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whats the best cpu on a budget?

So, a Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz will beat an AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz without any overclocking etc and will run cooler?

Looking at building a new PC and cost / performance is high on the list. Onboard GPU is fine for me.
 
koolpc said:
So, a Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz will beat an AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz without any overclocking etc and will run cooler?

Looking at building a new PC and cost / performance is high on the list. Onboard GPU is fine for me.
Click to expand...

Sandybridge dude, a i3 2100 and a H61/67 chipset.
 
olivier renault said:
yes.

I like the i3. less hassle, no third party cooler required, and no messing about with motherboards.
Click to expand...

Messing around with motherboards?? A BIOS flash is not a big deal and if it is then it would be better to stick to a pre-built PC.

On top of this perhaps most of you have forgotten one thing. What if the computer has an OEM copy of Windows?? It means a new license is needed.

Even with a retail copy of Windows it means a new installation. Of course you need to remove the old bits too and install the new bits. If you are bothered about "hassle" actually getting a Core i3 actually involves more mucking around and costs more. £160 to £170 against £87 for what?? No real difference in most games??
 
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koolpc said:
So, a Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz will beat an AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz without any overclocking etc and will run cooler?

Looking at building a new PC and cost / performance is high on the list. Onboard GPU is fine for me.
Click to expand...

What is the PC being used for out of interest??
 
koolpc said:
So stick with the Athlon Quad?

Tiny bit of gaming otherwise, photoshop and bog standard stuff
Click to expand...

What about Llano?? It does have a decent built in IGP which is closer to an HD5570. Of course it does depend on your budget. TBH,a Core i3,Athlon II X4 or Llano A6 or A8 will be fine for most general usage IMHO.
 
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koolpc said:
Thats what i though. Might just get the Athlon Quad and a nice mobo / ram
Click to expand...

But why get a slow/power hungry old architecture Athlon when you can get a i3 2100/board and ram,


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
(£19.98) £23.98
(£19.98)
Sub Total : £146.63
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £31.23
Total : £187.36

£175.96 with free delivery

This particular motherboard even has SATA3.0 and USB3.0.


Want it cheaper?

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
(£19.98) £23.98
(£19.98)
Sub Total : £135.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £29.06
Total : £174.36

£162.96 with free delivery

But no SATA3.0 and USB3.0, but both these motherboards have a good selection of video connectors.
 
The new Sandybridge design is much more efficient, its able to do more work at once, the Athlon/Phenom (propus/denab etc) design has been around for ages and AMD really need to just get their vapourware Bulldozer design out the door.

Your question is a bit like asking why a French TGV train is faster than a old steam locomotive, its because ones a lot more modern, streamlined and powerful.

Sandybridge is also made using smaller transistors, which enable it to run cooler and use less power.
 
koolpc said:
But 2.6 as opposed to 3ghz. Or is it still much better than the Athlon?
Click to expand...

Because of the increased L2 cache a 2.6GHZ Llano is around the same level as 2.8GHZ Athlon II X4. A 2.9GHZ Llano CPU is around the same Athlon II X4 645. Llano is also 32NM but using a different process to Intel.

The main improvement is the IGP which is around HD5550 to HD5570 level in the A8.

The A6 IGP is around 20% slower. Here is a review of the A6-3650:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-a6-3650-apu-processor-review/11

So with a similar graphics cards, the Llano combination is a tad cheaper and has better overall power consumption(if that bothers you).

ATM,the cheaper A55 motherboards have not hit retail. However,the A75 motherboards do have a decent specification for the price:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-184-MS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2058

This motherboard has 4 RAM slots,4 USB3.0 and 6 SATA 3.0 ports too.

The cheapest equivalent H67 based mATX motherboard on OcUK with 4 RAM slots is around £85:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-451-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1907

The H67 is also limited to two SATA3.0 and two USB3.0 ports too. The H61 chipset also lacks ACHI too.

The cheaper H67 motherboards and all the H61 motherboards only have two RAM slots.
 
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Ok, so if i had to choose what would be the best performance boost:

i3 or a Llano? Which mobo/ram combo (Really a noob when putting spec together)
 
Going to be the i3 2100 still

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-a8-3800_11.html#sect1

Still faster than A8 3800 Llano, the dual core sandybridge is even faster than the quad core cpu in multi threaded tasks:D

It consumes less power at full load, and how many SATA3.0 drives would you be using? there are still a few SATA2.0 connectors on the H67 board for say a optical drive or a normal mechanical harrdrive.
 
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koolpc said:
Ok, so if i had to choose what would be the best performance boost:

i3 or a Llano? Which mobo/ram combo (Really a noob when putting spec together)
Click to expand...

Core i3 2100 = better single threaded performance. Better load power consumption as it is a 65W TDP CPU.
Llano A8 and A6 = better multi-threaded performance for the A8 and probably as good for the A6. Lower power consumption at idle.Much faster IGP. If you look at the A6-3650 review the IGP is around 33% to 100% faster than the HD3000 IGP found in the Core i5 2500K. The Core i3 2100 has the HD2000 IGP which is much slower. The A75 motherboards are cheaper and better specified than their H67 counterparts.
 
stulid said:
Going to be the i3 2100 still

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-a8-3800_11.html#sect1

Still faster than A8 3800 Llano, the dual core sandybridge is even faster than the quad core cpu in multi threaded tasks:D
Click to expand...

That is the review of the 65W A8-3800 which has lower clockspeeds.

stulid said:
It consumes less power at full load, and how many SATA3.0 drives would you be using? there are still a few SATA2.0 connectors on the H67 board for say a optical drive or a normal mechanical harrdrive.
Click to expand...

It also has a rubbish IGP which is massively slower too. On top of this,the H67 motherboards with 4 RAM slots are over £80 on OcUK.
 
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