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Best Intel CPU for £150?

SlugForAButt said:
Agreed second hand is the way to go.



But let's be honest, it's not just a few Mhz is it now? That is disingenuous to say the least.
We are talking nearly half a Ghz for much less money when the extra cores count for not too much.
I won't make the jump to 775 quads as I think we will be another generation on before quad is a neccessity. 775 is a dead socket and 8500 is enough for the 775 gen games.
Wasted money.

Only my twopenneth though.
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I would argue that 500MHZ over 2 extra cores would not be significant in a multi threaded game.Quad for the win:D
 
I didn't realise that the OP already had an E8500. Maybe it is worth keeping their funds for new core components next year. Of course they could sell their E8500 and get a secondhand Q9550 for a few quid more.
 
easyrider said:
I would argue that 500MHZ over 2 extra cores would not be significant in a multi threaded game.Quad for the win:D
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Insinuating that even in a multi threaded game the 8500 would have a minor edge? Weird. Certainly in most games the faster 8500 would have the edge. Much cheaper E8500 for the win. :D

And btw, there aren't too many games that make use of hyperthreading that makes a dual core obsolete. And by the time it's commonplace the 775 quad will be in a museum anyway. I see 775 quads as obsolete as an upgrade option.
 
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The build is for a friend who would like a new computer. All the components need their warranty and I'm 99% sure he would rather want new components than second hand. I'm not buying it straight away as he doesn't have the money now, so getting money for a second hand CPU is not an option.

I'm just making sure I've made the right choice. I don't want to have a sub-standard PC for the money he's paid.

I'm not too sure why there are so many suggestions for a 9550. This is a new enough £200 CPU?

So back to the original question. For the price, is the 8500 the best CPU I can get on the market. It will be playing games, browsing the net. I wouldn't want to bottleneck it's GPU.

And just out of interest (knowing nothing about AMD) could you get a faster AMD for £150? AMD isn't an option as it stands, but I'd be interested to know as I have a friend arguing that AMD's are the 'bea's' as he put it.
 
A fully clocked E8500 outpaces a lot quads on the market. If you need the extra cores then i5 750 is the way to go otherwise any other upgrade would be sideways or offer very little gain for the price. Im using a 6000+ x2 atm and the only processor in my eyes worth a full mobo upgrade is the i5 750 but only if I can get it for close to the £250 mark as possible. If your gonna make full use of 4 cores then maybe the upgrade will be worth it but otherwise I would just stick.
 
Freeman said:
I don't think I need quad core, gaming is all I'll be doing.
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If you take a dual core cpu clocked at 3ghz and then get a quad core clocked at 3ghz and play Bad Company 2 on each, i guarantee that it will be MUCH more playable on the quad core

Personally id sell the cpu that you currently have and buy a second hand Q6600 for about £80, then clock it.

Why dont you want to overclock? Its like free money
 
Guest2 said:
If you take a dual core cpu clocked at 3ghz and then get a quad core clocked at 3ghz and play Bad Company 2 on each, i guarantee that it will be MUCH more playable on the quad core
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It depends on the GPU setup and resolution
 
Well yes, if you have a £600 graphics card its probably going to be fine if you have a single core. I have an 8800GT and going from dual to quad turned it from slide show to 40-70fps
 
:confused:

If you have a crappy GFX card then upgrading the CPU is not going to do much at all. If you have a £600 GPU then the CPU will be holding everything back.


I did testing on my phenom at 2,3,4 cores and at 2048x1152 there was no noticeable difference between 2 and 4 cores. At 1680x1050 there was a significant difference though.
 
Freeman said:
Gigabyte GA-EP43T-UD3L and Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400

I won't be overclocking.
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Freeman said:
The build is for a friend who would like a new computer. All the components need their warranty and I'm 99% sure he would rather want new components than second hand. I'm not buying it straight away as he doesn't have the money now, so getting money for a second hand CPU is not an option.

I'm just making sure I've made the right choice. I don't want to have a sub-standard PC for the money he's paid.

I'm not too sure why there are so many suggestions for a 9550. This is a new enough £200 CPU?

So back to the original question. For the price, is the 8500 the best CPU I can get on the market. It will be playing games, browsing the net. I wouldn't want to bottleneck it's GPU.

And just out of interest (knowing nothing about AMD) could you get a faster AMD for £150? AMD isn't an option as it stands, but I'd be interested to know as I have a friend arguing that AMD's are the 'bea's' as he put it.
Click to expand...


Ok another option here. Throw the thread on its head :D

Obviously i am going from the posts here. If the mobo and memory is the only components your friend has so far , and these were bought new then i would return them for a refund and save towards a cheap I3 system. :eek:

I originally thought this would be a gaming machine upgrade or something. But its obviously a new build. So with that to light i just can not recommend technology this old for the prices brand new. Its madness.

You could get a basic i3 setup for not much more. New tech , much more power. Perfect for what is needed here.

Check it out , I am sure a few will be happy to rack up some possibe builds for you.

Apologies in advance to the OP if i have jumped the gun here , only going by information posted so far in the thread.

Regards

McstylisT
 
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Simply put...if building a new dual-core system, people would have to be crazy going Core2Duo instead of i3.

i3 530 is faster than the E8000 series, as well as cheaper at sub £100 level.

But still, the Intel i5 750 and AMD Phenom II X4 955/965 are still the most bang for bucks CPUs for a gaming system at around £150 price level.
 
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