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Best Gaming CPU: High-end

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: January 2013
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Best Gaming CPU for £175:

Core i5-3570K

Core i5-3570K
Codename: Ivy Bridge
Process: 22 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz)
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache: 4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Thermal Envelope:
77 W

The Core i5-3570K's base clock rate is only 300 MHz faster than the Core i5-3350P's. However, the K-series' unlocked ratio multiplier is a must-have for overclockers looking to unleash significant performance improvements. It is for this reason alone that you'll want to consider shelling out an additional £40 beyond Intel's more entry-level Core i5. After all, the pricier chip's HD Graphics 4000 engine is inconsequential to us.

If you don't plan to overclock, then there's little reason to spend any more than £135 on the Core i5-3350P.

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

Diminishing Returns Kick In:

CPUs priced over £175 offer rapidly diminishing returns when it comes to performance in games. As such, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-3570K, especially since this multiplier-unlocked processor is easy to tune up to 4.5 GHz or so with the right cooler. Even at stock clocks, though, it matches or beats the old £800 Gulftown-based Core i7-990X Extreme Edition in game tests.

But now that LGA 2011 is here, there's certainly an argument to be made for it as the ultimate gaming platform. LGA 2011-based CPUs have more available cache and as many as two more execution cores than the flagship LGA 1155 models. Additionally, more bandwidth is delivered through a quad-channel memory controller. And with 40 lanes of third-gen PCIe connectivity available from Sandy Bridge-E-based processors, the platform natively supports two x16 and one x8 slot, or one x16 and three x8 slots, alleviating potential bottlenecks in three- and four-way CrossFire or SLI configurations.

Although they sound impressive, those advantages don't necessarily translate into significant performance gains in modern titles. Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a £170 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a £800 LGA 2011 Core i7-3970X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines.

Where we do see the potential for Sandy Bridge-E to drive additional performance is in processor-bound games like World of Warcraft or the multiplayer component of Battlefield 3. If you're running a three- or four-way array of graphics cards already, there's a good chance that you already own more than enough rendering muscle. An overclocked Core i7-3960X or -3930K could help the rest of your platform catch up to an insanely powerful arrangement of GPUs.

To summarize, while we generally recommend against purchasing any gaming CPU that retails for more than £175 from a value point of view (sink that money into graphics and the motherboard instead), there are those of you who have no trouble throwing down serious money on the best of the best, and who require the fastest possible performance available. If this describes your goals, the following CPU is for you:

Best Gaming CPU for £450: (or for any price)
Core i7-3930K

Core i7-3930K
Codename: Sandy Bridge-E
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 6/12
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.2 GHz (3.8 GHz)
Socket: LGA 2011
L2 Cache:   6x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 12 MB
Thermal Envelope:
130 W

Take the £800 Core i7-3970X, remove 3 MB of L3 cache, and drop the base clock rate by 300 MHz. What do end up with? Three hundred pounds and change left over, and an Intel Core i7-3930K.

The 300 MHz difference in clock rate is hardly relevant, given unlocked multiplier ratios benefiting both CPUs. And you'd be hard-pressed to quantify the advantage of 15 MB of shared L3 cache over 12 MB. Moreover, a greater-than-£300 savings lets you buy a nice motherboard and cooler, while still getting the same four-channel memory subsystem and 40-lane PCI Express 3.0-capable controller.

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

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  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 18 January 2013 23:17
    FINALLY! The 965 is on the list!
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , 24 January 2013 16:07
    Hm. Looking at other sites, and their benchmarks, FX-6300 seems to be pretty nice, reaching i5 in several tests, at a bit over half the price.
  • 0 Hide
    redh4t , 24 January 2013 17:48
    It depends on what graphic card u are. FX6300 bottlenecks some high-end AMD cards like 7950~7970. I would recommend go with nVidia card + 6300, because nVidia cards are less CPU related.
  • 0 Hide
    jonboy79 , 27 January 2013 17:24
    Ive been doing some research and the fx6300 will keep up just with a i5 once been overclocked, and will totaly smoke a i3, but just £10 more than the i3, was the under £90 number made up so you didnt have to mention it.
  • 0 Hide
    jaguarcd32x , 1 February 2013 04:55
    Yes the reason why Nvidia Kepler GPU's don't get bottlenecked by a slower budget CPUis because Kepler cards can fetch textures straight from RAM. Other GPU's have to wait on the CPU marking textures for use before fetching them. There for if you have a budget or slow CPU and are only upgrading your GPU, then Nvidia Kepler will give you better performance.

    This is also one of the reasons why 680 matches 7970 despite having less VRAM. It also has better memory controllers.