Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: January 2012 (Archive)

[Sakkura]

Looks like they forgot to add them in when the budget Haswell CPUs launched (the Core i5s and i7s launched first, the rest came later).

 

[jbheller]

AMD are missing out on the action with the FX series chips as there are no small form factor motherboards available for the AM3+ motherboards. According to my favourite search site (Newegg) there are no mini-ITX AM3+ motherboards at all, and the offerings in the micro-ATX are just not up to scratch.There is no excuse for the lack of offerings, people can get amazingly well featured motherboards for Intel socket 1150 or the previuos 1155 processors in the ITX and micro-atx form factors. A lot of people are building really effective systems in cases like the Bitfenix Prodigy range, and AMD builds just aren't possible.I can't even buy a micro-atx AM3+ motherboard with 4x6GB sata ports, let alone 2 PCIx16 slots or half the other features that you would expect to be normal and standard features on any build.Wake up AMD

 

[logainofhades]

I am disappointed in the lack of smaller form factor boards for AM3+ as well. For a mini-ITX gamer, I just cannot recommend AMD unless the budget is just too low for an Intel i3 or better. Probably the only time I would recommend an i3 for a budget gaming rig is when it is in a mini-itx build. :lol:

 

[SessouXFX]

AMD's mistake, came from the thought that, if you're looking for a small factor, you probably want to look at their APUs, as opposed to their FX line...

 

[Sakkura]

They address the small form factor market with their APUs. The FX CPUs draw a lot of power, so they're not really well suited for mITX anyway.

 

[logainofhades]

The APU's flat out suck for a mini-itx gaming rig though. FX 6300 has a lower TDP than a 760k and is far superior. 95w vs 100w.

 

[dennisonuy]

With the new AMD Kaveri I would love to see an updated list and see how it stacks up against the Haswells

 

[logainofhades]

Sadly, Kaveri is kind of a letdown. Not much of an improvement over Richland on CPU side, really.

 

[Sakkura]

The APU's flat out suck for a mini-itx gaming rig though. FX 6300 has a lower TDP than a 760k and is far superior. 95w vs 100w.

AMDs TDPs are unreliable. The 760K has the same (official) TDP as the A10-6800K, despite having lower clocks AND deactivated graphics. Realistically, it uses significantly less power.

 

[Wisecracker]

logainofhades said:
The APU's flat out suck for a mini-itx gaming rig though. FX 6300 has a lower TDP than a 760k and is far superior. 95w vs 100w.

AMDs TDPs are unreliable. The 760K has the same (official) TDP as the A10-6800K, despite having lower clocks AND deactivated graphics. Realistically, it uses significantly less power.

It's completely different power delivery, too -- makes a big difference. In my A8-5600K build, the processor side idles at LOLw, gets really snappy at 20-25w and likely will not exceed 60w with an XFX HD 7870 DD along side it in my ITX build.

It does happen to cool with a copper heat-pipe AM3 HSF, though :lol: Therein must lie the power. I might even try it with a 7950. I suspect it will play.

 

[teknobug]

I would take Windows 8/8.1 task manager with a grain of salt, it shows 8150 with 1 core/8 threads, 8320 and 8350 3 cores and 4 threads, etc. Strange info, seems Windows doesn't identify certain FX CPU's properly.

 

[slimething]

Like we say in drag racing....when in doubt, punch it out, so I have a i7 4770k now.

 

[cypeq]

Damn CPU market is so stagnant over the last years 2-4 threads amd/intel, 4 core intel +4core intel.

 

[SessouXFX]

I wonder if the 4970 is going to get a K edition....?

 

[vertexx]

Snooze....

 

[InvalidError]

I wonder if the 4970 is going to get a K edition....?

That would be a high-end IB-E chip and those usually get $1000+ X-editions.

 

[logainofhades]

I would take an FX 8320 for $140 over an i5 3350p for $180.

 

[Onus]

I would take an FX 8320 for $140 over an i5 3350p for $180.

I would too. Having just upgraded one of my systems to a FX-8320, I can tell you it still feels slower overall than my i5-3570K, but I wouldn't call it $40 (or more like $120 in this case, since I paid $99 for it) slower, and for games, I think I would benefit now on the same budget with another $40 (or $120) added to the graphics card.

 

[logainofhades]

I really don't use my FX 8320 rig. It is an extra WoW rig that is normally used by my nephew's girlfriend. He uses my i5 2400, file server for WoW. Technically the FX rig is faster due to the GPU difference. File server still sporting an HD 4870 and the FX rig has an HD 5850. One of these days I will get around to installing my other 5850 into the file server, since I need the 4870. :lol: I am going to put together a 4th rig consisting of a PhII 560 and HD 4870.

 

[prf007]

I hate how these individual cpu reviews are recycled every single month.

 

[internetlad]

I think these articles are really understanding the effectiveness of the Celeron 1820. For 40 bucks you get the 80% of the performance of a 110 dollar i3. For anybody looking to cut their budget down this is a deal that cannot be ignored, and I can't imagine why it would be left out for two AMD processors that cost more than twice as much and offer a miniscule amount of extra muscle.

 

[logainofhades]

I would rather have a $64 Pentium G and have the same cache as the i3 without the HT. 😉 The lower cache of the Celeron is what tends to kill their performance.

 

[godfather666]

Why is Tom's being so annoying about the comments section.

 

[artk2219]

I would take an FX 8320 for $140 over an i5 3350p for $180.

I would too. Having just upgraded one of my systems to a FX-8320, I can tell you it still feels slower overall than my i5-3570K, but I wouldn't call it $40 (or more like $120 in this case, since I paid $99 for it) slower, and for games, I think I would benefit now on the same budget with another $40 (or $120) added to the graphics card.

Ah so you did end up picking up an FX 8320 from Microcenter? Have you tried your hand at overclocking yours? Mines been sitting at 4.4 with a small voltage bump, I want to push it further but I haven't had the time to do much testing.

 

[Onus]

No, I haven't overclocked it. Everything I have runs well, so I haven't seen the need to increase power consumption where I'd be unlikely to see or feel any gains. If I were waiting for the PC on anything, or getting poor FPS in games, I would quickly do so. I've thought about [temporarily] doing it just for grins, but have been busy with other things. My gaming time has dropped considerably.