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Best "bang for buck" CPU at the moment?

Associate
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Probably the i5 6400: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1151-processor-retail-cp-587-in.html

Worth noting value for money is likely to increase substantially by March-ish.

Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Zen will be launching in that time frame (Kaby Lake coming January, Zen coming March, as far as I know).

By the time they're both out, and prices have adjusted, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get something equivalent of the i5 6400 for £100-120.
 
Permabanned
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Any cheap unlock(able) one.
i3 4400 with appropriate motherboard and you will get 90% of the performance of an i5 6400
 
Caporegime
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i would say if you mean bang for buck then often the higher end cpus end up being the best.why because they often last quite a bit longer and you get a better experience overall.

i7 will often last you maybe a year longer maybe more than a i5.games like bf1 have finally brough home cpu power is needed.
 
Soldato
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i would say if you mean bang for buck then often the higher end cpus end up being the best.why because they often last quite a bit longer and you get a better experience overall.

i7 will often last you maybe a year longer maybe more than a i5.games like bf1 have finally brough home cpu power is needed.

I have had a 4770K for a while, recently invested in some good cooling.

Now running at 4.4Ghz without trying and I see no reason to upgrade that rig in the forseeable future.

I find the current CPU tech rather stagnant.

I want more cores and faster cores but we seem to at a ceiling and are currently eeking out the last few drops.

The thing is, my 4770K was £250, a current top level i7 is WAY beyond that and I feel is not as much value compared to what the 4770K was and cannot justify a top end i7 for a "secondary" rig.
 
Associate
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My personal answer would be that bang for buck is poor when buying new, and the best bet would be an overclockable older-gen i7 (sandybridge or newer).
 
Soldato
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Not talking about RAW power or the cheapest but best value performance per buck while still being a jack of all trades.

Thanks.

Athlon X4's are around £15 per core and FX's a little less. Motherboard are £40-50.

Intel start at around £45 per core on a quad core and motherboards at £50-60. i3's start at around £55 per core.

So AMD are the best performance for the money by a massive margin.
 
Soldato
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Am1 5350 is best value for allrounder.
Fm2+ would be x4 845 or x4 870 (better cooler and soldered ihs)

For added cost of z board you get longevity and future proofing to an quad or 4c8t I7
1151 on a z board and overclock a i3 6100.
 
Associate
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Am1 5350 is best value for allrounder.

I wouldn't agree, i fell for the blurb and built one for a friend who wanted a budget do everything pc, it capable as a web browser/office pc but that was its limits, we paired it with a 7750 and it bottle-necked it badly, however it cured the stuttering watching 1080p you tube vids.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
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Not talking about RAW power or the cheapest but best value performance per buck while still being a jack of all trades.

Thanks.

Best bang for buck CPU at the moment is a 6700/7700k (if you want wait 6 weeks for it).

Why? Simply because you'll be able to keep these for 5 years+ and max out every single game.

If you buy a cheap I3/I5, it won't last you as long, resulting in more money in the long run.
 
Soldato
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Am1 5350 is best value for allrounder.
Fm2+ would be x4 845 or x4 870 (better cooler and soldered ihs)

For added cost of z board you get longevity and future proofing to an quad or 4c8t I7
1151 on a z board and overclock a i3 6100.

Cheapest doesn't equate to best value. I've also had an AM1 5350 and a 5370. An i3 was twice the price but easily twice the performance at two less cores.
 
Associate
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yeah best bang for buck is sure not skylake, not considering the fact that the differences are minimal especially in games, but the prices can be far cheaper.

if you want to buy new then the options are more limited but the second newest generation would be better 'bang for buck' than the newest one.
 
Soldato
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Is an i3 6100 a good shout?

A good fast clock.

Majority of games are still single threaded (I know not all but I expect most games played on this rig will be older ones anyway).

If needed in 2017, I can sell the i3 and get a 6600k if needed while still being on a modern platform.
 
Don
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Absolutely not.

£115.99 - i3-6100 3.7Ghz 2 Cores 4 Threads 3Mb Cache
£139.99 - i3-6300 3.8Ghz 2 Cores 4 Threads 4Mb Cache
£179.99 - i5-6400 2.7Ghz (3.3Ghz Turbo) 4 Cores 4 Threads 6Mb Cache
£199.99 - i5-6500 3.2Ghz (3.6Ghz Turbo) 4 Cores 4 Threads 6Mb Cache
£218.99 - i5-6600 3.3Ghz (3.9Ghz Turbo) 4 Cores 4 Threads 6Mb Cache
£248.99 - i5-6600k 3.5Ghz (3.9Ghz Turbo) 4 Cores 4 Threads 6Mb Cache


The i5-6400 is a poor buy, as for only £20 more a i5-6500 gives you a 500Mhz clock speed boost, and higher turbo limit. On the other hand, for £64 less a i3-6100 will deliver similar performance on nearly everything (except for well multithreaded apps), due to the higher clock speed and still supporting 4 threads.

i3-6300 is similarly a poor buy, as £24 more than a i3-6100 only buys you 100Mhz and 1Mb more cache.

A i5-6600 isn't necessarily bad, as while £19 only buys you 100Mhz base clock over the i5-6500, if you still need single threaded performance the higher turbo is worth it.

The i5-6600k is only worth considering assuming you are overclocking, otherwise the £49 over a i5-6500 isn't going to give you much of a jump.


Edit:
Is an i3 6100 a good shout?
It's the best value option. As above the i3-6300 and i5-6400 are poorer value (and in a lot of instances the i5-6400 could be worse).
 
Associate
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29 Oct 2005
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I had a 6100,stonking little chip for the money,especially if you use a z170 board with custom bios,that chip overclocks to 4.5ghz easily.

I have a 6400 now I picked up for £170 and that sits at 4.4ghz nice and cool,again with custom bios,not much difference in games compared to the i3 for me just much better benchmarks lol
 
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