Budget intel cpu for average gamer

[gogoman123]

Hello,
iam doing some research for my first ever build. i'll be using this pc for gaming and browsing net, movies, music, ect. iam the kind of gamer whos happy to play on medium settings (i play on a 19" lcd) but want to be able to play the latest and upcoming games (batman, withcer 2, bf3, ect) with good graphics/performance. iam new to all this so i aint no techie or expert.

my question is this, what would be a good intel cpu for my needs that wont require upgrading 3-4 yrs down the road but its socket would allow for an upgrade then? also i dont overclock or do any of this stuff so iam fine with no overclockability. thanks

also would u advise my to go with 1)core2duo/quad 2)core ix

my budget for the cpu is £70-£100. i havent decided on the gpu yet but it will most likely be an nvidia card. i guess my total budget is about £400.
I found the Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart at Toms to be very helpful but iam not sure which "tier" do my needs lie into can someone shed some light. thanks
heres the link http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2971-5.html

 

[gogoman123]

hey thanks for ur reply. i just looked up ur recommendations and i think they look good but i have to be honest i dont know what i should be looking for when i look at cpus for my needs. also i noted that they dont have hyperthreading, i dont even know wat that is but is it important for me?
i dont want to spend more than £100 on my cpu (hopefully less). thanks again

 

[simon12]

The i3 2100 is under £90 and much better than the G series pentiums. What graphics card are you getting as you really want to match the performance with it?

 

[gogoman123]

hey thanks simon12 i looked up the i3 2100 and i think its very good.
however iam still looking and i would appreciate any other recommendations from the community. thanks alot guys

 

[gogoman123]

hey thanks again ps3hacker12, ur link is very helpfull indeed, thanks so much 4 ur help. i think the G850 u recommended is great and when compared with the i3 2100 its close in terms of gaming http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=289 and i found G850 for £70 and the i3 2100 for £90. is the i3 2100 so much better that it warrants the extra £20 or is the G850 good enough ?
iam also aware that they both have the same socket type, as well as the i5 2500, so that an upgrade in the future is possible (or am i wrong?). thanks again

 

[Uther39]

Yes the i3 2100 does warrant the extra £20, but again we really need to know what your total budget is so we can give you a fair and balanced system overall for your budget, as there is no point buying an i3 2100 if it only leaves you enough budget for an nvidia gtx520.

 

[gogoman123]

hey thanks uther39, iam doing this build step by step, iam new to this as i mentioned b4 and i dont know any other way to go about it. so i thought i will pick the processor 1st as it dictates the type of motherboard (as i understand it) and then go from there. which is why i wasnt sure on my overall budget, but i guess it will be about £400 (hoping to pay less if possible, is this a good, high or low budget). thanks again

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

If you are a budget the Intel® Core™ i3-2100 is very good but I would spend just a touch more and see if I can pick up the Intel Core i3-2105 as it comes with the better Intel HD 3000 Graphics. For gaming the Intel HD 3000 Graphics are not what you want to be counting on but they will work great for back up if you can pick up a H67 or Z68 series board to go with it. This just gives you a little back up in case the video card goes bad.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[Uther39]

Have you considered AMD, as you could probably get a bit more future proof for your system by buying a AM3+ board and a quad core Phenom II cpu?

 

[oby20]

with just gaming browsing the net and movies the i5 2500k is overkill and too much, the i3 2100 would be very good for you and your budget, you wont get much difference with i5 2500 with just an average use. besides saving your budget with i3 2100 then paired with a good gpu and more ram will be better than spending for an i5 2500 with not so good vcard and less ram. but with your terms, a wiser choice would be an AMD phenom II 965 black edition.
you wont regret this..
processor: AMD PhenomII x4 965(black edition)
mobo: MSI 890GXM-G65 AMD890 Xfire
memory: G-skill SNIPER F3-10666CL9S4GB ddr3 1333mhz
gpu: Radeon HD6790
psu: FSP everest 600w
hdd: Westen Digital 500gb caviar blue sata 3.0 6gb
cooler: CM hyper 212 plus

 

[Uther39]

£400 AMD BUILD....


LN25954
Xclio Godspeed Two Full Black Mid Tower Case with 180mm Side Fan w/o PSU £21.98 £26.38

LN28456
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V £21.50 £25.80

LN28746
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ £32.91 £39.49

LN29319
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus, 4 Heat Pipes, with 120mm Quiet Fan LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3 £18.28 £21.94

LN29534
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, S AM3, 3.4GHz, 8MB Cache, 125W, Retail £83.29 £99.95

LN35693
600W Corsair CMPSU-600CXv2 Builder Series, 80 PLUS, 80% Eff', EPS 12V, 120mm Fan, Single 12V Rail £43.98 £52.78

LN39089
1GB XFX HD 6770, PCI-E 2.1 (x16), 4800MHz GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, 800 Cores, inc FREE Dirt 3 game £72.67 £87.20

LN39735
Asus M5A78L LE, AMD 760G, AM3+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2000(OC), SATA 3GB/s, SATA RAID, ATX £44.78 £53.74

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Net Total
Carriage
VAT
£339.39
£13.98
£70.69
Total£424.06

 

[Uther39]

£400 intel build...


LN25954
Xclio Godspeed Two Full Black Mid Tower Case with 180mm Side Fan w/o PSU £21.98 £26.38

LN28456
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V £21.50 £25.80

LN28746
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ £32.91 £39.49

LN29319
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus, 4 Heat Pipes, with 120mm Quiet Fan LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3 £18.28 £21.94

LN35693
600W Corsair CMPSU-600CXv2 Builder Series, 80 PLUS, 80% Eff', EPS 12V, 120mm Fan, Single 12V Rail £43.98 £52.78

LN36724
Intel Core i3 2100, S1155, Sdy Bridge, 3.1GHz, 5GT/s, GPU 850Mhz, 3MB Cache, Core R 31x, 65W, Retail £74.13 £88.96

LN38462
MSI H61M-E33 (B3), Intel H61 Express, 1155, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1066/1333, SATA 3Gb/s, mATX, VGA £42.61 £51.13

LN39089
1GB XFX HD 6770, PCI-E 2.1 (x16), 4800MHz GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, 800 Cores, inc FREE Dirt 3 game £72.67 £87.20

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Net Total
Carriage
VAT
£328.06
£13.98
£68.42
Total£410.46


I much prefer the AMD build, not only is it more future proof allowing you to install bulldozer CPUs when they come out, but you can OC the heck out of that Phenom II all they way to4.0ghz on that cooler with ease, with the intel your pretty much stuck with what you have got.

 

[gogoman123]

hey thanks everyone, i checked the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition and according to anandtech its beaten by the intel G850 in terms of gaming and power consumption http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=102 also the i3 2100 beats the amd in most games and power cons. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=102 i dont know which of the other benchmarks apply to me. thanks again ppl i appreciate the help

 

[gogoman123]

what do u guys think of this cpu, mobo, ram bundle at dabs http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-intel-performance-bundle--inc--p8h61-m-lx2-motherboard--intel-core-i3-2100---4gb-ddr3-memory--7J0Z.html

 

[gogoman123]

thanks again. i looked at the sys requirements for the witcher2 and it said a quad core processor. does that mean that the i3 2100 or the G850 wont be as good as a quad core cpu to run this game?

 

[Uther39]

Both the i3 and PhenomII X4 will easily and happily run any game you throw at it now or in the future, your limiting factor will be your GPU way before its your CPU with either of those CPUs recommended.

 

[popatim]

phenom ii x3 720 black edition is also very good and low priced. You have a good chance at unlocking the 4th core and being a black editio it will overclock to close to 4ghz fairly easily. I picked up new for 59 (us) last week and havent even needed to unlock or overclock it. I've only played Wow and BF2 with it neither of which stressed it.

 

[gogoman123]

Best answer selected by gogoman123.

 

[gogoman123]

thanks everyone u really helped me alot especially ps3hacker12. u all put me on the right track, iam in a better position to decide now than a few days ago because of ur guidance. i have decided to go with the i3 2100 after alot of research and benchmarks, i guess Uther39 was right that it warrants the extra £20. anyways i just wanted to thank everyone, i never thought i'd get so many replies for my 1st ever post on here. so yeah thanks evry1

 

[cbrunnem]

just keep in mind that it is no guarentee from my understanding that an am3+ boards as of now will support bulldozer cpus. it is my understanding that some will and some will not so be carefull there. i would look into getting a quad core in theses times as games are going towards quad core optimized games.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey