, For example Cryengine 3 running with a 12 core Top end cpu and 3 Nvidia SLI cards uses abount 20-25% od the CPU power (explanation from crytek the CPU has nothing to do, even if you have 3 (£700 worth) GPU's then usage will never pus high unless stupid use of the Physics systm (which in my opinion should be GPU based anyway). Ive tried to make the point that the ballance of GPU to CPU performance needs to reworked as who's going to bother buying new CPU tech if it makes no possitive impact on performance on the pricy game rigg. CPU manufactrers should be breathing down the necks of game companys to update engine code to more fully use the power of the cpu as the gaming market has always been a driver in top CPU sales, if this market is no longer relevant CPU's have no true value in a modern system and users have no reson to buy new CPU/Motherboard/Mem platforms, It all just comes down to GPU power.
  • 0 Hide
    bemused_fred , 18 October 2012 13:43
    "CPU power in game rigs is irrelevant"

    That's all I need to know about how well-crafted your argument is, right there.

    Good article, BTW, Tom's.
  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 18 October 2012 17:53
    Actually, last time I checked, you can get a 965 BE for £70 including shipping, so...Yeah.