budget gaming cpu: e7200, e5200, amd 9600b or something else?

[imported_grapeape]

hey guys, i know you get questions like this alot but ive been having trouble finding good comparisons between the cpu's after they have been overclocked, which is something i will be doing. both the e5200 and 7200 seem like good choices, and the 9600 b interests me aswell since it is a quad core, and id like to try that out. So what would ya'll go with for 140$ or under?

 

[disports]

e7200

 

[rogue1979]

I would go for the E5200, that way you can save money on the motherboard, only needing a max of 320MHz for the fsb.

Probably get the cpu and board for the same $140, spend the money you saved on a faster video card or more memory.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The E5200 only gets to 3.6-3.75 on safe vcore. The E7200 @ 4Ghz would be a better bet.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Has anyone seen benchmarks comparing the e5200 to the X2 5600+ or any of the X3s or Phenoms? I looked but no luck...

 

[Cheex]

E7200 @ $120
E7300 @ $140

Your call....no other choices.

:thumbsup:

 

[DerelictDev]

Quad core doesn't mean crap for you, the games you'll be playing won't utilize its "advantages". Go with the e7200, that sounds like your best bet.

But rogue has a good point about saving money and allocating it more into memory and/or video card. Those items will make more difference than a slightly faster cpu. This of course is if your trying to fit into a budget.

On a side note, can anyone explain to me why older cpu's like the e6600 cost so much more than the e7200? I've been out of the loop a bit so what's going on? Is it just basically supply/ demand?

 

[imported_grapeape]

thanks for the replies everyone. looks like ill probably go the e7200 route as frys has it for 109 right now, which isnt that much more than the e5200. I already have a video card on the way, i got in on one of those 9600gso's for 36AR, so ill use that at least for a little while. might upgrade it later, as i realize thats kinda slow by todays standards. we'll see how it works out.

as far as motherboards go, anyone have any good micro atx suggestions? since im using discrete graphics i kinda wanna steer clear of the ASUS P5Q-EM, but what about the GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L, is this any good at overclocking a e7200?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: grapeape
but what about the GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L, is this any good at overclocking a e7200?

It can overclock an E5200 just fine. Only thing to watch out for, it does not have a 1:1 FSB:RAM divisor. So make sure you buy good RAM.

 

[MyLeftNut]

After messing around with an e5200, I would recommend an e7200 over the e5200. Reason is that in order for the e5200 to reach even 3.6ghz for most chips it'll still need somewhat high voltages and you'll definitely need an aftermarket cpu cooler for that. Whereas, with the e7200, you can overclock to 3.6ghz or a bit higher with lesser volts while using the stock heatsink.

Unless you got an old cheap motherboard that can't handle much FSB and you don't want to buy another motherboard, then the e5200 would be the best recommendation.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: MyLeftNut
After messing around with an e5200, I would recommend an e7200 over the e5200. Reason is that in order for the e5200 to reach even 3.6ghz for most chips it'll still need somewhat high voltages and you'll definitely need an aftermarket cpu cooler for that. Whereas, with the e7200, you can overclock to 3.6ghz or a bit higher with lesser volts while using the stock heatsink.

Unless you got an old cheap motherboard that can't handle much FSB and you don't want to buy another motherboard, then the e5200 would be the best recommendation.

But for gaming applications, with a decent video card at resolutions higher than 12x10, the difference between an 3.6 GHz E5200 and a 4 GHz E7200 is, I am willing to bet, not significant.

So I would say, if the choice is to save $35 on the processor by going with the E5200 as opposed to the E7200, and using that extra $35 to get an HD4850 over an 8800GT, then the E5200 would be the better budget gaming CPU. This also works if he wants to use that $35 in savings to get an 8800GT over something like the 9600GSO or HD4670.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: coolpurplefan
Has anyone seen benchmarks comparing the e5200 to the X2 5600+ or any of the X3s or Phenoms? I looked but no luck...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/F...=3322002&postcount=190

E5200 compared to X2 5400+, X3 8450 and X2 6500.

 

[Alienwho]

I would recommend the 7200 as well. I love mine. If you haven't bought it yet, you can get it at Fry's for $87 right now.

 

[Tempered81]

yah $87 shippped online for Retail box is hella hot.

 

[nyker96]

just got a e7200 for $86 shipped. I say if you game, hell I don't even game much still I'm getting this for the SSE4.1 for my video encoding jobs I do.

 

[nerp]

$86 shipppeddd!??! i don't think I can ignore that.

*** EDIT SOLD OUT!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

[imported_grapeape]

yeah i got in on that e7200 too! thanks for the help ya'll, its appreciated.