What is the best CPU to go with gtx 850m ?

snkhuong1

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Jul 30, 2014
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I'm thinking of buying this customized laptop :http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosII/ but don't really know what processor to choose (I can only choose the one from the list). I want to use it to play games like far cry 3, dead island, max payne 3, last light at medium settings. I want to keep it below 600 pounds. After asking around, some people suggest core i3, which is the cheapest option but some say say the quad core i7s are better. Also from what I gather i5s are also good for gaming ?
 
Solution
Without knowing what you're going to want for the other options, I can only guess at what you'd want to budget for the CPU. The i5s tend to be the sweet spot in the budget/performance balance and can play most non-cpu intensive games as well as an i7, if not better - the GPU is going to weigh much more heavily in the balance.

I think the best match for that GPU is going to be the i5-4340M. Neither is likely to bottleneck the other. You could get the i7-4610MQ if you really want an i7, but you're not going to see a big difference in performance.

To squeeze the very best value out of the deal, I recommend that you take the minimum possible of the other options, then upgrade them later. You'll need to check prices to make sure you...
Without knowing what you're going to want for the other options, I can only guess at what you'd want to budget for the CPU. The i5s tend to be the sweet spot in the budget/performance balance and can play most non-cpu intensive games as well as an i7, if not better - the GPU is going to weigh much more heavily in the balance.

I think the best match for that GPU is going to be the i5-4340M. Neither is likely to bottleneck the other. You could get the i7-4610MQ if you really want an i7, but you're not going to see a big difference in performance.

To squeeze the very best value out of the deal, I recommend that you take the minimum possible of the other options, then upgrade them later. You'll need to check prices to make sure you can actually save money at it, though.

One example: You could take the minimum amount of RAM (2GB), then purchase 16GB (or however much you want) separately and install it yourself. You'll want 8GB, preferably 1600MHz Cas 9 or thereabouts. Something like this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmsx8gx3m2a1600c9

Even if the factory option is slightly cheaper now, some components you could put off and add them later when you have more money available, like an mSATA SSD drive, a larger (or second HDD) or a regular 2.5" SSD drive.

Edit: Here's a link to a good CPU comparison chart. It's pretty busy - easiest thing is to hit CTRL+F and type in the CPU you're looking for. It doesn't have every CPU on there - for the 4340M, look for the i5-4330M and it'll give you an idea of it's relative place in the hierarchy. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html
 
Solution