Best CPU for £200-£250

[weehamish]

Ive started seeing alot of ppl with AMD CPUs these days, are they as good as the new Intel CPUs?

I have a Q9450 ar 3.3ghz atm, what would be a nice upgrade and would i need a new Mobo? I have an Asus Rampage formula x48 atm.

Thanks

 

[saaiello]

If I were you I would just stick with what you got for a little while longer. You see alot of people with AMD CPU's these days because they are cheap and it makes it more affordable to build a system. The Q9450 you have at 3.3ghz is plenty of power for gaming and just about anything else. Your money would be better invested in a better GPU if you are a gamer or maybe a good SSD drive might be a good upgrade too. This all depends on your main uses for the computer, but there is no reason that I can see to upgrade since anything that you can get between $200 - $250 will offer no better performance then what you got.

Just as a little note the high end core 2 CPUs are still faster clock for clock then AMD's offerings so there is no point to look at new CPU's especially since the AMD Phenom II x4's would actually be a downgrade from your current CPU.

 

[weehamish]

Thanks alot the £250 budget is not $ remember so I could get an i7 but as you say mine is still nice it's fast and I run all my games at max at 1920x1200 with my gtx 285.

Ssd drive? Do you need to install an os on them or just games? I've seen there pretty expensive, are they worth it? What's the performance gain like?

Thanks

 

[saaiello]

The SSD would be for your OS, main programs, and a few games. A good SSD will cut load times down almost 75%.

 

[weehamish]

Ok thanks guys, well load times are pretty much instant anyways so I wouldn't say it's worth the money, specially since I'd need to install everything again :/ maybe when I get windows 7

 

[saaiello]

Yea SSD's are good for loading times but in your case I wouldnt change a thing just hold onto your cash for a new build later down the line.

 

[weehamish]

Ive just been reading reviews and checking the prices again, its like £100 for the lowest value one with a good rating, and thast 30gb, i think thast way too pricey, id get like 5 games on that :\

Id really like to compare one but not for that price and i hear they dnt work very good after you reformat them a few times?

Still thanks for the heads up i guess ill let my PC go as it is untill some games get released that need some power run them.