Good cpu matchup for gtx 660?

[JohnCenaLedyard]

So I bought a q9400 and found out the max cpu my motherboard can support is a e6600 which it already has. Obviously that will bottleneck my already bought gtx 660. 6ish hours into researching mobo and cpu I've come up with no answer. As a last resort I question you people of toms hardware, What cpu should I get for a gtx 660? My budget is 150, for motherboard and cpu. I am probably going to buy a used cpu. But without budget in mind, please name every single proccesor that would not bottleneck my gpu. Thank you! (Please don't ask my to save and get a i7 5960x like everyone on reddit tells me to do...)

 

[jaslion]

So I bought a q9400 and found out the max cpu my motherboard can support is a e6600 which it already has. Obviously that will bottleneck my already bought gtx 660. 6ish hours into researching mobo and cpu I've come up with no answer. As a last resort I question you people of toms hardware, What cpu should I get for a gtx 660? My budget is 150, for motherboard and cpu. I am probably going to buy a used cpu. But without budget in mind, please name every single proccesor that would not bottleneck my gpu. Thank you! (Please don't ask my to save and get a i7 5960x like everyone on reddit tells me to do...)

Just get an i5 750 or i7 860 and an lga 1156 motherboard + some ram.
Or go to ebay search for workstation and you will find a lot of the hp z200, z400,z600 and z800 pc's Those usually have some xeons in there that are better than the first gen i7's and cost around the 150$ mark.

 

[Trafalgar747]

It would be a good idea to save up a bit and buy an i7 6950x...just kidding.

For $150 you can get a very good processor, and i5 2400 and a motherboard for it should be for under $100. The i5 2400 is a solid processor and can handle graphics cards like the GTX 1060 and RX 480. If you want to buy a brand new i would suggest you save a bit more and get this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($41.99 @ Jet)
Total: $198.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-01 12:23 EST-0500

If you want brand new within your budget;

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($41.99 @ Jet)
Total: $146.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-01 12:24 EST-0500

The G4400 is a decent entry level processor and should be alright with a GTX 660, but an i3 6100 or i5 2400 would give you better frame rates.

If you want my personal recommendation, go for the i5 2400.

 

[JohnCenaLedyard]

So I bought a q9400 and found out the max cpu my motherboard can support is a e6600 which it already has. Obviously that will bottleneck my already bought gtx 660. 6ish hours into researching mobo and cpu I've come up with no answer. As a last resort I question you people of toms hardware, What cpu should I get for a gtx 660? My budget is 150, for motherboard and cpu. I am probably going to buy a used cpu. But without budget in mind, please name every single proccesor that would not bottleneck my gpu. Thank you! (Please don't ask my to save and get a i7 5960x like everyone on reddit tells me to do...)

Just get an i5 750 or i7 860 and an lga 1156 motherboard + some ram.
Or go to ebay search for workstation and you will find a lot of the hp z200, z400,z600 and z800 pc's Those usually have some xeons in there that are better than the first gen i7's and cost around the 150$ mark.

So i found a great deal on a i7 960 for 60 bucks.. just what I wanted right? Cheapest mobo is like 200 dollars, perfect if the mobos weren't so expensive. Thanks anyways.