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Best Intel cpu under $200

Does it have to be new?

If not, an X5650 for $65 on eBay is an outstanding deal. Add an X58 motherboard for around $125 and a cooler for $35 and a moderate overclock will smoke anything else in the same price range.
 
I second the X5650 or if you wanna go for lower watt TDP try a L5639 its only 60w and can be had for very cheap $50-65 and both are super good for overclocking!!
 
Honestly if you are not overclocking all the i5 quad cores haswells are good we are talking 3.6 to 3.9 ghz so at most 10% difference. Something that is hard to notice unless you use a stopwatch or do a 24 hour task or something. You can even do limited overclocking with these chips if you have a DIY motherboard such as asus or gigabyte since intel allows you to change some effects of the turbo and the turbo bins.

Overclocking with better cooling of course go with the devil canyon i5 or i7 (out of your price range)
 
Roland00Address said:
Honestly if you are not overclocking all the i5 quad cores haswells are good we are talking 3.6 to 3.9 ghz so at most 10% difference. Something that is hard to notice unless you use a stopwatch or do a 24 hour task or something. You can even do limited overclocking with these chips if you have a DIY motherboard such as asus or gigabyte since intel allows you to change some effects of the turbo and the turbo bins.

Overclocking with better cooling of course go with the devil canyon i5 or i7 (out of your price range)
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The i5-4430 for instance has a Turbo of 3.2. Maybe if you are right and nobody notices the missing MHz, he might as well find an i5-2500, since with a Turbo of 3.7 it will more than make up for being two gens behind, a 2500K even more so as already stated.
 
crashtech said:
The i5-4430 for instance has a Turbo of 3.2. Maybe if you are right and nobody notices the missing MHz, he might as well find an i5-2500, since with a Turbo of 3.7 it will more than make up for being two gens behind, a 2500K even more so as already stated.
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I forgot about the 4400 series only remembering the 4500 and 4600 series
 
4590...

4430 is still a fine CPU, but the clock difference will put the 4430 behind some older i5s at times,

but as some others have said, used 2500K might be an interesting option,
 
Why is it I get a headache whenever looking at i5 chips all hovering around 189-240. $10 here, $20 there all for 100-200mhz speed increases.
 
Yeah, 3570K is going for less than $200 these days and will almost always beat the 4430, as will the 2500K for that matter.

I think CPUs like the 4430 are for those who have to have to have new, have to have a quad, and have to spend less than $200. Otherwise, it's not so much amazing as it is a CPU to fill a price niche.
 
crashtech said:
Yeah, 3570K is going for less than $200 these days and will almost always beat the 4430, as will the 2500K for that matter.

I think CPUs like the 4430 are for those who have to have to have new, have to have a quad, and have to spend less than $200. Otherwise, it's not so much amazing as it is a CPU to fill a price niche.
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I agree but the same can be said as to why does everyone see over clocking as the thing to do. Its a nice performing CPU overall. Amazing in the sense it performs admirably at a much lower cost in comparison to the others in the current lineup.
 
I suppose you could say it is the value leader in its segment the same way that the G1840 is also a value leader, but nobody says the Celeron is amazing. All the current i5s sit in the knee of the price/performance curve, I think which one gets chosen has to do mainly with which metric carries the most weight with the buyer, for me, the 4590 for instance gives you enough for your additional $10 to fully justify the price:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/426/Intel_Core_i5_i5-4430_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-4590.html
 
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Maybe... I have built with both and frankly, I could not tell the difference in any applications Sometimes 10 bucks puts you over budget. It was amazing to me also due to the fact I had just built a entry level workstation with a i7 4790k and nothing earth shattering vs it either, when looking at comparable use outside of rendering applications. I'm just saying...
 
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