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Best Entry-Level Gaming Processors

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: July 2013
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Best Gaming CPU for ~£60: Tie

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 (like 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, I cut 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 £95:

Core i3-3220

Core i3-3220
Codename: Ivy Bridge
Process: 22 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 2/4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.3 GHz
Socket: LGA 1155
L2 Cache:   2x 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Thermal Envelope:
55 W

Intel's Ivy Bridge-based CPUs are very capable gaming processors, though we're increasingly seeing dual-core derivatives of the design lagging behind in our favorite titles. Conversely, benchmark data makes it clear that the company's Hyper-Threading technology is effective in helping improve the performance of a dual-core CPU in threaded games.

Although a locked multiplier limits overclocking to a few-megahertz bump in BCLK frequency, we still consider Intel's Core i3-3220 to be a good starting point for gamers who might upgrade to a faster LGA 1155-based processor in the future.

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

Athlon X4 750K

Athlon X4 750K
Codename: Trinity
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 2/4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.4 GHz (4.0 GHz)
Socket: FM2
L2 Cache:   2 x 2 MB
Thermal Envelope:
100 W

At nearly £100, AMD's A10-5700 isn't a particularly compelling gaming processor. But imagine if it was £40 cheaper and included an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. No longer is that merely a dream; at long last the Athlon X4 750K is available in North America. Selling for £60, this is the cheapest enthusiast-friendly CPU you'll find. And while its lack of L3 cache is going to hurt a bit in games, enthusiasts can at least rest easy knowing that its 100 W TDP isn't being split between x86 cores and graphics. We can't wait to show you what we've done with this one in an upcoming comparison of AMD processors.

Read our review of the Trinity-based A series CPUs here.

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  • 0 Hide
    bemused_fred , 24 July 2013 09:18
    "The prices of Intel's Haswell-based CPUs are settling down a bit . In time, the company's most modern architecture will replace the Ivy Bridge-based Core i5-3570 and 3570K"


    The 3570, maybe. The I3 3220, maybe. But considering the huge problems that exist with overclocking Haswell, recommending the 4670K over the 3570K would be a terrible idea.
  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 24 July 2013 09:49
    Some of the prices are just plain wrong; I do smell a bit of foul play.

    The 965 BE, for example, goes for around £80. It should trump that i3 no problem. It's also cheaper.
  • 0 Hide
    damian86 , 1 August 2013 03:00
    Not sure what you call huge overclocking issues on Haswell as they can be easily oc'd to 4.6 even .7 I don't think most of the people will o.c their haswell to 7 ghz and keep it on LN 24/7 right? I mean Sandybridge was the big bang for overclocking but I don't understand what people expect, some huge change after Sandybridge, maybe not or not just yet.You need to remember this is all on a new technology -nm and that there are still more Haswell cpus to come out soon.