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Best Entry-Level Gaming Processors

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2013
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Best Gaming CPU for £60:

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
Cache: 2 x 64 KB + 4 x 16 KB, 2 x 2 MB
Thermal Envelope:
100 W

At around £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. That isn't a dream any longer. At last, the Athlon X4 750K is available. Selling for roughly £60, this is the cheapest enthusiast-friendly CPU you'll find. And while its lack of L3 cache hurts in games, we at least like knowing that its 100 W thermal ceiling isn't divided between x86 cores and graphics.

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

Best Gaming CPU for £80:

AMD FX-4130

AMD FX-4130
Codename: Vishera
Process: 32 nm
CPU Cores/Threads: 4/4
Clock Speed (Max. Turbo): 3.8 (3.9) GHz
Socket: AM3+
Cache (L1, L2, L3)2 x 64 KB + 4 x 16 KB, 2 x 2 MB, 8 MB
Thermal Envelope:
125 W

At stock clock rates, AMD's FX-4130 is in the same league as the company's Phenom II X4 965 and not far behind the -3240. With that low-cost Phenom gone and the Core i3 more expensive, we're singling out the FX-4130 for folks who might want to consider a low-cost, multiplier-unlocked, gaming CPU built on the Piledriver architecture and armed with L3 cache, which the Athlon lacks.

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  • 0 Hide
    AMDRadeonHD , 29 August 2013 14:17
    For gaming, the highest recommended processor would be Intel Core i5-3570K, for gaming, there is no need for an Intel Core i7-3770K, it's completely useless. Intel Core i5-3570K is completely useless, too (If you don't need to overclock, just get Intel Core i5-3350P, forget about 3330, 3450, 3470, 3550 and 3570). Intel Core i3-3210, 3220, 3225, 3245 and 3250 are useless, too. For the same performance and more cores, you can get an AMD FX-6300 which is even cheaper. People that say AMD Athlon X4 750K get's beaten by Intel Pentium G, they're totally wrong. AMD Athlon X4 750K is just AMD A10-5800K without an intergrated graphics card, so it gives a big amount of overclocking headroom, and especially alot lower temperatures (You can also disable the intergrated graphics card in an APU so you can overclock to 4.5GHz, even over it in some cases, it depends on your aftermarket cooler, I recommend Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, best for the prices for years).
  • 0 Hide
    Menigmand , 30 August 2013 10:36
    Amazing that even after Haswell, the recommended gaming CPU's still remain Ivy Bridge-based..
  • 0 Hide
    mike789 , 1 September 2013 16:48
    Hey intel... how about giving a 4-core haswell based chip with no integrated graphics, lower price and higher OC abilities to make some sense to gamers?
    Hey amd... how about trying to improve your 4-core processors and stop producing a zillion cpus with minor differences?