Looking for best CPU between $250-$300

[WitlessBandit]

Hello everyone, I have been coming here for a long time but never joined as a member to chat. I however need some advice.

I will be building a new PC with a budget of about $1400 in November (for BF3 mostly) and I am wondering what is or will be the best processor for that price. I plan on building my system around the CPU. I was looking at the Sandy Bridge 2500k i5 but I am just looking for other opinions. Thanks a lot.

 

[geekapproved]

For $225, the 2500K. For $315, the 2600K.

If you just mainly game and web browse, then the 2500K is just fine. Gaming will not benefit from the 2600K's hyperthreading.

 

[kajabla]

Yeah, even with a budget like that there's no need to waste money on a 2600k.

 

[WitlessBandit]

Does anyone feel the AMD CPU's are worth anything?

 

[bobdozer]

Currently at that price point? No they aren't. AMD is on the "value proposition" at the moment, so you can get a system which costs a lot less and doesn't perform too badly.

On the other hand Bulldozer will be out long before November and that is a whole new ballgame. Save your money and ask the same question in 6 weeks time.

 

[WitlessBandit]

Bulldozer huh, sounds interesting. I will do some research on this.

 

[runswindows95]

I agree with bobdozer. If you're not ordering till November, I would worry about this when you are ready to build.

 

[gametstr]

+1 about bulldozer

 

[Shpati]

Listen to bobdozer.

 

[Shpati]

With that kind of money, I would def save it for the new bulldozer, considering if the rumors I have been hearing are true.

 

[maverick knight]

You need to reallize that AMD will not surpass intel with bulldozer. It will only catch up to what intell is doing. The core clocks havent been announce yet, and how good it will respond to overclocking compared to intel is another "wait and see". Another thing is price, but knowin AMD it should be somewhat cheaper than intel. If your building this in november then you will have a lot of reviews and comparos thats for sure.

 

[Uther39]

+1 to bobdozer

 

[tajisi]

We're discussing a chip line that hasn't been released yet. There are a number of reasons to hold off and wait for reviews. Ivy Bridge (from Intel) should be out sometime around then as well and will likely be a real shredder if all the hoopla holds true with the improved transistor design.

Be wary of people having overly emotional breakdowns over AMD and AMD's chip performance. Wait for the numbers to get released and then you'll know who actually won out this next round. Maverick is likely right on what we can expect, given recent disappointments over hype.

 

[Wisecracker]

You need to reallize that AMD will not surpass intel with bulldozer. It will only catch up to what intell is doing. The core clocks havent been announce yet, and how good it will respond to overclocking compared to intel is another "wait and see". Another thing is price, but knowin AMD it should be somewhat cheaper than intel. If your building this in november then you will have a lot of reviews and comparos thats for sure.

:lol:

And you know this how?

With its efforts at regaining market share with nVidia, AMD has shown a strong inclination for fighting at specific price points with higher performing products. There is no reason to think that Bulldozer Zambezi and Llano will be any different on the processor side.

As far as the OP is concerned, if the emphasis is on gaming, it's the VIDEO CARD(s) that should be the primary area of focus. By Nov the 28nm AMD Radeon 7xxx series may well be on the market, and/or pricing on the higher performance side of the 6xxx series (such as the HD6970) may be quite 'opportunistic' for those looking for a bargain.

By Nov the woods should be full of AM3+ 'Black Socket' motherboards with outstanding bargains on the super-enthusiast 890/990 *FX* products providing 6x6Gb/s SATA, full-bandwidth USB3 and 42 PCIe lanes off the northbridge. Feel free to point out any competitive Cougar Point alternatives, because I have not seen any.

Even better, by Nov all the PhII quads will be teetering on EOL and priced to move. Despite of all the fanboy hype from the anti-AMD crowd, the PhII quads are more than capable of pushing the fastest video cards on the market quite well, further freeing up cash for higher-level video sub-system upgrades. And when the *new product-pricing smell* of Bulldozer (or the 2012 refresh) wears off and costs drops 30-40%, the OP is looking at a drop-in replacement and instant performance boost.

Here are the latest Llano / BD-Z pricing rumors:

We're discussing a chip line that hasn't been released yet. There are a number of reasons to hold off and wait for reviews. Ivy Bridge (from Intel) should be out sometime around then as well and will likely be a real shredder if all the hoopla holds true with the improved transistor design.

Be wary of people having overly emotional breakdowns over AMD and AMD's chip performance. Wait for the numbers to get released and then you'll know who actually won out this next round. Maverick is likely right on what we can expect, given recent disappointments over hype.

Be aware of fanboy desperation, excuses and spin (such as this).

It's the VIDEO CARD(s) that build a gaming system, not synthetic CPU benchmarks.

 

[tajisi]

:lol:

And you know this how?

With its efforts at regaining market share with nVidia, AMD has shown a strong inclination for fighting at specific price points with higher performing products. There is no reason to think that Bulldozer Zambezi and Llano will be any different on the processor side.

As far as the OP is concerned, if the emphasis is on gaming, it's the VIDEO CARD(s) that should be the primary area of focus. By Nov the 28nm AMD Radeon 7xxx series may well be on the market, and/or pricing on the higher performance side of the 6xxx series (such as the HD6970) may be quite 'opportunistic' for those looking for a bargain.

By Nov the woods should be full of AM3+ 'Black Socket' motherboards with outstanding bargains on the super-enthusiast 890/990 *FX* products providing 6x6Gb/s SATA, full-bandwidth USB3 and 42 PCIe lanes off the northbridge. Feel free to point out any competitive Cougar Point alternatives, because I have not seen any.

Even better, by Nov all the PhII quads will be teetering on EOL and priced to move. Despite of all the fanboy hype from the anti-AMD crowd, the PhII quads are more than capable of pushing the fastest video cards on the market quite well, further freeing up cash for higher-level video sub-system upgrades. And when the *new product-pricing smell* of Bulldozer (or the 2012 refresh) wears off and costs drops 30-40%, the OP is looking at a drop-in replacement and instant performance boost.

Here are the latest Llano / BD-Z pricing rumors:

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/...h/AMD Overlords/AMD_BD-Z_Llano-pricing_01.jpg

Whoa there. No one is murdering AMD. You know your facts about as well as him given that virtually nothing is known about how the chip will actually perform. See comment about emotional breakdowns.

In response to what you added, however, I will restate my points in a more direct manner.

1: Wait and see.
2. I'm not the one who spewed out a wall of text in defense of a product that technically doesn't exist on the market yet. Return to point on emotional breakdowns.

 

[Wisecracker]

Whoa there. No one is murdering AMD. You know your facts about as well as him given that virtually nothing is known about how the chip will actually perform. See comment about emotional breakdowns.

See comments about being wary of fanboy misdirection, desperation and spin.

It's LOL ridiculous the way you consider someone called *maverick knight* as a voice of reason when he makes definitive statements like ** You need to reallize that AMD will not surpass intel with bulldozer. **.

 

[tajisi]

See comments about being wary of fanboy misdirection, desperation and spin.

It's LOL ridiculous the way you consider someone called *maverick knight* as a voice of reason.

In response to what you added, however, I will restate my points in a more direct manner.

1: Wait and see.
2. I'm not the one who spewed out a wall of text in defense of a product that technically doesn't exist on the market yet. Return to point on emotional breakdowns.

Goto 1

 

[Wisecracker]

In response to what you added, however, I will restate my points in a more direct manner.

1: Wait and see.
2. I'm not the one who spewed out a wall of text in defense of a product that technically doesn't exist on the market yet. Return to point on emotional breakdowns.

Goto 1

Desperate, much ??

 

[tajisi]

Desperate, much ??

I'm not the one who had to break down and mock someone's opinion over their user name. ^^

 

[Wisecracker]

I'm not the one who had to break down and mock someone's opinion over their user name. ^^

I'm not the guy defending a poster who said, "" You need to reallize that AMD will not surpass intel with bulldozer. "" when I clearly noted ...

** It's the VIDEO CARD(s) ** that reflect the strength of a gaming rig.

But keep clinging to your desperation and spin.

 

[tajisi]

I'm not the guy defending a poster who said, "" You need to reallize that AMD will not surpass intel with bulldozer. "" when I clearing noted ...

** It's the VIDEO CARD(s) ** that reflect the strength of a gaming rig.

But keep clinging to your desperation and spin.

Would it soothe you if I said instead AMD is a great company and offered you the last word in? Go ahead, please. ^^

 

[geekapproved]

No surprise this has turned into a fanboy rant.

Truth is, AMD is plenty happy being number 2, they do not need to be number 1 to be successful.
They have been number 2 for the last 15yrs except for a short stint with A64.

 

[RussK1]

I would wait for Bulldozer, because that's what I'm doing. Intel has always been way overpriced. If you look at it from a price versus performance perspective AMD wins. It's kinda like cars, the car with the better weight to torque ratio wins the race every time despite who the driver is.

Just to note: I'm running Intel right now but if all the hype comes true regarding the Bulldozer I'll be switching. AMD has a very good reputation of integrating newer tech with older tech. So in this essence, a little easier on the pocket book.

Tomorrow(being mordant) Intel will have the "next best thing", and next month it'll be outdated by another one of their products. Honestly, it's just clever marketing on Intels part. They force feed that their $1000+ CPU is the best but in reality their $300 CPU is just as good.

In reality, it sucks that there's no competition other than the two manufacturers previously mentioned.

All I'm saying is just wait and see.

 

[tajisi]

No surprise this has turned into a fanboy rant.

Truth is, AMD is plenty happy being number 2, they do not need to be number 1 to be successful.
They have been number 2 for the last 15yrs except for a short stint with A64.

I apologize for my part in that, truthfully, as I didn't intend for it to be more than one opinion post to begin with. Give me some credit, though. I've been around long enough to know the stupidity of paper debates on online forums.

My opinion is my expectations are low, but that's because I've been burned the last few generations. Worst case scenario? I'm right and I'm not disappointed again. Best case scenario? I'm pleasantly wrong and surprised. I don't really end up losing either way, no matter which company has better chips, and thus I really don't care one way or another.

 

[maverick knight]

WOW, I didnt want this to turn ugly...

I should be clear on what I write. I didnt mean to say AMD will never surpass intel thechnology wise, but market wise. And you know what? I'll take that back. Your right, I dont know this. However, this product is not out yet and people are telling others to wait for it cuz its going to be bettrer.

"And they know this how?"

I build my system base on sandy bridge because it was the most current chip out there with outstanding reviews. If it was bulldozer offering me more for less with current tech then maybe I would have pick AMD.

I am not an intel fanboy, it just happens to be what was hot when I build my system. A lot of people did that, and because of that Intel has an advantage. As of right now Intel hasnt dissapoint, so why change?

If the OP is building his system in November, then he will have reviews, comparos and best of all "REAL SPECS"...

Wisecracker.. you just have rumors