Need help understanding how to pick a CPU

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Vince262626

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Jun 7, 2015
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Hello, my friend is looking to upgrade his CPU and mobo on his gaming system. I'm wondering whats the best way to go about picking one? I've looked at benchmarks but I don't understand them (If anyone has a resource explaining how to understand them please post it). When I was looking at the benchmark site I saw 4th gen processors out preforming the current 7th gen I was looking at, is it common to use older processors on an updated system for performance/cost?

I understand a fair bit about CPU's the part that gets me is putting it all together to select the right one.

Thanks guys, Vince

 
Solution
Atomicdonut17
There's a few things that go into picking a new/better CPU.

Some of the limiting factors are easy to observe, like socket type, price, power and availability.

Let's say your friend has an older motherboard with the, I don't know, LGA 1156 or AM2 socket type. He would be limited to CPUs made for that socket type, and even then, there are limitations based on the optimization of architecture/CPU types. (Ex; Kaby Lake works with a 1151, but might require a BIOS flash, which needs a former 6th gen/Skylake CPU.)

Once your friend has found the type of socket his motherboard has, he's limited to that generation/number of generations, unless he upgrades his motherboard. He'll want to know what he'll be doing (in this case, gaming) and...
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Atomicdonut17

Atomicdonut17

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There's a few things that go into picking a new/better CPU.

Some of the limiting factors are easy to observe, like socket type, price, power and availability.

Let's say your friend has an older motherboard with the, I don't know, LGA 1156 or AM2 socket type. He would be limited to CPUs made for that socket type, and even then, there are limitations based on the optimization of architecture/CPU types. (Ex; Kaby Lake works with a 1151, but might require a BIOS flash, which needs a former 6th gen/Skylake CPU.)

Once your friend has found the type of socket his motherboard has, he's limited to that generation/number of generations, unless he upgrades his motherboard. He'll want to know what he'll be doing (in this case, gaming) and adjust his pricing based on the power he'll be needing and how much he's willing to spend. If he wants a rather beefy system, he'd do well to go with a motherboard that uses the LGA 1151/LGA 2011 socket type. As well, he'll want to find a motherboard/CPU with overclock capability, so, the Z100 series and a number of others.

So, for the sake of an example, let's say your friend is an enthusiast level gamer with bottomless pockets- he'd usually start with a nice motherboard, typically an ATX/EAXT. Let's say this motherboard uses an LGA2011 socket type. He'd then be limited to only CPUs that also implement LGA2011. Let's say he chooses an Intel i7-6800K, which is a 6th generation CPU. It is powerful, and at its price, very handsome indeed. Then, after that, he'll go about finding his other associated components.

(And while I didn't mention it earlier) There are other types of CPUs. A motherboard that uses the AM/AM2/AM3/AM4 socket series will use AMD CPUs, while LGA motherboards use Intel.
 
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