Budget Build CPU?

[Guest]

I am looking for a low cost CPU for a budget gaming build for a little research experiment. What are some low end budget gaming CPU’s that would favour optimal gaming performance whilst also allowing a good overclocking experience? Preferably under the $150 range, I was considering the Pentium range or the recent I3 range of Intel CPU’s going as far as the core2 duo range however I don’t know much about AMD CPU’s, any information regarding them would be nice to have – also a recommendation of couple of CPU’s would be much appreciated, I would like to compare things like – price, clock speed and amount of core/threads. Opinions on these products would be greatly appreciated so if anyone has used any budget CPU's before any information regarding your experience with the processor would be great.

Any Motherboard socket will be fine just looking at the price to performance ratio of the CPU whilst considering overclocking capabilities.

I plan to overclock and squeeze as much performance out of the chip as i can for it to potentially match the i3 stock clock speed. I Understand the intel pentium g3258 offers an excellent over clocking experience however does the CPU temps get high enough for it to thermal throttle using the stock heatsink and therefore require another heatsink (considering I push it to the max) and how does AMD fair compared to the g2358 when it comes to overclocking experience and heat factor - I would like to see how much I can squeeze out of the processor as I can without purchasing an after market heat sink to keep costs down

 

[-Fran-]

Personally, I still consider the FX-4300 family decent overclockers and CPUs. The platform is old by now, but they can still prove their worth.

Regular picks are: Pentium G3xxx'es and/or the cheapest i5 you can find with a decent H170/H87/H97 MoBo; if still over budget, B85 or H81.

Cheers!

 

[fabiodrm]

i3 6300, new family. you can found it for $150 but you still need a mobo.

 

[DustinV]

I 2nd the i3 6100

 

[Ecky]

i3 6100, or i5 6500. Neither can overclock, but you'd end up spending a lot more on a motherboard for overclocking anyway.

 

[Redneck5439]

I'm with Yuka on this one. Its going to be hard to find a real contender in the Intel line up as you would need a "K" series chip to be able to overclock and the pentium g3258 is dual core no hyper-threading. The pentium g3258 will give good performance on games that only utilize 2 cores, but those are becoming very rare, most modern games utilize more than 2 cores, so gaming experience is going to vary greatly depending on the game. The i3 6100 is in the price range, is a really nice processor and a good performer, however you can't overclock it.

Really if you want something you can overclock you are looking at the FX-4300 through the FX 8320 line, unless you can get a good deal on a "K" series Haswell - if overclocking is important to you. As far as overclocking on a stock heat sink -- that is never recommended.

 

[Ecky]

If overclocking for the sake of overclocking, yes, Intel CPUs are ruled out. However, Intel's dual-core-with-hyperthreading i3's will outperform even the highest overclocked AMD quads, most AMD hex cores, and in more gaming scenarios than not, even the FX 8-core CPUs.

It's possible that, due to being able to go with a less expensive power supply and motherboard, and the lack of need for an aftermarket CPU cooler, an i5 might fit in the same budget as a "less expensive" FX chip.

 

[Redneck5439]

If OP is simply looking for the very best budget gaming option available with a true upgrade path then the obvious choice is the i3 6100. It is an amazing processor, capable of benchmarking above some older i5s in gaming. It would also have the very nice feature of being future proofed as the same socket will be used by Kaby Lake so the OP could upgrade to an i5 or i7 Kaby Lake in a year or two whereas there will be no new AM3+ processors made.

 

[-Fran-]

Oh, yes. I forgot Intel gimped the Pentiums removing AVX instructions as well. So they are no longer viable for gaming (other than old games).

So it has to be at least an i3 (high clocked) or i5 (low clocked). And since they are within range, I will always go for the i5. It's a better all-rounder.

Cheers!

 

[Redneck5439]

Oh, yes. I forgot Intel gimped the Pentiums removing AVX instructions as well. So they are no longer viable for gaming (other than old games).

So it has to be at least an i3 (high clocked) or i5 (low clocked). And since they are within range, I will always go for the i5. It's a better all-rounder.

Cheers!

+1 however for his budget he's in the i3 range, not the i5 range. The best i3 to go for would be the new i3 6100 and have an upgrade path through Kaby Lake.

 

[-Fran-]

The only gripe I have with i3 Skylakes is that they are within range of Haswell i5s. Plus, DDR4 is still kind of expensive looking for 1:1 performing modules. Same can be said of Skylake MoBos.

In any case, this is an interesting exercise. Let's see... I will edit with PC Parts Picker later.

Cheers!

EDIT:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6320 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($158.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($58.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $276.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 17:53 EDT-0400

 

[RaptorZ]

Get a Xeon E5-2670 it destroys the i3, i5 and in some cases the i7 current generations! I have used it in my primary setup with two of them and it is way fater than the i7 5820k. It also supports DDR3, you can get one for around $80!!!

Brief specs-
~20MB of L3 cache
~8 core, 16 threads
~2.6ghz base clock and 3.3 turbo clock
~supports dual CPU's

Link to Specs:

http://ark.intel.com/products/64595/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2670-20M-Cache-2_60-GHz-8_00-GTs-Intel-QPI

 

[teknobug]

I 3rd the i3 6100.