Best Budget Gaming CPU @ Stock?

[Rattlin Bones]

So, I'm upgrading my CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, and HD. I have a thread here, but I'd like to discuss CPUs in a little more detail.

Use: Gaming.
Budget: Under $150.
Brand: Doesn't matter, but it seems that AMD is best value in this range.

Rattlin' Bones has never overclocked. Rattlin' Bones would be willing to learn, but he'd like something that will run well right out of the box should he decide to never OC, or just take his sweet time learning how.

Would rather not have to mess with aftermarket cooling. So I'd prefer something that will potentially OC well with stock cooling, or just take OC potential right out of the picture for this upgrade.

CPUs that have been recommended to me:

Athlon II X2 245 ($66) - Cheap as beans! But likely underpowered if I don't OC? Would anyone bother to buy this with the intention of running it at stock these days?

Phenom II X2 550 BE ($102) - As I understand it, the king of budget gaming CPUs right now. But everyone wants to OC it or try to unlock it. Would I be wasting my money running this at stock?

Phenom II X3 710 ($109) - An extra core for $7 more! Seems like even better value. But is the additional core even necessary for gaming?

Athlon II X4 620 ($99) - A whole four cores for even less money than the 550 BE. Seems like good value going forward, but I've read that it needs to be OCd to compete with CPUs targeted at gaming.


Are any of these worth my time? Or should I drop an extra $70 and go with something like the Phenom II X4 945 ($169) and get the best of both worlds? Would I really notice the difference? And would something like the 945 really last much longer, upgrade-wise?

Thanks so much!

 

[philosofool]

I think that the Phenom IIs are both acceptable at stock frequencies. I would get the 720 for one extra core. The $60 difference between the Phenom x4 945 and the x3 720 is better spent on graphics than on processors. For that money you can jump from an HD 4850 512MB to an HD 4870 1GB, which is going to make a way bigger difference than a small processor.

I don't think either of these Athlon processors is a worthy investment. They both have small caches and video games tax cache resources a lot. It will depend greatly on the game, but there will be some in which the caches you have there are simply not enough.

*P.S. A lot of overclocking ends up being an insane project. For the additional cost of the after market cooler, the "performance" RAM and motherboard, etc, you could just buy a faster CPU and run it at stock frequencies (or overclocking it minimally with "non-overclocker" parts"). It's only once you hit the $200-300 range when overclocking starts to make a lot of sense; this is because even small increases in stock frequencies start to get very expensive when you hit that range (look at the price difference between Core i7 870 and 860, for example.) E.g. For the cost of a bunch of "good overclocker" equipment, you could get an Intel e8400 instead of an Athlon x2 550. Overclocking is good for (1) extending the life of an aging processor, (2) getting the most out of already expensive parts, and (3) having fun playing with your computer as a hobby.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

if you buy a new chip won't you have to buy the board and memory ... or should i go back and read teh thread, hah

 

[Rattlin Bones]

Heh, yeah, I'm upgrading all core components with the exception of my GPU (8800GS 384)--waiting on lower DX11 prices next year for that.

Thanks so much, philosofool! After reading your post and doing some research, I think I will in fact drop the dough for the X3 720.

 

[Malak]

If you get the right mobo, you could unlock the 550 into an X4. Just a thought.

 

[Rattlin Bones]

I believe that's indeed possible with the board I intend to use, the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX. But to be honest, I'd rather not mess around with unlocking/overclocking, at least not at first. I'd have to add an aftermarket cooler, for one thing, which kind of negates the price advantage of the value CPUs, in my mind.

 

[s44]

720, though the main advantage over the 710 is ease of overclocking (unlocked multiplier)

 

[Maverick2002]

How come no one has mentioned a C2D? What do you need 4 cores for when gaming? E7500 for $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115056