This month's recommendations reflect recent benchmarks we ran on sub-£160 CPUs. As a result, you're seeing our choices shift quite a bit, particularly in the entry-level space. There are also a handful of price changes to cover, so let's get to it!
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.
January Updates:
Although it isn't yet live on the site, we just finished up the testing for our latest sub-£160 gaming CPU comparison. Without going into detail on our findings, we saw that, more than ever, today's games require a quad-core processor to realize their best performance. This shouldn't come as a revelation to anyone, but it does have a significant impact on our gaming CPU recommendations. We no longer plan to recommend dual-core chips like Intel's Pentium. Also, AMD's lower-priced quad-core models tend to look a little better.
We're not suggesting that dual-core Pentiums are suddenly bad gaming processors. In most games, they're still quite potent. But with new titles like Far Cry 3 utilizing additional threads at higher detail settings and CPU-dependent FXAA becoming more popular, the recommendations need to be shifted. Our gaming CPU hierarchy chart is modified this month, too, accommodating our evolving perspective. This may get tweaked in the months to come, though.
AMD
AMD recently introduced an A8-5500 APU. Essentially, it's an A8-5600K with a 400 MHz-lower base clock and a Turbo Core ceiling 200 MHz lower. Its TDP is 65 W (that's 35 W less than the -5600K), and it has a locked multiplier ratio. The company is selling A8-5500s for £80, which is a pretty bad deal compared to the A8-5600K, unless you're specifically looking for a lower-power APU. That's not what this column is about, though.
There's little else to report from AMD this month, although we did see some price drops on existing FX CPUs and Llano-based APUs. At £140, the former flagship FX-8150 is £40 cheaper than last month, and only £25 more than the FX-8120. A Socket FM1-based A8-3870K is down £6 to a surprisingly low £74 price point (although it's worth noting that Socket FM1 is a dead interface, so we don't see a lot of sense in spending money on it). The A8-3850, A6-3670K, A6-3650, and A4-3300 are also down since our last update.
Otherwise, we're still waiting on the Socket FM2-based Athlon II X4 750K in North America. We think that chip would make a great entry-level option if it were available. AMD, what's the hold-up?
Intel
There aren't any new processors to talk about this month, but the company's Pentium G2120 does show back up on Newegg after getting de-listed last month. No matter, though. As a result of our latest testing, the Pentium won't get a spot back on the recommended list.
Prices on Intel's processors remain fairly static, aside from a small drop on the Core i5-3350P. The £135 Core i5-3350P's price is down low enough that we think it deserves recognition as a great starting point for serious gamers. It takes the place of the similarly-clocked Core i5-3450 at £150.
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/UK 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.
This is also one of the reasons why 680 matches 7970 despite having less VRAM. It also has better memory controllers.