[SOLVED] Best gaming CPU? (300 euro budget)

[Luca_21]

Im torn between choosing intel and amd and im not certain which to get, ive made sure to keep this part of my build as the last thing to order to make sure i can pin it down well.

Il be using this pc mainly for gaming and have been finding my current i5-8600k at 4.6ghz to be lackluster in terms of how much usage it gets during basic tasks.
Games like Tarkov and Warzone completely max out the cpu and throttle my performance because of this.
I need hyperthreading for sure.

 

[geofelt]

Most games depend on the single thread performance of the master thread.
To that end, look for the best single thread performance.
The i5-12600K should sell for near your budget.
It has 16 threads and a single thread cpu-Z bench of 773:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/bhgfiz/1

Here is a gaming review:
https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/core_i5_12600k_processor_review,21.html

 

[mdd1963]

are the minimum FPS unacceptable? (An 8600K could often certainly be considered thread-challenged if trying to maintain 144 FPS minimums in some demanding games, etc., but, I'd not be upgrading solely if for the sake of 'I don't like my CPU usage numbers'-syndrome...

(A lot will also depend on your GPU as well; if you only have a GTX1060, then you are likely saturating the GPU anyway, where any further CPU increases will not be met with further gains, even at 1080P, save perhaps for slightly improved minimum FPS)

If you've for sure decided on upgrading, the 12600K is wildly popular, and, given it's high performance for $289 price, for good reason....(alas, the Z690 mainboard will cost about that again, of course...)

 

[Karadjgne]

That's the issue

If you've for sure decided on upgrading, the 12600K is wildly popular, and, given it's high performance for $289 price, for good reason....(alas, the Z690 mainboard will cost about that again, of course...)

On top of that is a major decision. The board itself. Do you go cheap and get the DDR4 version, which historically doesn't last all that long as older ram is phased out of mainstream production in favor of the latest version, or do you opt for the DDR5 version and pay through the nose for decent ram speeds and any sort of 'future proofing' with cpu, storage, game, app compatibility.

Current DDR5 has been tested at multiple reviews and is roughly the same, but that's like testing DDR4-2133/2400 vs DDR3-2133/2400 which had similar results. Of course DDR4 is now upto 5000MHz ± and considerably different to even the best DDR3, so all the DDR4 12th gen owners will take an fps bath in a few years with their much slower ram.

 

[sizzling]

I don’t see the point in buying DDR5 for a gaming rig. There’s no meaningful benefit in performance and the cost is insane. If it’s like prior gens of DDR it’s going to take a couple of years for the higher speed, low latency versions become mainstream and at a reasonable price. So if buying either DDR4 or 5 gives X performance today but in a couple of years you find yourself needing Y performance you are going to need to upgrade either way. With the DDR5 route it just cost you more to get to the same point.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ahh But! Look at the pricing of a Z board compared to DDR4 now, consider the amount of work to strip a pc, and rebuild it. If you go DDR5 now you already own the board, and upgrading ram is generally very simple. If you go DDR4, you'll be upgrading everything and will have purchased a board not many now want.

And yes, right now there's really no difference for gaming, but back when DDR4 was released we had the same argument. Couple years later and the difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is very obvious.

With Intel and TSMC fabs coming online in a couple of years, the market is going to change. 6k ram is already out, won't be long before 8k ram is out and 3200/3600 is going to be no better than DDR3 1600/1866 is now.

I personally think that it's just a case of 'instant gratification' to go with DDR4 boards, it only serves you well for now, but will be a dead end in very soon.

 

[Luca_21]

Ahh But! Look at the pricing of a Z board compared to DDR4 now, consider the amount of work to strip a pc, and rebuild it. If you go DDR5 now you already own the board, and upgrading ram is generally very simple. If you go DDR4, you'll be upgrading everything and will have purchased a board not many now want.

And yes, right now there's really no difference for gaming, but back when DDR4 was released we had the same argument. Couple years later and the difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is very obvious.

With Intel and TSMC fabs coming online in a couple of years, the market is going to change. 6k ram is already out, won't be long before 8k ram is out and 3200/3600 is going to be no better than DDR3 1600/1866 is now.

I personally think that it's just a case of 'instant gratification' to go with DDR4 boards, it only serves you well for now, but will be a dead end in very soon.

The way i see it is, it might be some work to switch out the components but.. il sell the old ram and the motherboard anyway.
in a few years il easily be able to switch to ddr5 if it does indeed have any meaningful improvements, and if not il just stick with ddr4 until it somehow becomes so slow its unusable.

Ive opted to go with i5-12600k on the
Asus PRIME Z690-P D4 Z690.
Using the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280
Since it works perfectly fine with DDR4 3600, and still completely beats any other CPU we have at the moment.

I know i might get scolded for this move but i know i can switch out the motherboard later on anyway, and its fun to work with computers.
(btw im not exactly sure if the arctic liquid freezer II has out-of-box compatiblity with 12600k.. so if i need an attachment please inform me!)

 

[Luca_21]

Ahh But! Look at the pricing of a Z board compared to DDR4 now, consider the amount of work to strip a pc, and rebuild it. If you go DDR5 now you already own the board, and upgrading ram is generally very simple. If you go DDR4, you'll be upgrading everything and will have purchased a board not many now want.

And yes, right now there's really no difference for gaming, but back when DDR4 was released we had the same argument. Couple years later and the difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is very obvious.

With Intel and TSMC fabs coming online in a couple of years, the market is going to change. 6k ram is already out, won't be long before 8k ram is out and 3200/3600 is going to be no better than DDR3 1600/1866 is now.

I personally think that it's just a case of 'instant gratification' to go with DDR4 boards, it only serves you well for now, but will be a dead end in very soon.

a dead end how? it wont suddenly not work, itll be slower and work less good as DDR5 but.. the cpu using 3600 DDR4 still works 3x better than my current cpu (according to cinebench R23) and thats with mine being overclocked and the 12600k running at stock speed.

And its not like i wont have enough money to change out a motherboard and ram in years time.

 

[Luca_21]

That's the issue

On top of that is a major decision. The board itself. Do you go cheap and get the DDR4 version, which historically doesn't last all that long as older ram is phased out of mainstream production in favor of the latest version, or do you opt for the DDR5 version and pay through the nose for decent ram speeds and any sort of 'future proofing' with cpu, storage, game, app compatibility.

Current DDR5 has been tested at multiple reviews and is roughly the same, but that's like testing DDR4-2133/2400 vs DDR3-2133/2400 which had similar results. Of course DDR4 is now upto 5000MHz ± and considerably different to even the best DDR3, so all the DDR4 12th gen owners will take an fps bath in a few years with their much slower ram.

"All that long" can mean alot, people are still using pc's for gaming with DDR3 up to this date, its not like its a matter of supporting DDR3 for games.
It wont run nearly as well as a modern cpu with modern DDR4, but im sure DDR4 will be just fine for atleast 2-3 more years.
And i really doubt that ram speed will matter nearly as much as SSD speeds for gaming.

But as i said in another response, switching out the motherboard and ram in 1-2-3 years time is no problem for me.

 

[Karadjgne]

Asus PRIME Z690 is @ $400 and that's the cheaper board in Asus lineup. 32GB of Corsair DDR5 is @ $300-$400. That's @ $1000 for just cpu, mobo & ram.

A DDR4 setup is @ $600-$700 and that's getting decent speed ram.

When DDR5 starts hitting 7-8kMHz, and most are still using 3600 DDR4, that's going too be a difference, especially in stuff like Microsoft Flight or any other ram intensive game. Sure it won't make much difference to CSGO etc, but games aren't based on 2 thread, simple graphics anymore.

And in 1-2-3 years I'd not want to spend out another $600+ just to replace a mobo and ram. 12th gen is nice, and only going to get better, and DDR5 opens the doors for 13th gen+, but anyone riding a DDR4 mobo is stuck, it's a dead end. You'll not see DDR4 keeping up with DDR5 speeds or bandwidth.

There's been prior gen DDR boards in every single switchover, from DDR to DDR2, to DDR3 to DDR4, none sold well, none performed much if any better and basically ended up in prebuilts.

What you'd end up with is close to trying to run an 8700k with ddr3-1333 and fps in the toilet.

 

[geofelt]

The way i see it is, it might be some work to switch out the components but.. il sell the old ram and the motherboard anyway.
in a few years il easily be able to switch to ddr5 if it does indeed have any meaningful improvements, and if not il just stick with ddr4 until it somehow becomes so slow its unusable.

Ive opted to go with i5-12600k on the
Asus PRIME Z690-P D4 Z690.
Using the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280
Since it works perfectly fine with DDR4 3600, and still completely beats any other CPU we have at the moment.

I know i might get scolded for this move but i know i can switch out the motherboard later on anyway, and its fun to work with computers.
(btw im not exactly sure if the arctic liquid freezer II has out-of-box compatiblity with 12600k.. so if i need an attachment please inform me!)

You will need a lga1700 adapter kit.
The mounting hole pattern is different
https://www.arctic.de/us/LGA1700-Mounting-Kit-Liquid-Freezer-II-Series/MPSAS00891A

I would scold you for an aio more than ddr4.

 

[Luca_21]

You will need a lga1700 adapter kit.
The mounting hole pattern is different
https://www.arctic.de/us/LGA1700-Mounting-Kit-Liquid-Freezer-II-Series/MPSAS00891A

I would scold you for an aio more than ddr4.

It says it comes with the mounting kit on the site

 

[Zerk2012]

In the newegg shuffle today they had 32gb of 5200 DDR5 memory with a Asus Z690 F gaming for 744 bucks.

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-32gb-288-pin-ddr5-sdram/p/N82E16820236825

https://www.newegg.com/asus-rog-strix-z690-f-gaming-wifi/p/N82E16813119503

 

[geofelt]

It says it comes with the mounting kit on the site

You may be ok,
It depends on if you get new stock or not.

 

[Luca_21]

Asus PRIME Z690 is @ $400 and that's the cheaper board in Asus lineup. 32GB of Corsair DDR5 is @ $300-$400. That's @ $1000 for just cpu, mobo & ram.

A DDR4 setup is @ $600-$700 and that's getting decent speed ram.

When DDR5 starts hitting 7-8kMHz, and most are still using 3600 DDR4, that's going too be a difference, especially in stuff like Microsoft Flight or any other ram intensive game. Sure it won't make much difference to CSGO etc, but games aren't based on 2 thread, simple graphics anymore.

And in 1-2-3 years I'd not want to spend out another $600+ just to replace a mobo and ram. 12th gen is nice, and only going to get better, and DDR5 opens the doors for 13th gen+, but anyone riding a DDR4 mobo is stuck, it's a dead end. You'll not see DDR4 keeping up with DDR5 speeds or bandwidth.

There's been prior gen DDR boards in every single switchover, from DDR to DDR2, to DDR3 to DDR4, none sold well, none performed much if any better and basically ended up in prebuilts.

What you'd end up with is close to trying to run an 8700k with ddr3-1333 and fps in the toilet.

Prices drop

 

[Luca_21]

You may be ok,
It depends on if you get new stock or not.

I think it also says on amazon, it says "Compatibele apparaten Intel Socket: 1700 (Kit verfügbar), 1200, 115X, 2011-3, 2066 *Square ILM, AMD Sockel: AM4"
Which i think translates into "1700 (kit included)"
Edit: nvm, it says it an optional thing so i just ordered the mounting kit.

 

[Karadjgne]

Prices drop

As is evident from gpu sales, yes, prices do indeed drop. And the assumption is that pricing will drop further when Zen4 (which will be also DDR5) is released and demand skyrockets...

DDR5 won't be lowering in price in any meaningful way in the foreseeable future. High demand, low supply will be scalper rich environment, same as gpus are now.

 

[Luca_21]

As is evident from gpu sales, yes, prices do indeed drop. And the assumption is that pricing will drop further when Zen4 (which will be also DDR5) is released and demand skyrockets...

DDR5 won't be lowering in price in any meaningful way in the foreseeable future. High demand, low supply will be scalper rich environment, same as gpus are now.

Then il wait longer, its not within my budget and it apparently wont be for a while.

 

[Karadjgne]

Lol. I'd love to further upgrade my pc, Mebe a 3080 and 5800x, but as in most things it's prolly going to be another 7 years before I can. So I definitely understand the 'its not within my budget' part and am reduced to waiting until I can justify the expense to the Mrs. Prices for anything 'good' are absolutely nuts atm, $300 used to get you the Asus ROG Extreme X99 board, now it gets you the bottom of the line Prime. Pc value is basically shot to H.