August gives us a number of price cuts, especially across AMD's Phenom II X4 and X6 families. We consider the impact of lower prices, in addition to how all this may fit into the imminent release of Bulldozer, AMD's next-generation desktop architecture.
If you don’t have the time to research 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.
August Updates
Up until now, we've seen nothing from August except a handful of price changes. We haven't seen any new processors since Intel's Sandy Bridge-based Pentiums first emerged.
Speaking of Intel, this month's biggest price move affects the Core i7-970, which is about $30 cheaper at $550. Although the -970 is a six-core powerhouse, we're still not any more tempted to buy it at that price. The Core i7-2600K sells for $315, and in many cases it's an outright faster processor (not to mentioned unlocked, for your pleasure).
Price cuts also affect AMD's quad- and hexa-core Phenom II lines, too. The Phenom II X4 980 and 975 drop $20 to $170 and $160, respectively, and the Phenom II X4 970 drops $15 to $140. Nevertheless, with a realistic overclocking cap of about 4 GHz across the entire Phenom II portfolio, it's difficult to imagine spending more than $120 on the multiplier-unlocked Phenom II X4 955.
AMD's Phenom II X6 1055, 1075, and 1090T all fall $10 to $170, $160, and $150. It's impressive that folks looking for budget-oriented workstations have the option of buying a hexa-core processor for $150, and that overclockers can get the multiplier-unlocked 1090T for $170. Having said that, we already know AMD's Phenom II X6 models don't perform any better than its Phenom II X4 in the gaming arena. So, for the purposes of this article, we can't recommend them as gaming CPUs.
We also wonder if AMD's price drops have anything to do with the imminent introduction of the Zambezi-flavored rendition on the Bulldozer architecture (which should become available in the next 30 days, if the company wants to stay true to its word on a third-quarter release). If you haven't heard, Zambezi is a 32 nm processor that lacks the integrated graphics found on AMD's Llano-based APUs. This is a CPU, through and through, and it represents the first significant processor redesign since AMD's Athlon 64. Comprised of "modules," each is equipped with two coupled x86 processing engines (cores). At launch, the top models are expected to boast four modules (eight cores).
With that in mind, enthusiasts interested in a higher-end system probably want to hold off at this point to see what the Bulldozer architecture introduces. At the very least, if you're building a new AMD-based system, make sure it's Socket AM3+-compatible so that you have the option to upgrade to a Zambezi-based processor down the road.
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 available at retail.
AMD's entry level dual-core processor (Athlon 64 X2 3800+) I bought back in summer 2005 cost me around $370. And now you can buy the fastest quad-core processor on the market (i7 2600K) for $315... amazing.
Got mine running at 4.5Ghz, so easy to overclock and maintain low temps.
Another month gone, where is AMD/Bulldozer?
September 18
i would love to replace my e850 with a cheap yet high performing chip from AMD
AMD's entry level dual-core processor (Athlon 64 X2 3800+) I bought back in summer 2005 cost me around $370. And now you can buy the fastest quad-core processor on the market (i7 2600K) for $315... amazing.
Compare that to any Sandy Bridge processor. I think all of them are selling for more than what the company prices them at, which is still the same as they were at the release date. The various SB i5s and i7s have been around for 8 months as well.
We need to Bulldoze some Intel prices i guess...
Intel is a multi-billion dollar company for a reason.
ROFL - That's what you get when buying an Intel CPU...
There are performance differences, certainly, but any modern CPU can play any game. Yes, you've shown that CPU makes a difference (a lot more than expected in some games), but GPU still generally makes more, and someone willing to lower just a few settings will not experience a decrease in the quality of the game play. With that said, for the same money, I'll take a slower AMD CPU on a full-featured, high quality mobo over a faster Intel CPU on a stripped-down mobo any day.
... the irony is that the AMD price drops you're referring to occurred because of Sandy Bridge. There's really no immediate reason for Intel to enact a price drop on their Sandy Bridge processors, but even if they did, it would only mean that AMD would have to follow suit with an additional price drop of their own to remain performance competitive at a given price point.
AMD is in desperate need of higher performance processors that they can price against Intel at the $200+ price points. The good news is that the FX-8150P seems to be targeted at the $300 price point. If this is true then in all likelihood AMD's highest-end Bulldozer processor will be performance competitive with the i7-2600K.
http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-eightcore-fxseries-bulldozer-cpus-cost-300/
Doesn't come with a cooler, so add at least $15 on top of that. Then it doesn't look as good, especially since the OEM models come with a reduced warranty...
But it can still be decent if you know what you're getting and are hoping for one that unlocks to four cores.
The GPU is important, yes, but some modern games can be held back significantly by a Phenom II.
If you're thinking an AMD 980 vs i5-2500K, then you're losing out on a big chunk of performance in some cases. A cheap 1155 mobo will that CPU be *significantly* faster in some games. But if you look past games, you're losing an even more significant amount of performance with everything else if you go with a Phenom II.
Don't get me wrong, I've been recommending AMD CPUs for years. But Sandy bridge is just that good. Bulldozer needs to arrive soon, and it needs to be decent enough to reach the GPU bottleneck again.