What are the current value kings in CPU-land?

[dug777]

As the title suggests, would be keen to understand what people are recommending these days in terms of value processors (value not neccessarily meaning cheap!)?

I'm plugging away with my Q6600 here, as this would suggest, I haven't looked at cpus for a while

It's prime happy at 3.4GHhz if I leave the BIOS settings in 'auto' for vcore (haven't tried any higher, just dialed the FSB up in BIOS), but I usually run it at stock and turn the vcore right down in the BIOS in conjuntion with the Asus EPU-6 thingy, spends most of its life at .96vcore from CPU-Z, loads at ~1.2vcore). Accoordingly, I can't really justify a new toy, but it's always nice to get a handle on what I could/should get

 

[PingviN]

Core i5 750 is a good choice, Phenom II 965 if you aldready have an AM3-compatable motherboard.

 

[cbn]

At the moment Core i5 750 seems to be the best choice.

 

[Rubycon]

What do you do with your PC?

If it's just surfing then you will see no difference (outside of a thinner wallet!) of a platform change...

 

[dug777]

What do you do with your PC?

If it's just surfing then you will see no difference (outside of a thinner wallet!) of a platform change...

Outside of office and firefox, games and a bit of photo processing (just with Nikon View).

I can't imagine that any of those things will practically justify a platform change (video card is just a 512mb 4850@770/1068 and it's probably a bit stretched for 19x12, so that would be my logical next upgrade I suppose...), but I like to have some idea of where the people who understand the shifting sands of CPUs would recommend spending money these days.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If your current CPU is a Q6600 at 3.4, personally, I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU to one of today's current-gen top CPUs. There's just not enough difference.

(The exception would be if you were doing video-editing 8 hours a day on the machine, for business purposes. In that case, I would say you could justify the expense of upgrading to a Core i7. But short of that, no, I wouldn't bother.)

 

[cbn]

If your current CPU is a Q6600 at 3.4, personally, I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU to one of today's current-gen top CPUs. There's just not enough difference.

(The exception would be if you were doing video-editing 8 hours a day on the machine, for business purposes. In that case, I would say you could justify the expense of upgrading to a Core i7. But short of that, no, I wouldn't bother.)

x2.

 

[Arkaign]

Check back after the USB3/32nm stuff drops sometime in '10.

 

[halley]

As the title suggests, would be keen to understand what people are recommending these days in terms of value processors (value not neccessarily meaning cheap!)?

I'm plugging away with my Q6600 here, as this would suggest, I haven't looked at cpus for a while

It's prime happy at 3.4GHhz if I leave the BIOS settings in 'auto' for vcore (haven't tried any higher, just dialed the FSB up in BIOS), but I usually run it at stock and turn the vcore right down in the BIOS in conjuntion with the Asus EPU-6 thingy, spends most of its life at .96vcore from CPU-Z, loads at ~1.2vcore). Accoordingly, I can't really justify a new toy, but it's always nice to get a handle on what I could/should get

I excitedly built my own rig with an Intel GO Q6600, overclocked to 3.4 GHhz a few months after that quad was released. I also own a couple of AMD-equipped machines, including an unlocked cheap Phenom II 550. All of them adequately serve my video hobby.

I wouldn't consider upgrading until nvidia CUDA or ATI stream processing reach desirable maturity. Presently any CPU that costs more than $200 is unnecessarily expensive to me. Video equipment (monitor and video card) is another story.

 

[cbn]

Check back after the USB3/32nm stuff drops sometime in '10.

x2.

 

[edplayer]

Check back after the USB3/32nm stuff drops sometime in '10.

apart from blowout sales (which I can always resell for close to/more than I paid) this is what I will wait for.

Might be a bit longer though. I think we will have to wait till Sandy Bridge for Intel's chipset with both of those but AMD has an 890 coming up soon with SATA 3 but no USB 3 built in.

 

[cbn]

apart from blowout sales (which I can always resell for close to/more than I paid)

Yep, that is the best way to buy cpus/mobos.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

In my past experience, the Q9550 has been one of the greatest cost per performance deal. People argue because it's EOL but they are good chips. The 775 Q9x50 chips are good overclockers making them a good value. You can save it you have a MicroCenter nearby and get a cheap i7 920 D0 for 199$ last I heard but you are looking at a minimum of 500$ for the platform switch - my rig in sig2 cost just a hair over 500$ when i bought it...

 

[MrK6]

For all intents and purposes, the Q6600 was and still is a great value processor. That chip really set the bar for "bang-for-your-buck" for future generations, especially the G0 revision.

All that said, after a lot of research, I upgraded from my Q6600 to an i5 750 and I must say, it feels like another great value chip, although I think the "bang-for-your-buck" market is much more competitive now. For $310 shipped after rebates and CB on launch day, I got the chip and a Gigabyte P55M-UD4 (could have gone with the UD2 and saved another $30-40, but w/e). It's currently running happily at 4GHz with little effort in my small Lian-Li case. Unless you're heavily into encoding or other processor intensive work, I find it difficult to justify the cost of an i7 set-up over it (socket 1156 or 1366). The fact that for ~$175 and with a little tweaking you can have one of the fastest CPUs available is pretty darn valuable in my book .

 

[COPOHawk]

I am in the same boat. I have been running a q6600 at 3.4 ghz for about 2 years now. I use this workstation for business (IT support) and gaming. Although I feel the desire to upgrade...I am going to wait on the core system for another year...because a processor upgrade wouldn't be that noticable for me. I haven't once pegged my processor to 100% even with all the multi-tasking I do, including multiple AS/AV scans, etc.

As for upgrades...I am going to upgrade the video card (currently an 8800GT)...but the big bang for the buck is an SSD.

I just installed an Intel XM-25 80 G2 for a customer on a one month old Core i720 system along with Win 7 Ult and the SSD makes a large noticable performance difference over the standard 7200 RPM drive...and it will make a difference over my Raptor as well

HTH...

 

[dug777]

Thanks folks, you have helped reduce the upgrade itch!

I think it will be a 5850 for me once the prices sort themselves out

 

[Meghan54]

If you have a MicroCenter nearby......

i5 750.....$149

Gigabyte P55A-UD3 (built-in SATA3/USB3)......$139

4GB DDR3 RAM.......$79-89 (AR---OCZ, Corsair)

 

[wwswimming]

Core i5 750 is a good choice, Phenom II 965 if you aldready have an AM3-compatable motherboard.

Athlon 620 for those who overclock. it keeps up with the Phenom 2 965 - which keeps up with the Intel Q9550.

for $99, that's a good deal.

good review (of the 630, actually) at InsideHW -
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/CPU/AMD-Athlon-II-X3-435-and-AMD-X4-Athlon-II-630.html

 

[lurk3r]

I'm in the same boat, Abit ip-35, Q9450 4 gigs with a 1Gb Palit 8800, dying to upgrade but there's nothing really signifigant / cost effective. I already boot off a Raptor, waiting on a decent Nvidia card to drop below $200, and SSD's to settle down. I'm very tempted to grab the I7 from microcenter, but without doing the whole big migrate from XP 64 to windows 7 on an SSD I just don't really see the point.

 

[Acanthus]

I'm in the same boat, Abit ip-35, Q9450 4 gigs with a 1Gb Palit 8800, dying to upgrade but there's nothing really signifigant / cost effective. I already boot off a Raptor, waiting on a decent Nvidia card to drop below $200, and SSD's to settle down. I'm very tempted to grab the I7 from microcenter, but without doing the whole big migrate from XP 64 to windows 7 on an SSD I just don't really see the point.

I was in the same boat, but i couldn't resist the 4890 1GB for $140 AR.

I was an ATi hater for a long time after my shitty Radeon 8500 drivers compelled me to switch back to Nvidia. Now their drivers are fantastic. 0 issues since switching from my 9600GT.

 

[v8envy]

Athlon 620 for those who overclock. it keeps up with the Phenom 2 965 - which keeps up with the Intel Q9550.

for $99, that's a good deal.

One minor flaw with that theory. If you're willing to overclock a 620 then why not overclock the 9550, 965, i7 or i5? I have a hard time believing a 620 at any practical OC will keep up with an i7 at 4.2 ghz, for example.

 

[lurk3r]

I was in the same boat, but i couldn't resist the 4890 1GB for $140 AR.

I was an ATi hater for a long time after my shitty Radeon 8500 drivers compelled me to switch back to Nvidia. Now their drivers are fantastic. 0 issues since switching from my 9600GT.

Oh there's no way I'm going back. 2 PC's ago I had a shuttle that would intermittantly just power off, turns out it was the x800xl, and I tried to 'upgrade' my last pc from a 7900gt to an 1900xtx, two days of screwing around with drivers and I still got half screen banding and an 2nd monitor that refused to operate. The only way I'll go to ATi again is if Nvidia is completely out of the running.

A similar dilemma aplies to the new Sony TV deal, you can get a decent Sony 46" LCD and basically a free PS3 for $950, you just have to deal with the 3 most evil companies in the states, Walmart for the purchase, Sony for the products, and Microsoft for the cashback. And at the end of it you end up with products made most likely in China lol.

 

[MrK6]

Oh there's no way I'm going back. 2 PC's ago I had a shuttle that would intermittantly just power off, turns out it was the x800xl, and I tried to 'upgrade' my last pc from a 7900gt to an 1900xtx, two days of screwing around with drivers and I still got half screen banding and an 2nd monitor that refused to operate. The only way I'll go to ATi again is if Nvidia is completely out of the running.

A similar dilemma aplies to the new Sony TV deal, you can get a decent Sony 46" LCD and basically a free PS3 for $950, you just have to deal with the 3 most evil companies in the states, Walmart for the purchase, Sony for the products, and Microsoft for the cashback. And at the end of it you end up with products made most likely in China lol.

Yeah, cause nothing changes in four years, especially after a buyout. You can continue to sulk and swear off companies because you had one or two bad experiences while the rest of us laugh and enjoy great products at a cheap price.

 

[wwswimming]

One minor flaw with that theory. If you're willing to overclock a 620 then why not overclock the 9550, 965, i7 or i5? I have a hard time believing a 620 at any practical OC will keep up with an i7 at 4.2 ghz, for example.

I have a hard time believing it too.

who said the 620 would keep up with the i7 or i5 ?

the OP asked about "value", and it looks like the OC'ed 620 does a good job keeping up with the stock Athlon 965 (in the tests at Inside HW) - which is about as fast as a stock 9550.

i call that value.

 

[nyker96]

i think depend on budget, 100 range can't beat x4 620, 150 range probably get a PII quad or Q9xxx (used), at 200 range will be i5 750 or if you live near a microcenter i7 920.