If you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right processor for your next gaming machine, fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming CPUs offered for the money.
December Updates
With no big CPU introductions in November, there isn't much to report this holiday season except some small price fluctuations that don't really affect the high-end, but do have some impact on the sub-$150 recommendations.
Specifically, the Athlon II X2 250 and Athlon II X4 630 have dropped a few dollars in price. In the case of the Athlon II X2 250, it is priced so close to its slightly-slower Athlon II X2 245 family member that it easily steals the recommendation for the best entry-level gaming CPU. As far as AMD's Athlon II X4 630 is concerned, the lower price lines it up for an overclocking recommendation for folks who want to tweak a true quad-core processor on a budget.
AMD's high-end CPUs have also dropped a few dollars where we've looked, making the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition an even better value with its unlocked multiplier. In addition, the new C3 stepping of the Phenom II X4 965 is an attractive option for AMD overclockers.
Aside from this, Intel's Core i5 and i7 series continue to reign the top of the roost when it comes to CPU performance. We're looking forward to the next-generation AMD and Intel six-core offerings to shake things up in the upcoming year. But for now, the Core i5-750 continues to offer what we think is the best price/performance ratio for a gaming rig.
It's also worth noting that we're about three weeks away from seeing Intel introduce its first 32nm desktop chips, which will fall into the Core i5 and Core i3 families, populating H57- and H55-based motherboards. While we can't talk performance yet, it'll surely be interesting to see how that generation of dual-core, Hyper-Threading-equipped chips is able to stand up to the affordable quad-core models currently being offered by Intel and AMD. If they wind up serving up comparable performance for less money, they might become our new gaming favorites.
Some Notes About Our Recommendations
This list is for gamers who want to get the most for their money. If you don’t play games, then the CPUs on this list may not be suitable for your particular needs.
The criteria to get on this list are strictly price/performance. We acknowledge that there are other factors that come into play, such as platform price or CPU overclockability, but we're not going to complicate things by factoring in motherboard costs. We may add honorable mentions for outstanding products in the future, though. For now, our recommendations are based on stock clock speeds and performance at that price.
Cost and availability change on a daily basis. We can’t offer up-to-the-minute accurate pricing information in the text, but we can list some good chips that you probably won’t regret buying at the price ranges we suggest (and our PriceGrabber-based engine will help track down some of the best prices for you).
The list is based on some of the best US prices from online retailers. In other countries or at retail stores, your mileage will most certainly vary. Of course, these are retail CPU prices. We do not list used or OEM CPUs.
what platform cost ? i am running a single 5850 on $105 gigabyte UD2 with i5 on 3.6 stock voltage . gskill ram , psu , case , hdd , dvdrw etc is the same price . and the i5 is only 5$ more than 965 "BE" .
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1750904
Dual Core Xeon Processor 5060,2x2MB Cache, 3.20GHz, 1066MHZ FSB [dell.com], $10.99 DEAD
Xeon 3.0 GHz Dual Core Processor [dell.com], $16.99 DEAD
Xeon L5430 2.66 GHz Quad Core Second Processor [dell.com], $12.99
Xeon E3110 3 GHz Dual Core Processor [dell.com], $16.99
Xeon X5470 3.33 GHz Quad Core Processor [dell.com], $23.99
Xeon E5450 3.0 GHz Quad Core Processor [dell.com], $39.99
I would like a section saying: "The following 3 cards have great value". Then I could just pick one which fits in my budget.
Ewiz.com has $10 off any order over $75. Good savings there too.
Antec P182 Gunmetal w/ Custom Side Panel Window/ Cooler Master Silent Pro M 700W
Intel Core i7 920 D0 @ 3.2 / OCZ Gladiator Max 120mm CPU Cooler
MSI X58 Platinum SLI / OCZ Reaper HPC 6GB DDR3-1800 @ 7-7-7-16 / XFX GTX 275 OC
160GB VelociRaptor(OS) / 2TB Storage / Samsung 22X & 20x SATA DVD Burner with LS
Hanns·G 24" 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor / Logitech Wireless Slim Desktop S 510
Windows 7 Professional x64
But I don't know why people slam E8500 CPU builds. I've got an E8400 overclocked to 4.4GHz on air and it mows through heavily CPU bound games/sims like FSX at high resolution and graphic settings. If you are on a budget and can't afford an i7/x58 build, it's the way to go if you are successful at getting it overclocked. I'd shy away from the 1156/P55 platform as they aren't as proven to overclock success as the x58 boards.