I need a CPU+ motherboard for 250 dollars or less

[lolhate]

I render videos often, and I really want an i7 processor, so I took a look at the i7 2600, but it's slightly out of my reach.
Any good CPU's that can multi task very well, play video games well, render videos quickly and use programs like Photoshop CS5 swiftly? + A motherboard squeezed in for up to 250 dollars?
I may be able to go up to 275 dollars, but I'm not sure.

FYI, My current CPU is an i3 540, Not the best of the bunch, and it really does not fit my needs and slows me down, in everything including gaming.
My GPU is the HD 6850
Not sure about my Power supply amount, but if needed I'll upgrade it in addition to the CPU.

Good day!

 

[ChilledGrease]

I would go for an AMD FX series processor

 

[lolhate]

I refuse to go for anything made by AMD, I heard it's worse for video rendering and for my purposes, I am much less of a gamer than I am a multi tasker and a video maker.

 

[payturr]

Well you can go with a more modern Core i3 3220 & a decent H77 board, or go for a entry level Core i5 with a poopier H61 board. I'm gonna go Core i3 (next gen) & it really does perform well in most games if you got the right GPU.
EDIT: Just noticed your GPU, you may wanna upgrade cause many modern cards surpass the midrange 6850 (IE: Entry level 7770)

 

[lolhate]

I am planning on upgrading it next year, I currently only have 250 dollars that I will spend on a CPU.
My graphic's card is serving me well so far, also, I will not go with an I3, I need a quad core CPU.
Note that even though I want to play games with the CPU, I also need it to be very fast with regular computer work, multi tasking, and RENDERING VIDEOS.

Thanks for the help.

 

[payturr]

OH I DIDN'T SEE THE RENDERING VIDEOS PART. Yeah, you're gonna want at least a Core i5 then. The Core i3 is good for gaming but if you wanna do gaming & videos, that's a whole step up, my bad. Anyway, a Core i5 3330 is about 190$, leaving you only with 60$ for a board. Is there a MicroCenter by you?

 

[ChilledGrease]

Actually, the only thing AMD is good for these days (in my opinion) is cheap rendering power. You get more physical cores for your dollar, as opposed to hyper-threading from intel. Those physical cores are what heavily multi-threaded tasks such as rendering really take advantage of. Your price is a little too low to get a 3570K or higher intel proc, which I believe is the point at which Intel heftily pulls ahead in almost all areas. If you were to go Intel, you'd have to get a lower-end i5 or an i3. Instead, you could get an FX-8350, which would give you 8 physical cores as opposed to the 4 or 2 from Intel. The benchmarks don't lie. The 8350 and the 3570K are very close when it comes to rendering, each beting the other in different tests. It only makes sense then, that a lower-end intel proc would be worse than the 8350 in rendering. Look at these benchmarks. You will see that in all of the multi-threaded tasks, the 8350 beats the similarly-priced i5-3470. I myself am of the persuasion that Intel is the better company over-all, but in this specific context, I think getting an 8350 would benefit you more.

 

[payturr]

AMD is okay, but I wouldn't invest in their CPUs either, they become obsolete quicker than Intel's CPUs do these days, to be honest. I don't blame him if he doesn't wanna go AMD, plus, the power those FXs drain is RIDICULOUS. I could easily opt for an FX 6000 series CPU as opposed to the Haswell Core i3, but I rather have Intel cause they're just better in quality & what not.

 

[smorizio]

have this board for 70.00 then use the rest for the cpu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130674

 

[lolhate]

I definitely want an Intel processor, I3's are horrible for gaming as they are dual cored, and most new games these days require you to have 4 cores to not stutter randomly.
I render once a week to once a day, I am however planning on rendering videos a few times a day. I would really like a processor that is able to render while playing games, if that's possible, I need to squeeze in a lot of work in a short time, and I currently cannot do that. I can probably go up to 300 dollars (for motherboard + CPU) Note that I do not need to overclock the CPU.

My current setup holds me back from getting as much content out as I want to, and as I may only have a few hours a day every week-two, instead of recording I have to sit down and render one video.

Also, I refuse to go with AMD processors, I've considered them but I just can't see my self have one, after hearing so many bad things about them.
As the guy above me said, they drain a lot of power, and they become obsolete quicker. I'm not the type of guy that can upgrade the CPU every year-two, the only reason I am upgrading is because I cannot handle this CPU anymore, everything is too slow and takes too much time. when Rendering videos (without GPU accel) my processor is on 99-100% usage. which is insane, and when I use GPU accel I cannot play games.

 

[ChilledGrease]

For a budget of $300, get an i5-3570K and a cheap $70 motherboard like the one smorizio posted. And i3's are most definitely not horrible for gaming. I put a andy bridge i3 and a 560 in the gaming rig I built for my brother, and I have yet to see a game it can't handle at 1080p (granted, not all of them are maxed out settings wise.)

 

[svengeguttensen]

Here's a very workable combination for $259:

MSI ZH77A-G43 H77 Chipset ATX Motherboard
$70 shipped (after rebate) @ Newegg

Intel i5-3470 Quad-core Ivy Bridge @ 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo)
$189 shipped @ Amazon

The H77 chipset and non-K CPU mean you won't be able to overclock or run 2 video cards together with SLI, but those the only features that are missing from this combination.

 

[lolhate]

This seems like a very good offer, I never plan on running two cards together anyway as I heard it's not well supported by most games, and even if it is I might as well just get a better card overall.

Thanks, I'll look into it.

 

[lolhate]

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