Looking for a cpu for around $200 Intel!

TurkeyDinner

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Jan 24, 2016
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I am looking for a good intel processor for around $200 american. I am looking for something that has a chipset with upgrade potential. I will have to buy a new motherboard as well so if you have some suggestions for that too, it would be much appreciated. I would like to spend around 100-150 for a motherboard. I would also like a ssd with atleast 240gb preferably more, for around 80 -100.
 
Solution
Your best option would be 8th-gen Coffee Lake. However, it's currently out of stock and I'm not sure when it will become available again.

i3-8350K
or
i5-8400

and a Z370 motherboard. Best upgrade potential because they have 6 cores on i5 and i7. The i5-8xxx is on par performance-wise as i7-7xxx, and i3-8xxx on par with i5-7xxx.
Your best option would be 8th-gen Coffee Lake. However, it's currently out of stock and I'm not sure when it will become available again.

i3-8350K
or
i5-8400

and a Z370 motherboard. Best upgrade potential because they have 6 cores on i5 and i7. The i5-8xxx is on par performance-wise as i7-7xxx, and i3-8xxx on par with i5-7xxx.
 
Solution
If same clock speed 6 real cores will win. So the i5-8600K can beat the i7-7700K, but not by a lot. i7-7700K will beat i5-8400 because of clock speed difference. *But considering price an i5-8400 is a great deal.

Samsung 850 EVO is hands down best SATA III; or Samsung 960 EVO if you want M.2
 
The i5-8400 is locked correct?
And thank you for your opinion. I am going to leave thread open until tomorrow and if nothing else catches my eye, I will select this as my answer. I have also been eyeing the i5-8400 for a while, debating but wanted to get a few other opinions. Still looking for other ideas though.
 
1) it would be best to give us the exact REASONS (gaming?) for the PC build

2) I know you said INTEL but AMD RYZEN makes sense too (I recommend both depending on need and budget), such a an R5-1600 Ryzen build.

3) What do you mean by "upgrade potential" anyway?
If you mean to upgrade the CPU later then AMD may be the better way to go (such as an 8-core ZEN2 CPU in 2019+).

Intel 8th gen for this socket may not be easy to find in a few years since Intel will be on to a new socket soon.

4) COFFEE LAKE motherboard for non-K (not overclockable) CPU's that are much cheaper won't be available for a few months.

5) virtual vs real cores:
Really hard to compare. For gaming if you have a six-core CPU then adding hyperthreading (virtual) cores likely adds you NOTHING or at least very little.

At best it usually helps no more than 30%. In fact, it's often better to have a higher FREQUENCY 4-core (hyperthreaded) CPU than to have a 6-core.

6) Terminology BTW is:
6C/6T (means six cores, no hyperthreading)
6C/12T (six cores, each is hyperthreaded)

"hyperthreading" means another thread of code (i.e. another program or thread in same program) can be stepped through during the IDLE times that the CPU cores is waiting on new data from system memory.

So it's the same CPU core just toggling between two threads of code. A few buffers etc were added to immediately move in a 2nd thread of code, again during the times it's normally just waiting.

7) 4C/4T (5GHz) vs 6C/6T (3.8GHz?)
i3-8350K vs i5-8400

- that's a very difficult choice. the 4-core CPU will win in most situations (once overclocked) where a CPU bottleneck exists, though in many there may be no CPU bottleneck anyway. If i had to choose I'd probably get the i3-8350K (and overclock to 5GHz ish), though you add the cost of a good CPU cooler to ($50 or so).

This is why the PURPOSE, BUDGET etc is critical to giving good advice.

If we assumed say a 25% higher clock (if i5-8400 is setup to all cores at 4GHz), then you need programs/games that need most of the i5-8400's six cores to benefit (50% more cores, but the i3-8350K can have 25% higher performance per core)

However, it's rarely quite so SIMPLE so it's best to look at benchmarks of i3-8350K at 5GHz vs the i5-8400. (again, I think the i5-8400 can be setup to have all cores at 4GHz with most motherboards currently but correct me if that's wrong)

SUMMARY:
If you can't wait, I'd strongly recommend an R5-1600 Ryzen setup instead (depending on need).

*You really need to give the TOTAL BUDGET and list the parts they are meant to include, and the PURPOSE to get good advice on which parts to get.
 
Ok, thank you for the descriptive answer. The total budget I don't really know, but I already have a gtx 960, corsair cx 600m, and am looking for the rest to upgrade my computer. The processor I have right is an Intel core 2 duo. I am wanting to get all the rest of the parts for like 500.
 
You said you wanted this for upgrade poitention? I would not go with intel then, they only use there architecture for 2 generation s then they change, so if you want upgrade potential go amd because they use the same archetechture for a while, just look at the am3 series...(not as a solution, as an example, don't do am3 it's outdated to ryzen)