Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: January 2012

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i skipped the last few "Best..." articles due to holding pattern of the cpu market. this month's was quite good. nice to see athlon, the xeon e3 and couple of fxes in the mix. the recommendations now have a welcome diversity.
 

PaulBags

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i skipped the last few "Best..." articles due to holding pattern of the cpu market. this month's was quite good. nice to see athlon, the xeon e3 and couple of fxes in the mix. the recommendations now have a welcome diversity.
He e3 at least has been in the last few months, it was actually cheaper at one point so you missed out.
 
i skipped the last few "Best..." articles due to holding pattern of the cpu market. this month's was quite good. nice to see athlon, the xeon e3 and couple of fxes in the mix. the recommendations now have a welcome diversity.
I agree, there has nearly been no point since there hasn't been any major cpu releases recently. The main thing that has changed in the past year is the amount of titles taking advantage of AMD's multi-core architecture which changes their gaming performance. In Australia CPU prices have actually all gone up in the past few months which is disappointing.
 

digitallife

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I'm building my first gaming rig and have been looking at the I7-4790K. Am I making a good choice at that price point? Any feedback would be appreciated.
 

xomm

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I'm building my first gaming rig and have been looking at the I7-4790K. Am I making a good choice at that price point? Any feedback would be appreciated.

If your rig will not be for work (that's stuff like heavy video editing, or virtualization, not just word/powerpoint etc.) then an i7 is overkill, just for show. Pick an i5 or the FX-8000 series recommended here.

What are the rest of your parts?
 

digitallife

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I'm building my first gaming rig and have been looking at the I7-4790K. Am I making a good choice at that price point? Any feedback would be appreciated.

If your rig will not be for work (that's stuff like heavy video editing, or virtualization, not just word/powerpoint etc.) then an i7 is overkill, just for show. Pick an i5 or the FX-8000 series recommended here.

What are the rest of your parts?


Gaming/Music Production that's why i'm going for the i7 at the moment. Hoping for one build that'll stand up for two years before I start putting new parts in it.i Was considering the GTX 970 and Gtx 980 but not sure about that now with AMD's latest stuff. Below is my list out at the moment. Have a case in mind, still figuring out powersupply and cooling.,

GSkill Rip jaws 16gb-1866
ASUS Z97-P
Gtx 970/980 Nvidia
Asus Xonar Dx Soundcard
 

Eggz

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Omission by error - Ivy Bridge-E is totally missing: i7-4820k, 4930k, and 4960x

The top-tier list should appear as follow (underlined CPUs were omitted):

Core i7-2600, -2600K, -2700K, -3770, -3770K, -3820, -3930K, -3960X, -3970X, -4820K, -4930K, 4960X, -4770, -4770K, -4790K, -5775C, -5820K, 5930K, -5960X
 

CptBarbossa

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I have a hard time understanding why you have a suggestion at $70 and at $75. I understand the upgrade path of the g3258, but this chart is based on strictly performance, and the 4 core athlon x4 860k is one heck of a performer for 5 bucks more, and you can actually launch games that the dual core g3258 cannot.

having said that, I am happy the fx 8320 is on here again.
 

wewum

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This is dumb. At $200, you can get a 4690k, which is way better than the 4590, especially because of the unlocked multiplier.
 

xomm

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Where the hell are you finding a 4690K for $200? Most places have it at $230-240 which is exactly where the recommendation is.

Remember that this doesn't take into account rebates and store-specific discounts because they're temporary and not everyone can use the same ones.
 
@ de5_Roy

Sorry, quoting isnt working. But just wanted to say I agree. Between better optimized games able to make better use of AMD's cores and some competitive price drops it's nice to see AMD competitive in the midrange. The fact that the FX series is several years old yet still nipping at the heels of Intel in many games is actually pretty impressive when you think about it.

Also agree with the Xeon e3 on the charts. Personally, I wish I could get an unlocked i5 4690k or i7 4790k without the integrated graphics. I wonder how much of Intel's extra cost comes from the integrated BPU that enthusiasts will never use...

With their mention of using more up to date benchmarking as well I'm hoping to see less emphasis placed on 1-2 core games, since that is yesterday's programming/optimization. The playing field changes once you let go of those old titles, which seem less relevant today.
 

logainofhades

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Only place you are getting a 4690k, for $200 is Microcenter. Otherwise the cheapest is $230.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $229.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 09:22 EDT-0400
 

wewum

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Micro Center?? duhh

 

wewum

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Then why don't they say that the 4690k is $200??
 

wewum

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How about micro center?
 

CptBarbossa

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I am one of the lucky ones. I got my i7 4790k just after new years for $250 from microcenter with $40 off accompanying motherboard. you really cant beat that price.
 

Phuntasm

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Give my i7 920 @ 3.2 (~i7 960) something to fight against! It's still nearly top-tier according to the charts. I need an excuse to upgrade. Here's hoping Skylake delivers!
 

logainofhades

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Yea, when I go, I make a day of it, and do other things, unless it is an emergency repair type of trip.
 
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