Best CPUs (Archive)

[cangelini]

Here are the best gaming CPUs for the money. These processors offer the best performance at their price and are suitable for overclocking.

Best CPUs : Read more

 

[Eggz]

Hey look, it's finally another "Best CPUs" article! Welcome back

 

[jazz84]

I was very interested to see a Xeon on here, but not at all surprised considering the reason given (same die btween consumer and enterprise). One little-known gem in this regard, though, is the Xeon E5-1650 v3, which is from the same die as the i7-5930k but supports up to 768GB DDR4 ECC. I happened to have a bunch of registered ECC DDR4 and an X99 board, so wound up choosing this processor. What I did not expect, though, was to find that the E5-1650 v3, just like its sister 5930k, actually has an unlocked multiplier and gets roughly the same OC results (mine is at 4.5Ghz). It's a niche application that happened to fit my circumstances, but if we're looking at Xeons now, the 1650 v3 is definitely worth a little attention.

 

[gilbadon]

Typo, Core i5-6500k is really Core i5-6600k

 

[Math Geek]

nice to see the list back and updated

also nice to see the pentium finally leave the honeymoon stage and folks to realize that 2 cores just ain't gonna do it for a gaming rig, no matter how cheap it is. too bad amd has nothing new right now to add in except for old chips at a budget price. sure hope they can get their act together and bring something new to the market sometime soon....

 

[Seoulja615]

I bought a i7 5960x back in February 2015 for $500 and had to build around it. lol

 

[AioniosJay]

... what happened to the hierarchy charts i loved to look those up

 

[littleleo]

It would be nice if the new AMD ZEN CPUs coming out next year make some noisy at the top of this list. It is was interesting seeing Tom's calling the FX-6300 a Tri-Core and the FX-8xxx quad cores. Once again no APUs make the list so I guess they are not a good choice for gaming. I don't consider the X4 860K an APU since it has no Graphic core.

 

[tridon]

... what happened to the hierarchy charts i loved to look those up

Where did they go indeed? That was for me the most important part of these articles

 

[littleleo]

... what happened to the hierarchy charts i loved to look those up

Where did they go indeed? That was for me the most important part of these articles

I think TH was tired of all the complaints on what tier each CPU would be listed, and why certain CPUs weren't listed, lol.

 

[ahdonehaddabowddanuffayew]

One little-known gem in this regard, though, is the Xeon E5-1650 v3, which is from the same die as the i7-5930k but supports up to 768GB DDR4 ECC. I happened to have a bunch of registered ECC DDR4 and an X99 board, so wound up choosing this processor.

I keep seeing this processor come up in conversations, and am genuinely curious. Let's say you were building a machine from scratch, to be used for prosumer content creation and gaming. Right now on pcpartpicker, the total platform price difference between a 5930K / non-ECC DDR4 system and a comparable 1650 v3 / ECC system can be as low as $50 USD, depending on the specific memory kits and capacities being compared. For fifty bucks, would the bump up to Xeon and ECC memory be worth it?

 

[jazz84]

One little-known gem in this regard, though, is the Xeon E5-1650 v3, which is from the same die as the i7-5930k but supports up to 768GB DDR4 ECC. I happened to have a bunch of registered ECC DDR4 and an X99 board, so wound up choosing this processor.

I keep seeing this processor come up in conversations, and am genuinely curious. Let's say you were building a machine from scratch, to be used for prosumer content creation and gaming. Right now on pcpartpicker, the total platform price difference between a 5930K / non-ECC DDR4 system and a comparable 1650 v3 / ECC system can be as low as $50 USD, depending on the specific memory kits and capacities being compared. For fifty bucks, would the bump up to Xeon and ECC memory be worth it?

If all you're trying to do is build a gaming rig and you're deciding between those two CPUs, go with the i7. The 1650 v3's ability to handle 768 GB of registered ECC is overkill since you're not even going to need the 128GB you could load an x99 setup with. Now, if you plan on hosting VMs or using your system as a workstation too (or anything where stability is paramount), the Xeon makes a lot more sense. In my case, I got lucky: we scrapped some beta systems at work, but the components were all still new and functional. I was literally handed a box of 16GB DDR4 ECC DIMMs, so I had to go with a Xeon in order to use it. The unlocked multiplier was just icing on the cake.

 

[chaosmassive]

In best pick section, both AMD 860K and 4350 have 4 cores (4 threads) instead 2 cores (4 threads)

 

[Bartendalot]

... what happened to the hierarchy charts i loved to look those up

Where did they go indeed? That was for me the most important part of these articles

There stopped being definable tiers aside from self explanatory i3 - i5 - i7.

The SB i5-2500 is in the same tier as the SKL i5-6600.

Not much has changed since the x58 platform aside from PCIe gen (which doesn't matter) and DDR4 (which also doesn't matter)

Native NVMe support is intriguing though... Looking forward to SKL-E...

 

[SoundFX09]

Great to see this finally get updated.

And Yes, It's good to see some FX CPU's get the spotlight again, along with the Athlon X4 860K. Both the 860K and FX-4350 can make very good budget CPU's in Gaming builds.

Great work on the changes!

 

[csm101]

damn where is that chart? it was the single most important thing when it comes to CPU stuff for me cos based on that i made decisions as to go for the next new thing or not. cos i need to know where my CPU I7 4770 stand with the new set of CPU's.

 

[Cryio]

860K is the best option for low budget builds, up to Nvidia 950/AMD 270X/370 levels of performance.

I would swap the FX 6300 with the FX 8300. Cheaper than the 8320 and barely 10-20 dollars more expensive than the 6300.

 

[hayroe]

Although it's good to see an update after months of looking at June's column over and over, this is so little changed from that column that it's almost funny.
Not even a mention of the Core i7-6700k on the higher end....
I don't mean to be critical, but I almost feel like TH is just 'going through the motions' with these 'Best of' columns....

 

[arielmansur]

Toms! the hierarchy chart! its the most important part of this posts! it REALLY saves me a LOT of time, please bring it back! or update the june one. Thanks.

 

[kennishor]

... Once again no APUs make the list so I guess they are not a good choice for gaming. I don't consider the X4 860K an APU since it has no Graphic core.

I think there are no AMD APUs listed because the list is about best CPU/price not best CPU+iGPU/price....most of the Intel processors listed are APUs.

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

Please add the hierarchy chart back! I find it valuable.

 

[cats_Paw]

While its nice to see new stuff coming out, most games are so bad that they can still run quite well on dual cores.
Untill PC games get back on track, there are few reasons to upgrade (most PCs for work use dont get updated until they break).

 

[Aurunemaru]

People, it's "Best CPUs", not "Best gaming CPUs for the money" there will be the hierarchy chart when they update that, I hope

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

@Toms Staff:
The "Report Abuse" button isn't working. I'm clicking on it but it's giving me a 404. Has sidotogimo's spammy post already been deleted, even though it's still showing in my browser?

 

[joseph1968]

I don't know but in a store near by i see an i3 6100 socket 1151, with and without box , for sale.
the going price here [ Israel] is around 150$ us. [yes a bit more then in the U.S since we have import tax].
not a bad option to start with ,knowing you can always upgrade using same motherboard.