Best Gaming CPU for £50:
Athlon II X4 640
| Athlon II X4 640 | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Propus |
| Process: | 45 nm |
| CPU Cores/Threads: | 4 |
| Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): | 3.0 GHz |
| Socket: | AM3/AM3+ |
| L1 Cache: | 4 x 128 KB |
| L2 Cache: | 4 x 512 KB |
| Thermal Envelope: | 95 W |
With modern games often able to take advantage of more than two processing cores, AMD's old quad-core chips, such as the Athlon II X4 and Llano-based A6 and A8 APUs, look better now compared to Intel's dual-core models than they did before.
As a result, we're cutting the Pentium G860 from our recommendation list. The Athlon II X4 640 takes its place. Running at 3 GHz, this CPU performs roughly on par with the A8-3870K for less money. Use the savings on a discrete graphics card.
Read our review of the Athlon II X4 CPUs here.
Best Gaming CPU for £75:
Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
| Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition | |
|---|---|
| Codename: | Deneb |
| Process: | 45 nm |
| CPU Cores/Threads: | 4 |
| Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): | 3.4 GHz |
| Socket: | AM3/AM3+ |
| L1 Cache: | 4 x 128 KB |
| L2 Cache: | 4 x 512 KB |
| L3 Cache: | 6 MB |
| Thermal Envelope: | 125 W |
In Gaming Shoot-Out: 18 CPUs And APUs Under £160, Benchmarked, the Phenom II X4 makes a significant comeback compared to its competition, since many of the newer titles we tested are able to utilize multiple threads.
Sporting 6 MB of L3 cache and an unlocked ratio multiplier, AMD's Phenom II X4 965 is a solid performer at its stock clock rates, and it has some room to scale up with overclocking, too. Thanks to the Socket AM3/AM3+ interface's long life, you can buy this chip today and then upgrade to an FX model down the road (though we don't really see much reason to do so, based on the FX's relative gaming performance).
Read our review of the Phenom II X4 965 CPU here.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
i think that the charts gets a bit confusing if you compare some of the intel processors to the AMD ones
Its like a first step for AMD, next is steamrollar and Excavator
If you want a cheap upgradable modern gaming PC go 1155 + G860 + discrete graphics or if you want a cheap allround/gaming pc then go FM2 + AMD integrated graphics.
The 965 BE, AMD's price
Keep your intel jargon to yourself, tornadohh.
Pls show me some benchmarks where 965 BE is just 20% slower at worse than the i5 2500k. That is at best wishful thinking and no im not Intel fan... otherwise i would have bought this wonder AMD long time ago but the truth it its old technology by now and the i5 CPUs are very well worth their money.
and honestly tomshardware was hyping the G860 like its the best thing after sliced bread (beating the 965 BE in some of the same games they are still benchmarking now) but in 2013 a dual core cpu is not good anymore so the old AMD quadcores get the recommendation because they are cheaper than the i5 s - hhhhm interesting.
actually when i compared my Athlon II X3 425 (4th core unlocked and overclocked to 3GHz) the G860 (dual core 3GHz) performs a lot better and im talking about current simulations not only shooters.
on the other hand there is the FM2 plattform and for example the A10 5800k really kicks some ass when its comes to a cheap TINY itx allround gaming pc (with picu psu for example). WITHOUT discrete graphics card. other than that im sorry there is not so much AMD can offer at the moment.
and really im not intel fanboy ...
Honourable Mention:
FX-4300
i wish that would have been the i5 killer but unfortunately its just not there... competing with an intel dual core cpu
The way it is we have quite the odd battle AMD quadcore vs Intel dualcore in the same price range... which makes decision not so easy because yes sometime soon there might be really no place anymore for a dual core in gaming but right now there is.