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Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2013

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2013
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This month we address the disappearing Phenom II X4 965 and Athlon II X4 640, and suggest the eventual phase-out of AMD's entire FX family. The good news is that we now have performance data on the multiplier-unlocked Athlon II X4 750K, which does well.

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.

August Updates: 

The most significant changes in the CPU market since last month's update aren't related to additions, but rather disappearances. The Phenom II X4 965 and Athlon II X4 640 appear to be with us no longer. This happens on occasion, where a hiccup in availability occurs. But we think those old-timers are finally being discontinued. In particular, the  Phenom II X4 965 represented a tremendous value in the budget-oriented gaming processor space. And although the Phenom II X4 970 drops to take its place, that CPU is still too pricey next to faster Core i3 models.

The news isn't all doom and gloom for AMD, though. We've  been waiting months for the Athlon X4 750K to show up, and it's finally here. It's an incredibly flexible £60 processor featuring an unlocked multiplier, as Paul Henningsen showed in AMD's Piledriver And K10 CPU Architectures Face Off. Budget-constrained gamers with a few extra bucks might also be interested in the £80 FX-4130, which is also unlocked and comes with L3 cache.

The FX-9590 and -9370 are now available on Dabs at approximately £670 and £250, respectively, but we're far from impressed by the value proposition of both overpriced 220 W monsters compared to Intel's Core i5. Rumor has it that AMD may be discontinuing the entire FX line, but the company refuses to comment. For what it's worth, we have the latest roadmap in our possession, and there is indeed no FX listed after the existing Vishera-based models.

Intel has a couple of new processors to talk about: the Core i3-3245 and -3250. Both are 55 W Ivy Bridge-based parts. The Core i3-3245 has a 3.4 GHz clock rate and features Intel HD Graphics 4000, while the -3250 is 100 MHz faster and saddled with the inferior HD Graphics 2500 configuration. They share an identical £107 price tag on Dabs.

Neither CPU gets a recommendation, though, because we prefer the £95 Core i3-3240. Thanks to a price drop, it takes the place of Intel's Core i3-3220. A handful of other small discounts pepper the desktop line-up, affecting the Pentium 2120, Core i7-4770, and Core i7-4770K.

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 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.               

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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?