Best budget CPU for gaming nowadays?

[Vesku]

Intel options: Z68 motherboard + the just released Celeron G530 or Pentium G620 or i3-2100

AMD options: AM3+ motherboard + Athlon II x3 or x4 or Phenom II x2 (attempt to unlock) or even x4 + decent cpu cooler for OCing

Just looking in the lower budget envelop AMD actually has an OCing advantage this time around thanks to Intel locking down everything but K series. Even on a no frills $50 motherboard that I made sure had ACC unlocking I've gotten an Athlon II x3 445 to unlock the 4th core and OC to 3.5GHz. If they still were allowing OCing of their low end it would be a cleansweep for Intel, even that Celeron probably would clock into the 4GHz with their 32nm process. If you aren't as concerned about maximizing your perf/$ then you can't go wrong with a cool running low end Intel.

With the Z68 you should be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge next year, with AM3+ you can upgrade to Bulldozer later this year and into next year. Don't think either motherboard has much legs beyond that, AMD is just now entering a socket heavy phase that Intel has been in for several years for similar reasons.

 

[Stuka87]

which are those?

Battlefield Bad Company 2 gets a HUGE boost in performance from a Quad Core. Battlefield 3 will be the same way. As are most other modern games.

I went from a 550BE @3.54GHz to a 965BE and got a significant speed boost in BC2. I now have the 965 clocked up and the game runs great.

 

[SolMiester]

Personally, Id take ANY i3 over a x2\x4 every time.....

 

[richierich1212]

Personally, Id take ANY i3 over a x2\x4 every time.....

Depends. You can't overclock anything besides K-series anymore. Phenom II can still hit 4GHz+ pretty easily now.

 

[Shmee]

OP, what chips and motherboards are available in Chili and what are the relative prices? I live in the US, so finding a good performer for the price for you isn't obvious to me.

as others have said, if at all possible, get the 1155 platform over the 1156, due to the upgrade path.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The Phenom X4 is a better option than the Clarkdale i3 540. If they are of similar price, definitely go with the Phenom, since it competes with the Clarkdale in non-multithreaded games and pulls ahead of the Clarkdale in more-than-two-threaded games. And you may be able to get a board that supports Bulldozer.

 

[ShadowVVL]

i would say ph II 965 be $129.99 at newegg thats a great deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-727-_-Product

or even a i3 540 @ $109 which is a bit slower then the i3 2100 @ gaming but the i3 540 can be oced.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115221&cm_re=i3-_-19-115-221-_-Product

 

[ensign_lee]

i3-2100 is like $100 at microcenter, and an H61 board is like $60. Even cheaper if you can wait for microcenter to have some sort of bundle deal again.

Performance / $, nothing can beat an i3-2100. Especially since so few games use more than 2 cores. All blizzard games, for instance, including WoW and Starcraft II only use 2.

 

[sangyup81]

nobody likes core unlocking here? I always saw it as a great solution for the budget crowd

for those lucky enough to be near a Microcenter, you can get a Phenom II X2 560 for $89.99 and a free Mobo with unlocking capability to boot. If you want to be even cheaper or if you already have an AM2+ Mobo with Core unlocking, go for an Athlon II X3 Rana core. If you're lucky, it'll unlock into a Phenom II X4 Deneb.

 

[Concillian]

Wait for a proper Llano set. Should run rings around a SB anyway for games. Don't let them fool you. SB is good in benches, not in real life. I own a I3 540 but its just plain horrible. My 1090 T is just so much better.

Just wanted to say my experience is opposite.

However, most of the gaming I do does not use more than 2 cores (Starcraft II / WoW)

My opinion is that the best budget option is STILL a i3-5xx overclocked to 4.x GHz. The i3-2xxx would be awesome if they could OC, that hinders them a lot. Non-OC, a 2100 vs. an AIIx4 is a tougher choice and depends on the applications you use. If somewhere there's a decent used market, you might find a used i5-750 / 760 around the same price as a new i3-5xx, that would be the best of all worlds.

 

[AtenRa]

ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard @ $119.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz @ $113.99

OC that CPU to 3.6-3.7GHz with stock cooling and default Vcore and it will circle around Intel Core i3 2100 @ $124.99

and you could upgrade to AMD Bulldozer CPU next year