[SOLVED] Best CPU for single threaded apps on my budget?

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Aug 26, 2019
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I asked this on another site, but it turned out to be a troll pit and I was chewed and and had to delete my account.
Anyway my budget for the CPU is around 120$ and around 75$ for a mATX or ITX motherboard.
I have a GPU, and alot of high end cooling parts.
I only use use my PC to play very old games from the early 00s and back. I have one new game I play, mount and blade.
M&B is not all to well made and it racks up one core to the point that even some less recent I7's can be bogged down once you mod it or up the battle size count.

Anyway given what my budget is what would you say is the best single threaded performance CPU?
I don't want to skimp there as everything else I do can be done on a rather old CPU. I don't need a good upgrade path as I intend to keep the pc untill it brakes nor do I intend to change my uses.

Thanks.

EDIT:
If anyone is wondering I got a free x299 board that had bent pins that I fixed and picked up a 9800x from miceocenrter for $299.
Thanks for the help.
 
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I think Intel still wins in single-threaded performance. AMD's quad-cores (at this moment) are still only 2nd-gen Ryzen even the 3200G is only 2nd-gen. The 2600 is also 2nd-gen and won't be as fast as Intel in single-threaded performance.

*Edit: Also, Intel has added Turbo Boost to the i3 series. This 9100F (and the 9100) have 4.2GHz single-core Turbo Boost.

CPU: Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
I think Intel still wins in single-threaded performance. AMD's quad-cores (at this moment) are still only 2nd-gen Ryzen even the 3200G is only 2nd-gen. The 2600 is also 2nd-gen and won't be as fast as Intel in single-threaded performance.

*Edit: Also, Intel has added Turbo Boost to the i3 series. This 9100F (and the 9100) have 4.2GHz single-core Turbo Boost.

CPU: Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
 
Solution
Aug 26, 2019
7
0
10
I think Intel still wins in single-threaded performance. AMD's quad-cores (at this moment) are still only 2nd-gen Ryzen even the 3200G is only 2nd-gen. The 2600 is also 2nd-gen and won't be as fast as Intel in single-threaded performance.

*Edit: Also, Intel has added Turbo Boost to the i3 series. This 9100F (and the 9100) have 4.2GHz single-core Turbo Boost.

CPU: Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Thanks. I asked this a one few other sites and most everyone is saying ether 2600 or the i3 9100.
I did think about waiting an saving up for a 9350k, built from what I'm seeing the 9350k is just a 8350k with no IGP and a soldered IHS.
So a 8350k would be a better buy. Id still like to see what others have to say. The 9100f is an interesting idea.
 
That cpu seems a tick outside my budget But I'll look into it.
Is there anything else out there with better single threaded performance in that price range ?
Single threaded performance kinda stagnented in the 3000/4000 intel gens. Unless you’re going high priced with the K chips and OCing them to 5Ghz with expensive cooling/delidding on the 6-8th gens then no. You’re better off getting a cheap quad core from the 4000 line. Sky lake is still quite expensive for how old it is.
 
Aug 26, 2019
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Single threaded performance kinda stagnented in the 3000/4000 intel gens. Unless you’re going high priced with the K chips and OCing them to 5Ghz with expensive cooling/delidding on the 6-8th gens then no. You’re better off getting a cheap quad core from the 4000 line. Sky lake is still quite expensive for how old it is.
I'm kinda trying to move away from the older hardware to be honest.
But thanks for the info.
 
Single threaded performance kinda stagnented in the 3000/4000 intel gens. Unless you’re going high priced with the K chips and OCing them to 5Ghz with expensive cooling/delidding on the 6-8th gens then no. You’re better off getting a cheap quad core from the 4000 line. Sky lake is still quite expensive for how old it is.
Old Intel is more expensive in the used market than that new i3-9100F.

*and slower. You might OC a i5-6600K to equal the performance of the i3-9100F. Anything older than 6th-gen (k-series) would be slower than 9th-gen non-k. And the 6600K is around $150 used.
 
Old Intel is more expensive in the used market than that new i3-9100F.

*and slower. You might OC a i5-6600K to equal the performance of the i3-9100F. Anything older than 6th-gen (k-series) would be slower than 9th-gen non-k. And the 6600K is around $150 used.

I can get a board combo for around £70 and the 9100f costs £83 without a board.
Old intel is fairly cheap as long as you don’t look for K SKUs or anything 6th gen or later.
 
Aug 26, 2019
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If you REALLY only need single thread performance look at pentiums. They’re only 2c/4t though. Wouldn’t really like to reccomend them because they’re terrible value.
That is my thought too. I only need single threaded performance but the idea of a celly or Pentium seems like a bad idea. I do know that M&B can choke on even some less recent i7s. I wish the game cuold use more cores.
 

andypouch

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I asked this on another site, but it turned out to be a troll pit and I was chewed and and had to delete my account.
Many ppl in reputable forums are supporting AMD and Tyzen. Their logic is that because many games are going towards 8c/6t and even 12c/24t, so buying Ryzen is the ONLY way to go. They also reckon Intel is dead. So I can understand how badly you feel about that. I have had similar experience too, but nicely the moderator just closed that thread without insulting me.

Anyway my budget for the CPU is around 120$ and around 75$ for a mATX or ITX motherboard.
You mentioned $75 for motherboard, that's a bit risky. Please note that only motherboard starts with the Z370 and Z390 are overclock enablers. But they are rather expensive. If you are going for the K variant of any i3 processors, you got to have the Z motherboard, those B won't do it right.

4c/4t might be slow if you play games like Battlefield V Multiplayer specially 64 players map. That would be thread demanding, you will be experiencing some stuttering. If you have a good Z motherboard like the Z390, these kind of stuttering might be reduced.

I've seen Mount and Blade, it looks like an interesting game. There is a Mount and Blade 2, have you tried that ? That might be optimized so it might run smoother. There are still many games uses less core and threads. A game which uses less than 4c/4t can supersede any 6c/6t or 8c/16t processors when going for pure clock speed and Intel IPC. You will find 4c/4t @5.0 GHz performs the same as an 6c/6t @5.0GHz, the later costs significantly more.

Interesting game, I may get it.
 
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