What processor is better?

BuBzXXL

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My friend is getting a new pc and he is getting the FX-8120, I'm trying to tell him that there are better choices for the price. He won't go over $190.

Normally I wouldn't say anything, but my other friend said, "not everyone is rich and can afford overpriced intel" and I know there has to be a better INTEL cpu for the money... So what I'm asking is that if you can help me find that under $190 Intel CPU that will outperform the FX-8120. (and if you have a FX cpu I don't want to sound like im hating on them sorry)

Thanks
BuBz :)
 
He would be better off using a phenom cpu like this for example, he can overclock it with no problem to 4.2, 4.4 ghz with a 3rd party cooler and have good gaming performance. If you want the best as the guide below shows - its intel all the way
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition $109
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

or this

AMD Processor, Phenom II x4 970 3.5GHz, Black Edition $163
http://www.macconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=12033061&SourceID=k275760&cm_mmc=GAN-_-PC%20Part%20Picker-_-Primary-_-k275760&clickid=0004c5576fe788630aec8a629faf3270

See this chart for best gaming cpu's:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html
 
What does he need the computer to do? In a gaming scenario the FX-8120 will be inferior to a core i5, but if he's video editing and rendering it may be worth it.

If he is video editing and has that strict $190 policy, he can upgrade to a FX-8150. Its $190 if you use that promo displayed just above the price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103960&Tpk=FX-8150

Or if he's gaming on a budget, I agree that going down to the Phenom range is probably the best.
 
The i5 2500k is $219, for $109 he can install the phenom i linked and have a nice performing pc. I have that cpu and it runs fine and I have not had one problem with the build. I also have 2 intel builds with i7's and yes the performance is better but they also cost about $200 more
 

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Yes, there are a lot things wrong with a phenom architecture... it sucks, runs hot, consumes a lot of power, slow as hell for vidieo encoding and did i mention it SUCKS??? the i5 3570k is a bit more expensive but performs a LOT better, even a 80$ CPU like the G850 outperforms EVERY AMD processor in gaming

i had a phenom II back in 2008(the ones with only DDR2 and AM2+ support) its was good but i upgraded to X4 version (With DDR3 support) in mid 2009 and it served me well for a little bit less than a year until i decided to get a i7 930 and then a i7 3960x wich i bought a couple of months ago

and i can tell you.... Phenom ii was great, but not anymore, that crap is simply way too old now.

Either get the i5 3570k, i5 2500k or get more money, as i already said, if the extra 25$ is too much then you should reconsider buying a PC in the first place.

Do you even read the things you write?

Sure Intel is better than AMD for most applications, especially gaming, but to say something stupid like "If he can't afford $25 more than he shouldn't buy a pc" is ignorant. Ever heard of a budget? Not everyone can "find $25 laying on the floor". If you bother to look at the New Build section at all here you will see half the posts are people asking for help building a budget pc.

He set $190 as his limit and that is that. Help him find a CPU in that range or go bother someone else with your nonsense.
 





Thank You
 

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his limit is 190$... all i am saying is that if you gets 25$ (25$ are NOTHING) more he can get a better CPU that will perform a lot better, besides... buying a PC is an investment and if an extra 25$ means that your investment will last longer then you should invest on that.



no its not. if an extra 25$ dollars are an finalcial challenge then he SHOULD NOT get a gaming PC


We all know he can spend $25 more and get a better CPU for gaming. BUT, you don't need the most bestest CPU evah to be able to play games. Do you even realize that most games are almost entirely GPU dependant? You could have an AMD chip with a 670 and destroy any game.

I still lol @ your ignorance: " if an extra 25$ dollars are an finalcial challenge then he SHOULD NOT get a gaming PC".

I don't know what your deal is, but that statement is funny on so many levels.
 
Yes, there are a lot things wrong with a phenom architecture... it sucks, runs hot, consumes a lot of power, slow as hell for vidieo encoding and did i mention it SUCKS??? the i5 3570k is a bit more expensive but performs a LOT better, even a 80$ CPU like the G850 outperforms EVERY AMD processor in gaming

i had a phenom II back in 2008(the ones with only DDR2 and AM2+ support) its was good but i upgraded to X4 version (With DDR3 support) in mid 2009 and it served me well for a little bit less than a year until i decided to get a i7 930 and then a i7 3960x wich i bought a couple of months ago

and i can tell you.... Phenom ii was great, but not anymore, that crap is simply way too old now.

Either get the i5 3570k, i5 2500k or get more money, as i already said, if the extra 25$ is too much then you should reconsider buying a PC in the first place.
Quite frankly, you're the one being a fanboy. A Phenom II while not as good as a more expensive 2500K or a 3570K is perfectly capable of playing any game on the market currently at max settings when paired with an appropriate video card. The reason or this, is because almost every game on the market is completely GPU bound. I agree the FX-8120 is a poor choice, but just because Intel has better CPUs does not in and of itself make every option from AMD obsolete. The fact is, a Phenom II with a 7850 video card, more often than not is going to game better than a 2500K with a 6870.

Do you care to revise your statements sir?

i52300vphenomiiat4ghz.jpg


and then a i7 3960x wich i bought a couple of months ago

*facepalm* lol.. a 3960x for gaming? Well that about sums up your computer knowledge doesn't it? Where I come from thats called, having more money than brains.
 

I'm going to pretend we didn't have a war going in this thread and answer this dilemma hoping those who aren't interested in offering you sound financial advice but would rather browbeat people who don't agree with them will take a second and potentially learn something about the fundamentals of personal computing.


For gaming. Strictly for gaming. Game programming despite the advances in graphics is still largely coded in the same programming languages that were used to program games 15 years ago. As such, games are almost completely limited by the video card. Thus, when you are faced with a tight budget and forced to pick between a better video card or a better CPU. The logical choice is almost always going to be the video card. Now this does go within reason. Most games only use 2 cores currently. Although there are some that use more. Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Crysis for example. As such, anyone who would seriously consider a Pentium G850 for a gaming rig in 2012, would be idiotic. At bare minimum, the i3-2120 is only a dual core, but it does have HyperThreading, which quite effectively allows the processor to deal with running background programs without bottlenecking game performance. A Pentium G850 has lower clock rates, which in and of itself is a limitation, but no HyperThreading to help out. And it cannot be overclocked. Essentially, a Pentium G850 equates to being half of a i5-2300. As you can see, my Phenom II @ 4.0GHZ outperforms my i5-2300.

Ideally, an i5-2400 is a good choice, it does cost $190 though. The i5-2300 as you can see from the bench I posted is not, it has a low 2.8GHZ clock speed, considering the i5-2400 is only $10 more, it is worth every penny for the higher clock rate. Now I don't want to give you the impression that higher clock speed necessarily means a better processor, it comes down to how efficiently the CPU is designed. Clearly it is saying something that an Intel CPU clocked at 2.8GHZ performs almost as well as an AMD one at 4.0GHZ.

Now, if your friend is faced with a choice between for example, buying an i5-2500K (priced at $220) and a 6870 (priced at $170) video card (or something along those lines), hes going to play games much better if he chops down on the CPU budget to a Phenom II 965 (priced at $110 from newegg currently) or an i3-2120 (priced at $130) in order to allow him to increase his budget on the video card and consider something like a 7850 video card or a GTX 570. The bottom line is, for 95% of games on the market, the video card is the most critical choice to make for a gaming system.

Edited.
 
For the sake of argument, I'd like to know where one can find $25 on the floor. Jeez, it must be nice to live in a place that just has dollar bills everywhere. Some of us live in the real world, have real bills, real financial obligations, and make barely livable wages working for companies that think $10 dollars an hour is enough to raise a family on and still have money to enjoy the "finer things in life".

 

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Whoa Whoa Whoa

Are you trying to say you don't have cash laying all over the floor that fell off your money tree? :D
 
Thanks lol

Negative, no problems with any games but I'm not a heavy gamer. Thats not to say I don't game nor I don't know what parts are necessary for competent gaming performance lol.

But yea, I can easily play any Call of Duty games and get well over 60FPS, Crysis 2, WoW, League of Legends all play at or above 60FPS, Metro 2033, of course is just a mess with FPS rates no matter what system you use, but thats completely stable and playable as well.

For non gaming, I can multitask with my dual monitors, archive files with 7zip, run multiple browser windows. Play a game and watch a movie on Netflix at the same time, (I used to do this with Runescape a lot, but lately I've quit) and not even the slightest hint of lag. Intel i5 2400s/3450s/2500Ks/3570Ks without a doubt are the best choice for a modern gaming system, but that doesn't make them the only viable choice.
 
Oh, i know the 3930k would have been a better bang for the buck, but i wanted to go extreme with this build so i got the 3960x

to be honest with you...the only thing i care about CPUs is their performance, not their brand ;)
The 2700K is more power than most people will ever need. If you have the money for it, I guess to each their own, but seriously, it was completely unnecessary.

Best of the best aside, I could think of better ways to spend that extra money rather than on a CPU that no matter how nice it is today, will be a turd by the standards of 5 years in the future just the same as the $300 CPU I should have bought in the first place.