Best bang for buck CPU ~$100?

[Slickone]

I need to build a PC for my parents and looking at CPU's around $75 to a little over $100. An Athlon 64 X2 4600+ AM2 retail is $113 at eWiz. Is that about the best bang for the buck without going much over $100?

I debated on whether to get dual core or not, as most of the games being played will be flight and racing sims, which most don't use dual core, except FSX. But I read somewhere that Flight Simulator X (which will be played on this system) has some problems with dual core. Is this true?

What's a good stable motherboard for it with decent overclocking? No ECS for me, please.

 

[f4phantom2500]

If you want to overclock, you should wait for the price drops and then pick up an E4300 (I think they'll be $113 IIRC). If you can't wait, then yeah your best bet is probably that X2 4600 (if not that then some other AM2 X2). They won't overclock or perform nearly as well as the Core 2's (once overclocked), but they're still "good enough" chips.

 

[kmmatney]

I'd still go for dual core, especially if you overclock. I'm getting a very good overclock out of my ECS board, so not all ECS boards are bad! I recently bought this combo for work development box, though:

BIOSTAR TForce 6100 AM2 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX RoHs compliant AMD Motherboard - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3800CSBOX - Retail
Combo deal for $149
and
Low Cost Geil DDR2 800 Memory

This motherboard has built-in video, which you probably don't want, but overclocking was very good, easily able to run at 2.5 Ghz, before I backed it down to 2.4 Ghz (its a work machine, after all). There is another combo deal for a similar motherboard without on-board video for $4 more, which has even more overclocking features.

The Athlon 64 X2 4600+ AM2 retail for $113 is a great deal, btw. That should run at 2.7 or 2.8 Ghz.

 

[Fallengod]

The E4300 for $120ish or so is a better deal imo... Wait a week or two for price cuts and the E4300 is supposed to be $113. You can find cheapish $100 c2d mobos too.

Whats the point of buying something older thats already outdated and slower, if its cost is similar. Might as well buy a top performing part and not have to upgrade for a while.

 

[Slickone]

I thought the price cuts were last week.

 

[nyker96]

for $100 I think you can't beat the $75/$85 E2xxx series c2d in June.3. This can be OCed up so high. Or you can get yourself a X3600+ OEM for $65 which can be OCed to like 2.8/3 good deal for the price tag.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: nyker96
for $100 I think you can't beat the $75/$85 E2xxx series c2d in June.3. This can be OCed up so high. Or you can get yourself a X3600+ OEM for $65 which can be OCed to like 2.8/3 good deal for the price tag.

Sorry I can't figure out what you're saying?

 

[msi1337]

I have an X2 3800+ am2 that I paid $83 + tax (retail box) and I love it.

the Core 2 route sounds expensive.

 

[daveybrat]

A 3800+ X2 Retail box should be more than sufficient for your parents pc. And i wouldn't overclock their pc as i'm sure stability is far more important than tech support grief.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: Slickone

Originally posted by: nyker96
for $100 I think you can't beat the $75/$85 E2xxx series c2d in June.3. This can be OCed up so high. Or you can get yourself a X3600+ OEM for $65 which can be OCed to like 2.8/3 good deal for the price tag.

Sorry I can't figure out what you're saying?

For a ~$100 budget, you can't find a better deal than the e2300 or e2400 coming out on June 3. they will cost $75/85. They are a Core 2 duo model, but with 1mb shared l2 cache instead of 2mb of 4mb for higher end core 2 duo's. They're a good deal because they can easily be overclocked to ~3gHz or more.

Or, you could get an amd 3600 x2 for $65 that could be overclocked to 2.8-3gHz, which is a good deal, but wouldn't be as fast as an e2xxx


translation finished

 

[Jeff7181]

I just got an X2 3800+ (socket 939) for $96. I have it running at 2.5 GHz with the "chunk of aluminum heat sink" from an Athlon 64 3500+ with an EVGA NF-41 motherboard. I have also played FSX and it works fine. There's a very noticeable difference between single and dual core processors when you turn on the option for traffic on roadways. Best $100 I've spent on my computer in a while.

 

[harpoon84]

If you are going to be playing flight sims a lot (especially FS-X) then I strongly recommend you getting an E4300 (after the April 22 pricecuts) for $113 and overclock the shiznits out of it. 3GHz+ overclocks are the norm with these chips.

Believe me when I say FS-X is a CPU HOG! Even the fastest current CPUs are not capable of running it smoothly at the higher detail levels.

Check this link for more details on FS-X CPU scaling.
http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_093a.html

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: Slickone

Originally posted by: nyker96
for $100 I think you can't beat the $75/$85 E2xxx series c2d in June.3. This can be OCed up so high. Or you can get yourself a X3600+ OEM for $65 which can be OCed to like 2.8/3 good deal for the price tag.

Sorry I can't figure out what you're saying?

For a ~$100 budget, you can't find a better deal than the e2300 or e2400 coming out on June 3. they will cost $75/85. They are a Core 2 duo model, but with 1mb shared l2 cache instead of 2mb of 4mb for higher end core 2 duo's. They're a good deal because they can easily be overclocked to ~3gHz or more.

Or, you could get an amd 3600 x2 for $65 that could be overclocked to 2.8-3gHz, which is a good deal, but wouldn't be as fast as an e2xxx


translation finished

OMG where do you get your numbers that is hilarious ... maybe on vapo chill you can get that overclock the but the average users will not get anywhere near that ... also if you wanna over clock that chip be ready to pay another 50 or so on a HSF

Anyways wait till monday and buy the e4300 or the e6300 both around 100 to 120ish. both will beat most amds at stock speed. And both are execeent overclockers but do expect it to overclock easily over 3ghz that is a dream that requires good ram, mobo, hsf and luck. But you can expect a nice OC just maybe not higher then the highest end cpu IE e6800. But you should be able to stock cooling and a gigabyte $100 965p chipset ds3 get around if not above 3ghz. from 1.8ghz mind you.

I love amd as much as the next guy but you would have to be fool to buy them right now. Higher powerbill lower performance ... go with the c2d

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: KeypoXI love amd as much as the next guy but you would have to be fool to buy them right now.

That's not entirely true. I bought a 3800+ to extend the life of my socket 939 platform until quad cores are common. It's what I planned to do all along... enjoy some good performance out of my overclocked Athlon 64 3500+ and grab a cheap dual core processor for that extra punch before multi-core/multi-threading really takes off and CPU performance depends on the number of cores.

 

[rmed64]

I cant say enough good things about my X2 3600 brisbane setup. Very overclockable, right now Im at 2.9ghz 2 hours+ running orthos stable. Scoring ~2200 in 3dmark2006 CPU test.

Cant beat it for the price. $65 for this chip is crazy, I love AMD so much right now. I will continue to push this chip up to the magical 3ghz land hopefully tomorrow.

Its like an adventure lol

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: KeypoX

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: Slickone

Originally posted by: nyker96
for $100 I think you can't beat the $75/$85 E2xxx series c2d in June.3. This can be OCed up so high. Or you can get yourself a X3600+ OEM for $65 which can be OCed to like 2.8/3 good deal for the price tag.

Sorry I can't figure out what you're saying?

For a ~$100 budget, you can't find a better deal than the e2300 or e2400 coming out on June 3. they will cost $75/85. They are a Core 2 duo model, but with 1mb shared l2 cache instead of 2mb of 4mb for higher end core 2 duo's. They're a good deal because they can easily be overclocked to ~3gHz or more.

Or, you could get an amd 3600 x2 for $65 that could be overclocked to 2.8-3gHz, which is a good deal, but wouldn't be as fast as an e2xxx


translation finished

OMG where do you get your numbers that is hilarious ... maybe on vapo chill you can get that overclock the but the average users will not get anywhere near that ... also if you wanna over clock that chip be ready to pay another 50 or so on a HSF

Anyways wait till monday and buy the e4300 or the e6300 both around 100 to 120ish. both will beat most amds at stock speed. And both are execeent overclockers but do expect it to overclock easily over 3ghz that is a dream that requires good ram, mobo, hsf and luck. But you can expect a nice OC just maybe not higher then the highest end cpu IE e6800. But you should be able to stock cooling and a gigabyte $100 965p chipset ds3 get around if not above 3ghz. from 1.8ghz mind you.

I love amd as much as the next guy but you would have to be fool to buy them right now. Higher powerbill lower performance ... go with the c2d

Hey, I'm just translating. I doubt that x2 would break 2.6 without an elaborate cooling setup and alotta voltage

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: harpoon84
If you are going to be playing flight sims a lot (especially FS-X) then I strongly recommend you getting an E4300 (after the April 22 pricecuts) for $113 and overclock the shiznits out of it. 3GHz+ overclocks are the norm with these chips.

Believe me when I say FS-X is a CPU HOG! Even the fastest current CPUs are not capable of running it smoothly at the higher detail levels.

Check this link for more details on FS-X CPU scaling.
http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_093a.html

Thanks. I'll probably do that then. Any mobo you recommend?

Funny, I'd read that FSX wasn't able to run full out on anything out yet, but some people still try to claim that isn't true and their system can do it.
And this doesn't sound good, from the article you linked:
Worse yet, SimHQ just tested the new quad-core processor from Intel, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, which saw absolutely no performance gains from its additional cores; Microsoft simply failed to optimize FSX for multi-processing, a curious situation considering how bottlenecked the title is by a system?s CPU


And thanks for the translation, yh125d.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: Slickone

Originally posted by: harpoon84
If you are going to be playing flight sims a lot (especially FS-X) then I strongly recommend you getting an E4300 (after the April 22 pricecuts) for $113 and overclock the shiznits out of it. 3GHz+ overclocks are the norm with these chips.

Believe me when I say FS-X is a CPU HOG! Even the fastest current CPUs are not capable of running it smoothly at the higher detail levels.

Check this link for more details on FS-X CPU scaling.
http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_093a.html

Thanks. I'll probably do that then. Any mobo you recommend?

Funny, I'd read that FSX wasn't able to run full out on anything out yet, but some people still try to claim that isn't true and their system can do it.
And this doesn't sound good, from the article you linked:
Worse yet, SimHQ just tested the new quad-core processor from Intel, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, which saw absolutely no performance gains from its additional cores; Microsoft simply failed to optimize FSX for multi-processing, a curious situation considering how bottlenecked the title is by a system?s CPU


And thanks for the translation, yh125d.

For overclocking a C2D on a budget I'd recommend a Gigabyte S3, very solid overclocking board, you should attain 3GHz or more with ease.

There is no way any current system can play FS-X @ 'Insane' settings, though I guess 'Ultra High' may be playable on heavily overclocked C2D systems.

It is a shame that FS-X is not multithreaded, considering it is so constrained by even the fastest CPUs currently available.

 

[hans007]

if you can wait the pentium e2000.

if not, get one of the numerous x2 amd deals. if you are near a frys a geforce 6100 board AND an athlon x2 4400 is $98 for the combo. an x2 4400 stock vs stock is pretty close to an e6300 or so.