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whats the best cpu on a budget?

JasonKnights

JasonKnights

JasonKnights

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Joined
25 Feb 2011
Posts
476
Location
Manchester, UK
Hi there my friend is after a new cpu, Hes after an AMD phenon 2 x2 black edition, ive looked at the prices and tried to persuade him to go for the i5 2500k but he dont want to spend that much. is there a better alternative, like the 1st gen i5s or will he be better gettin a phenon. I often build pcs and did a phenon 2 x2 555 and wasnt impressed with it at all but we are open to suggestions please. thanks
 
As he already has a AMD motherboard then perhaps the 955 would be a performance boost.

What were the problems your having.
 
He is currently running a AM2 motherboard and thinks he might be able to update the bios to accept the new chip but i think he might be better just starting from scratch. ive been on quad core for a few years now with a core 2 quad @3.6ghz and now an i7 2600k @4.6 so when i was installing games etc on the phenom2 it just seemed to take so long. loading and converting. just felt like there was something wrong and took me back to the old days when if you was writing a cd on your pc for instance, then thats was it you couldnt do anything else. the i3 sounds like a very good idea. thankyou
 
stulid said:
i3 2100

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2120-2100_5.html#sect0
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/07/01/intel-core-i3-2100-review/1
Click to expand...

I hate benchmarks where they compare CPUs unrealistically like that. On a few of those games they are using settings where one CPU is getting 20fps and another 28fps. Neither of those games are going to be playable on those CPUs with those settings, so other than an academic exercise, what's the point in the benchmark?

I'm not as anti-Intel as I once was, but I'm not sure when an i3 makes sense. It's £30 more expensive than an Athlon x3 and £20 more expensive than an x4. Neither are going to be able to play at high rez with max settings in modern games.

So either you don't need high rez/max settings and you save yourself some money with the Athlon setup, or you do and you get an i5.

The i3 seems to me to be in no mans land where it's neither cheap nor powerful enough nor amazing value for money.
 
JasonKnights said:
He is currently running a AM2 motherboard and thinks he might be able to update the bios to accept the new chip but i think he might be better just starting from scratch. ive been on quad core for a few years now with a core 2 quad @3.6ghz and now an i7 2600k @4.6 so when i was installing games etc on the phenom2 it just seemed to take so long. loading and converting. just felt like there was something wrong and took me back to the old days when if you was writing a cd on your pc for instance, then thats was it you couldnt do anything else. the i3 sounds like a very good idea. thankyou
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to affect the Phenom II X4 my friend has and TBH it sounds more like a non-CPU related issue. Of course you are also comparing a dual core CPU to a pair of quad cores.

In fact for software like HandBrake my Core i3 2100 is still slower than a Phenom II X4.
 
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However,an upgraded system will still be better value for money than a full system rebuild. I know people who run SC2 and Civ5 fine on Core 2 dual core and quad core processors and Phenom II X4 processors at 1680X1050,1600X1200 and 1920X1080.
 
stulid said:
LOL
Click to expand...

In the game benchmarks there's very little difference between the the i3 2100 and the Phenom x4 975 so an overclocked x4 955 would be slightly faster in games and cost less plus OP can use there existing motherboard and ram.
 
marms said:
In the game benchmarks there's very little difference between the the i3 2100 and the Phenom x4 975 so an overclocked x4 955 would be slightly faster in games and cost less plus OP can use there existing motherboard and ram.
Click to expand...

Its still faster.

And you need to get to the speeds of a 980BE(3.7GHZ) to match a i3 2100, while generating a lot more heat and consuming a lot more power


http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

As you can see the i3 2100 humiliates the Phenom 975BE in these tests, perhaps even getting to 3.7ghz wouldnt be enough as the i3 is so far ahead.
 
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I have a Core i3 2100 myself and an overclocked Phenom II X4 would probably end up faster in most FPS games TBH. Most newer Phenom II X4 955BE processors can hit around 4.0GHZ to 4.4GHZ AFAIK. Anyway,like I said before RTS games are not as framerate dependent, as I know people who run these games fine at decent resolutions using slower processors.

However,looking at the results for a non-overclocked Phenom II X4 955BE or Phenom II X4 965BE playable framerates are still attainable in almost every game. If the motherboard can support one of these processors fine then it would be the most cost effective upgrade. The rest of the budget is better spent on the graphics card if it is a slower one. The OP has not mentioned what graphics card and PSU the system contains ATM.
 
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