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Best Cpu for £200

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  • CPUs
  • cpu gaming
Last response: in CPUs
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October 7, 2014 11:36:32 AM

I am looking for the best Cpu right now that will be good for multitasking while gaming.I do not want to spend more than £200 on this. Any help will be appreciated.

More about : cpu 200

October 7, 2014 11:40:46 AM

Thanks....
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a c 247 à CPUs
October 7, 2014 11:43:54 AM

Glad to help :) 
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a c 185 à CPUs
October 7, 2014 11:47:39 AM

I would argue the i5-4690K.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690...

The Xeon linked is similar to an i7-4770 with hyperthreading so theoretically that's up to perhaps 28% more processing power at the same frequency as the i5. That shrinks to closer to 15% difference with the i5 @4.2GHz assuming both could use 100% of their processing power which would only happen in video conversion and even then not all the time.

At 4.2GHz each of the i5 cores is running about 13% faster than the Xeon. Per-core performance is most important for gaming, especially games like Starcraft 2 which can only use two cores.

The i5 can go even higher but I prefer the XMP profile at 4.2GHz which keeps the Intel Power Management intact for minimal heat (and thus fan noise). Breaking that profile and forcing a small voltage increase just to get to 4.4GHz would significantly raise the temperature.

So the i5-4670K at the higher frequency would be better for gaming.

(Not sure what "multitasking" you are talking about though if you want to convert video just make sure the program is set to LOW PRIORITY. It can then use any CPU cycles the game doesn't need without interfering with the game)

Other points:
1) The Xeon is missing a GPU and video decoding capability. You may not care about that though.

2) The Xeon does have the "advantage" of not requiring a Z97 motherboard for optimal overclock since it doesn't overclock. Thus, you'd save a bit of money.

3) The i5-4690K is also using the Haswell Refresh to optimize for temperature so it can overclock fairly higher than an i5-4670K if you need to.

Summary:
There's really NO WRONG ANSWER as it depends slightly on how you use your computer. Either one is most likely to give you a similar experience currently but personally I'd get the i5-4690K.
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a c 247 à CPUs
October 7, 2014 11:56:53 AM

Performance will be very similar between the two (gaming wise). If you get a good 4670k then you might be able to get a good overclock, but its luck of the draw. However, games are starting to get more multithreaded, which gives the xeon/i7 an advantage with HyperThreading. i5 is nothing less however, with solid single core performance.

To be honest, both will be "useable" in gaming for similar amount of time. It depends on games too, some like BF4 will benefit from Xeon more. Also, if you intend to stream the gameplay (idk what you mean by multitasking while gaming), then Xeon is the way to go.

And it also depends on the fact weather you want to OC or not, in first place.
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October 7, 2014 12:01:04 PM

But all the reviews i read says the fx 9590 is better for gaming?
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a c 185 à CPUs
October 7, 2014 12:07:01 PM

MeteorsRaining said:
Performance will be very similar between the two (gaming wise). If you get a good 4670k then you might be able to get a good overclock, but its luck of the draw. However, games are starting to get more multithreaded, which gives the xeon/i7 an advantage with HyperThreading. i5 is nothing less however, with solid single core performance.

To be honest, both will be "useable" in gaming for similar amount of time. It depends on games too, some like BF4 will benefit from Xeon more. Also, if you intend to stream the gameplay (idk what you mean by multitasking while gaming), then Xeon is the way to go.

And it also depends on the fact weather you want to OC or not, in first place.


Most games still benefit from the higher frequency of the clock, not from hyperthreading. That may change in the future but it's not the case now.

You just have to look at the number of games that work best on an Intel i5/i7 CPU compared to the FX-8350 to understand why.

As for Streaming, I prefer to use a hardware decode like NVENC with NVidia Shadowplay so there's no benefit with the CPU. I'm not even certain that the Xeon would do better for software streaming anyway as the single-core performance there may still be more important.

Some programs use the video decoder in the i5 CPU as well (Xeon doesn't have that) for streaming or video conversion. Again, may not care.
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a c 247 à CPUs
October 8, 2014 3:16:13 AM

Agreed, right now, OCed i5 will give you better performance in 90% of games, but the difference usually is 5-10 FPS at max, and the HTs edge i5 in many 'multitasking' activities. Sure, even for streaming, i5 is good, courtsey the mentioned apps, but if games start using multiple threads better in future, which is anticipated, Xeon may hold an edge, gaming wise. But as I said, both will last a certain amount of time.

And I should have added, that was my personal opinion too, that I'd go for couple FPS less with HTs, Xeon that is. Single core performance is the major reason for AMD's downfall, agreed. But, just for the info, Xeon is in no way a weak CPU, 3.7Ghz is absolutely plenty for any GPU or game right now and for some years. Again, as mentioned earlier, better speeds will equate to better performance, but I'd still be with Xeon, a major reason being the HTs.
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a c 165 à CPUs
October 8, 2014 3:20:34 AM

Dazzah said:
But all the reviews i read says the fx 9590 is better for gaming?


What reviews?

I would avoid the 9590 at all costs. Its a very hot power hungry, inefficient CPU.
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