Which CPU is better for gaming?

[saltiren]

I have a BIOSTAR A880GZ motherboard, and am deciding on what CPU I should use. This is a cheap gaming build. The GPU I am looking at buying is the GeForce GTX 650. I have settled on two CPU's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

I have heard Horror stories about the 4100, but I have heard that the 965 is great for overclocking. I am going with the Stock fan and plan not to overclock. I don't want to waste money on the 965 with all of its potential. The 4100 is a default .2 GHz higher so I would have a slightly faster CPU off the bat.

Also, I will not be playing BF3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, Ect. The most CPU intensive game I will be running is DayZ, a mod for Arma 2. I play free games from Steam, WoW, Tf2, Hl2DM, Gmod, and Minecraft mostly. I just want something that can play these games for about 2-3 years at 20+ fps. Not too difficult, right? Thanks for your help.

 

[Hazle]

for the price, the 965. at it's worst, it'll perform on equal terms with the 4100 if not slightly less. in most cases, it's slightly better than the 4100.

http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/3

http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/5

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-3.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-5.html

a 0.2ghz difference isn't going to mean a lot performance-wise. note how a 3.2ghz 955 fares against a 3.6ghz 4100 on TH's test, and a 3.7ghz 980 vs a 4.2ghz 4170 in TR's test.

and then there's the massive power consumption.

 

[saltiren]

for the price, the 965. at it's worst, it'll perform on equal terms with the 4100 if not slightly less. in most cases, it's slightly better than the 4100.

http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/3

http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/5

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-3.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-5.html

a 0.2ghz difference isn't going to mean a lot performance-wise. note how a 3.2ghz 955 fares against a 3.6ghz 4100 on TH's test, and a 3.7ghz 980 vs a 4.2ghz 4170 in TR's test.

and then there's the massive power consumption.

Thanks for the quick reply! Your answer was a bit difficult to read, but what you're saying is the 965 will preform as good, or slightly better than the 4100?

 

[groundrat]

What he didn’t say is that the older Phenom will not need a BIOs update, which the Zambezi chip will definitely need. Yes the Phenom will outperform the new Bulldozer. The best AMD chip performance wise is the Phenom II X6.

 

[4745454b]

Yup. Bulldozer is bad for gaming while piledriver brings them back to Stars. With with the 965 if you are going AMD.

 

[saltiren]

Yup. Bulldozer is bad for gaming while piledriver brings them back to Stars. With with the 965 if you are going AMD.

Alright then. I keep hearing the same thing all over the internet, so 965 it is! Thanks for the help guys.

 

[saltiren]

Best answer selected by saltiren.