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Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: November 2013
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What about this other CPU that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not?

This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen because availability and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that CPU you have your eye on is a good buy in its price range?

Here is a resource to help you judge if a CPU is a reasonable value or not: the gaming CPU hierarchy chart, which groups CPUs with similar overall gaming performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing gaming CPUs available and gaming performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.

This hierarchy was originally based on the average performance each CPU achieved in our test suite. We have since incorporated new game data into our criteria, but it should be known that any specific game title will likely perform differently depending on its unique programming. Some games, for example, will be severely graphics subsystem-limited, while others may react positively to more CPU cores, larger amounts of CPU cache, or even a specific architecture. We also did not have access to every CPU on the market, so some of the CPU performance estimates are based on the numbers similar architectures deliver. Indeed, this hierarchy chart is useful as a general guideline, but certainly not as a one-size-fits-all CPU comparison resource. For that, we recommend you check out our CPU Performance Charts.

You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two processors, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your CPU unless the potential replacement is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in game performance.

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart
IntelAMD
Core i7-2600, -2600K, -2700K, -3770, -3770K, -3820, -3930K, -3960X, -3970X, -4770, -4770K
Core i7-965, -975 Extreme, -980X Extreme, -990X Extreme
Core i5-4670K, 4670, 4570, 4430, 3570K, -3570, -3550, -3470, -3450P, -3450, -3350P, -3330, 2550K, -2500K, -2500, -2450P, -2400, -2380P, -2320, -2310, -2300

Core i7-980, -970, -960
Core i7-870, -875K
Core i3-3250, -3245, -3240, -3225, -3220, -3210, -2100, -2105, -2120, -2125, -2130
FX-9590, 9370, 8350, 8320, 8150, 6350, 4350
Phenom II X6 1100T BE, 1090T BE
Phenom II X4 Black Edition 980, 975
Core i7-860, -920, -930, -940, -950
Core i5-3220T, -750, -760, -2405S, -2400S
Core 2 Extreme QX9775, QX9770, QX9650
Core 2 Quad Q9650
FX-8120, 6200, 6300, 4170, 4300
Phenom II X6 1075T
Phenom II X4 Black Edition 970, 965, 955
A10-6800K, 6790K, 6700, 5800K, -5700
A8-3850, -3870K, -5600K, 6600K
Athlon X4 651K, 645, 641, 640, 740, 750K
Core 2 Extreme QX6850, QX6800
Core 2 Quad Q9550, Q9450, Q9400
Core i5-650, -655K, -660, -661, -670, -680
Core i3-2100T, -2120T
FX-6100, -4100, -4130
Phenom II X6 1055T, 1045T
Phenom II X4 945, 940, 920
Phenom II X3 Black Edition 720, 740
A8-5500, 6500
A6-3650, -3670K
Athlon II X4 635, 630
Core 2 Extreme QX6700
Core 2 Quad Q6700, Q9300, Q8400, Q6600, Q8300
Core 2 Duo E8600, E8500, E8400, E7600
Core i3 -530, -540, -550
Pentium G3220, G3420, G3430, G2130, G2120, G2020, G2010, G870, G860, G850, G840, G645, G640, G630
Phenom II X4 910, 910e, 810
Athlon II X4 620, 631
Athlon II X3 460
Core 2 Extreme X6800
Core 2 Quad Q8200
Core 2 Duo E8300, E8200, E8190, E7500, E7400, E6850, E6750
Pentium G620
Celeron G1630, G1620, G1610, G555, G550, G540, G530
Phenom II X4 905e, 805
Phenom II X3 710, 705e
Phenom II X2 565 BE, 560 BE, 555 BE, 550 BE, 545
Phenom X4 9950
Athlon II X3 455, 450, 445, 440, 435, 425
Core 2 Duo E7200, E6550, E7300, E6540, E6700
Pentium Dual-Core E5700, E5800, E6300, E6500, E6600, E6700
Pentium G9650
Phenom X4 9850, 9750, 9650, 9600
Phenom X3 8850, 8750
Athlon II X2 265, 260, 255, 370K
A6-5500K
A4-6400K, 6300, 5400K, 5300, 4400, 4000, 3400, 3300
Athlon 64 X2 6400+
Core 2 Duo E4700, E4600, E6600, E4500, E6420
Pentium Dual-Core E5400, E5300, E5200, G620T
Phenom X4 9500, 9550, 9450e, 9350e
Phenom X3 8650, 8600, 8550, 8450e, 8450, 8400, 8250e
Athlon II X2 240, 245, 250
Athlon X2 7850, 7750
Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 5600+
Core 2 Duo E4400, E4300, E6400, E6320
Celeron E3300
Phenom X4 9150e, 9100e
Athlon X2 7550, 7450, 5050e, 4850e/b
Athlon 64 X2 5400+, 5200+, 5000+, 4800+
Core 2 Duo E5500, E6300
Pentium Dual-Core E2220, E2200, E2210
Celeron E3200
Athlon X2 6550, 6500, 4450e/b,
Athlon X2 4600+, 4400+, 4200+, BE-2400
Pentium Dual-Core E2180
Celeron E1600, G440
Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 3800+
Athlon X2 4050e, BE-2300
Pentium Dual-Core E2160, E2140
Celeron E1500, E1400, E1200

Summary

There you have it folks: the best gaming CPUs for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is compare their performance to your budget before you decide which one is right for you. We even put in the work to help find the best prices.

Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!

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  • 0 Hide
    lorribot , 23 November 2013 01:48
    Was that a cut and paste from last month?

    When (if ever) are we going to see updated FX processors to challang Intel in the mid range? Have AMD just given up on this area?
  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 23 November 2013 11:21
    AMD Wouldn't stand a chance; Intel has FAR more money and *cough* measures in place to prevent AMD from becoming a threat.

    Though, if HSA is transparent to all forms of software (I.E, already-made programs/games), I'd expect AMD to become the champ. At least for a short while.
  • 1 Hide
    Treeroy , 24 November 2013 14:33
    Why is the i5-3570K the recommend CPU for £180? The i5-4670K is the same price...
  • 0 Hide
    Pailin , 24 November 2013 17:12
    also depends upon which games you play. For CryEngine based games I would Easily choose an AMD 8350 over the i5 for performance and especially the i7 for price/performance ratio.

    Not all game support Hyperthreaded logical cores, but more do support multi core CPUs like AMD's 8 cores.

    Sure right now I do not see an OC'd i5 holding you back much either, but can only be a good thing to see AMD do well and help make the CPU market even more competative in the near future... really feels like Intel have been dragging their feet in recent years while keeping prices up (also good for AMD who were left a bit far behind for a while there)
  • 0 Hide
    anthonyla65 , 1 December 2013 01:25
    Can't see how a 740K is better than a Haswell G3420. I know its a dual but its 55W TDP and probably still much faster at stock clock. I know the 740K can be OC'd, but you are severely limited in upgrade path and it could run way past the 100W when OC'd aswell. Fast Dual > Slow quad in my opinion. The G3420 outperforms the X4 640 easily (performs similar to a PII 965) so it would destroy this 740K and would have a motherboard where you can swap it out for a i5 4670K if required. With the 740K you're stuck, unless you replace the motherboard too as FM2 is dead end.

    And I think they recommended the i5 3570K instead of the Haswell i5 4670K, because Ivy Bridge can clock much higher than haswell and also runs cooler.
  • 0 Hide
    MMSR , 1 December 2013 18:33
    What I don't understand..

    Aren't gamers most likely to buy a stand alone GPU?
    Why bother with CPU's with integrated GPU.

    Why pay for something you will never use?
  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 1 December 2013 18:44
    I predict we will be getting APUs with high-end GPUs, a la P$4 and XBone.
  • 0 Hide
    MMSR , 1 December 2013 19:06
    Yeah, but does machines are not for tweakers, those are for the masses.

    What about the guys that pimp their systems with all kinds of water, led, etc..
    And isnt it much easier to upgrade just your GPU instead of CPU + MOBO?
  • 0 Hide
    chrisso , 7 December 2013 16:55
    The old chart layout was much easier to read.
  • 0 Hide
    Michael Robinson , 16 December 2013 17:07
    Guys, the info for the Athlon X4 750K is wrong!
    The table states 2 cores but I'm pretty sure it has 4.
  • 0 Hide
    Zeljko Vukovic , 17 December 2013 22:40
    And where are i3 Haswell processors?
  • 0 Hide
    Zeljko Vukovic , 18 December 2013 01:49
    And where are i3 Haswell processors?