Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart
What about this other CPU that’s not on the list? How do I know if it’s a good deal or not?
This will happen. In fact, it’s guaranteed to happen because availability and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that CPU you have your eye on is a good buy in its price range?
Here is a resource to help you judge if a CPU is a reasonable value or not: the gaming CPU hierarchy chart, which groups CPUs with similar overall gaming performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing gaming CPUs available and gaming performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there.
However, a word of caution: this hierarchy is based on the average performance each CPU achieved in our charts test suite using only four game titles: Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, World in Conflict, and Supreme Commander. While we feel this represents an acceptable cross-section of typical gaming scenarios, a specific game title will likely perform differently. Some games, for example, will be severely graphics subsystem-limited, while others may react positively to more CPU cores, larger amounts of CPU cache, or even a specific architecture. We also did not have access to every CPU on the market, so some of the CPU performance estimates are based on the numbers similar architectures deliver. Indeed, this hierarchy chart is useful as a general guideline, but certainly not as a gospel one-size-fits-all perfect CPU comparison resource.
You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two processors, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your CPU unless the potential replacement is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in game performance.
| Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart | |
|---|---|
| Intel | AMD |
| Core i7-2600, -2600K Core i7-965, -975 Extreme, -980X Extreme Core i7-970, -960 Core i5-2500, -2500K | |
| Core i7-860, -870, -875K, -920, -930, -940, -950, Core i5-750, -760 Core 2 Extreme QX9775, QX9770, QX9650 Core 2 Quad Q9650 Core i3-2100 | Phenom II X4 Black Edition 975 |
| Core 2 Extreme QX6850, QX6800 Core 2 Quad Q9550, Q9450, Q9400 Core i5-650, -655K, -660, -661, -670, -680 | Phenom II X6 1100T BE, 1090T BE, 1075T Phenom II X4 Black Edition 970, 965, 955 |
| Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Core 2 Quad Q6700, Q9300, Q8400, Q6600, Q8300 Core 2 Duo E8600, E8500, E8400, E7600 Core i3 -530, -540, -550 | Phenom II X6 1055T Phenom II X4 945, 940, 920, 910, 910e, 810 Phenom II X3 Black Edition 720, 740 Athlon II X4 645, 640, 635, 630 Athlon II X3 455, 450, 445, 440, 435 |
| Core 2 Extreme X6800 Core 2 Quad Q8200 Core 2 Duo E8300, E8200, E8190, E7500, E7400, E6850, E6750 | Phenom II X4 905e, 805 Phenom II X3 710, 705e Phenom II X2 565 BE, 560 BE, 555 BE, 550 BE, 545 Phenom X4 9950 Athlon II X4 620 Athlon II X3 425 |
| Core 2 Duo E7200, E6550, E7300, E6540, E6700 Pentium Dual-Core E5700, E6300, E6500, E6600, E6700 Pentium G9650 | Phenom X4 9850, 9750, 9650, 9600 Phenom X3 8850, 8750 Athlon II X2 265, 260, 255 Athlon 64 X2 6400+ |
| Core 2 Duo E4700, E4600, E6600, E4500, E6420 Pentium Dual-Core E5400, E5300, E5200 | Phenom X4 9500, 9550, 9450e, 9350e Phenom X3 8650, 8600, 8550, 8450e, 8450, 8400, 8250e Athlon II X2 240, 245, 250 Athlon X2 7850, 7750 Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 5600+ |
| Core 2 Duo E4400, E4300, E6400, E6320 Celeron E3300 | Phenom X4 9150e, 9100e Athlon X2 7550, 7450, 5050e, 4850e/b Athlon 64 X2 5400+, 5200+, 5000+, 4800+ |
| Core 2 Duo E5500, E6300 Pentium Dual-Core E2220, E2200, E2210 Celeron E3200 | Athlon X2 6550, 6500, 4450e/b, Athlon X2 4600+, 4400+, 4200+, BE-2400 |
| Pentium Dual-Core E2180 Celeron E1600 | Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 3800+ Athlon X2 4050e, BE-2300 |
| Pentium Dual-Core E2160, E2140 Celeron E1500, E1400, E1200 | |
Summary
There you have it folks: the best gaming CPUs for the money this month. Now all that’s left to do is to find and purchase them.
Also remember that the stores don’t follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and you’ll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck!
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Odd you don't have the i5-2300 and i5-2400 up on your board even if they were mention in the article. I was wondering if they were going to get stuck on the top or the second to the top. That being said, the i3-2100 isn't even out yet.
Oh and you still a have a "Core 2 Duo E5500" which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist.
Odd you don't have the i5-2300 and i5-2400 up on your board even if they were mention in the article.
Haven't been able to test them. Once that's out of the way I can assign them an appropriate place.
I'm thinking about upgrading from my Phenom 955BE to a i7 2600K simply because the price is very low for Intel while providing performance on-par with their 980X which is significantly more expensive.
The only problem I have is I want to use SLI, but I need a board with enough space between the slots to use aftermarket coolers.
750/760 is not there anymore!
Time to upgrade? nah
summary
$100 ---------> Athlon II x3 or x4
$150 ---------> Make another $70
$220----------> Core i5 2500k
$330----------> Core i5 2500k, use $110 for a better GPU
i'm regret of buying 760..after only 1 month, there is new sandy bridge with more bang for buck..
Wow those Sandy Bridge CPUs look tasty but I'm fine with my 750
This was the article that I was waiting for.Congrats Sandy bridge.
Glad that the i7-980X is bumped off.
I really love this article and the Best Graphics Card For The Money article as well. I'm always referencing these two articles as I make builds. Will we ever see a Best Gaming MOBO For The Money article?
I am still in love with my ph2 x4 965 overclocks to 3.8 on stck v & great for general use as well !!
summary$100 ---------> Athlon II x3 or x4$150 ---------> Make another $70$220----------> Core i5 2500k$330----------> Core i5 2500k, use $110 for a better GPU
Agreed. When people ask me sugestions about which cpu to buy, it's one of those two.
"Oh but I have a lot to spend, what's better than the i5 2500k?"
"Get a better gpu. Or a SSD. Or more memory. Or a good air cooler. Anything, really..."
Glad to see my cpu hanging in there. No need to upgrade right now. Can't afford it anyway.
I was patient one month for Sandy-B release. I'm pretty happy for that. Got for 199 euros the i5 2500. You wanna know which processor I replaced? "E7300"! Made its money that old-dog!
Now the next upgrade will not come for long time... and when will come, must have lower nm architect and higher clocks! i5 2500 will do perfectly, fast and economic its job!
Also I got 460GTX OC 1GB for 199 euros too... I really would like to wait for 560 but couldn't resist anymore... The card I replaced was the xFx 7950GTX. That time, 3+ years before, bought Gamer PC 1500 euros!!! I don't make that mistake again! Now I went one scale lower, to "enthusiasts" for 900 euros!
If TH will not include some parts I got, really I don't give a damn and not a chance to think its "dead". Don't get into that trap and think about upgrade without reason!...
I was patient one month for Sandy-B release. I'm pretty happy for that. Got for 199 euros the i5 2500. You wanna know which processor I replaced? "E7300"! Made its money that old-dog! Now the next upgrade will not come for long time... and when will come, must have lower nm architect and higher clocks! i5 2500 will do perfectly, fast and economic its job! Also I got 460GTX OC 1GB for 199 euros too... I really would like to wait for 560 but couldn't resist anymore... The card I replaced was the xFx 7950GTX. That time, 3+ years before, bought Gamer PC 1500 euros!!! I don't make that mistake again! Now I went one scale lower, to "enthusiasts" for 900 euros! If TH will not include some parts I got, really I don't give a damn and not a chance to think its "dead". Don't fall into that trap and think about upgrade without reason!...
people forget that the phnom II line was to content with the core2quads and it rips them a new asshole, AMD havfe missed a generation (core i5, i7) competitors, and now fusion looks romising im a little worried about bulldozer though
Best CPU for 300: i7-2500k (Or at any price)
Agreed. I like your sense of humor, too. If intel DID put a 1000 price tag on that chip, you can bet the sales would be the same.
Hate Intel and his "no, you can't reuse your old mobo".
From an updater perspective, AMD costs much less. You should add a motherboard price to each Sandy Bridge.
I'm a little surprised the first gaming CPU is the $90 x3 455. I would figure one of the $70 x3s to start the line. Not sure what pricing looked like when written, but the 3.2 ghz x3 450 is $10 cheaper. $10 isn't worth 100 mhz if I'm looking at an entry level budget build.