Best cpu for buck

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

With all of the animosity in this thread, I am surprised more infractions have not gone out... Mods must be sleeping.


As to the OP: It has been said, and I will say it also. i5-2500K is the best price/performance ratio right now. Or bang for your buck if you will.

[Deleted]

I don't think you can get anything for a buck. But if you can throw some more money on the pot, you should get the i5

[Dariela]

May as well add to the wave...

i5 is pretty slick if you are going by price/performance. Can't beat it.

[Raphtheone]

According to passmark, the best CPU per dollar is AMD Athlon II X4 631 Quad-Core. That guy linking that $1k CPU was *way* off. But OP, if you actually want to buy a CPU, go for the 2500k, but the correct answer to your question has to be found in the budget segment.

[Deleted]

bang for buck is performance to price

if an i5 can do everything required in every other game, then spending 200 dollars more on aboslutely no performance gain is not good bang for buck, sure he got a better processor, but all the betterness is wasted

there are other good price/performance ratio processors, but they tend to be, whilst cheaper .. not as good (though the p/p is better)

I dont think you got my point with the budget. Thats the budget for the whole computer.... then a 2500k isnt the best bang for buck cpu in that budget range. It all depends on budget and what you gonna do with it...

And let me state it, yes the 2500k is the best bang for buck gaming cpu atm. But like im trying to say aswell, it all depends on the budget.

[vesseblah]

According to passmark

Passmark or any other synthetic test has got very little in common with real life usage. i3-2100 with two cores is lower than quad Athlon in Passmark, but with much higher IPC beats it clearly in the 99.9% of games that dont use multiple cores effectively. Including WoW.

[Roflomnom]

2500k for sure.

[Gobsplosion]

I am not really a super nerd and don't know that much about computers, I bought a system with an I-5 3.5 ghz, I know it is far from top of the line but so far I have been able to run any game on the market currently on ultra settings and havent dropped below 60 fps, in 25 man raid in wow, while broadcasting a stream for the family and friends in the guild I run about 50 fps so personally I don't see a reason to have a more powerful processor than that, but then again I don't do much besides game on my computer so I don't really have a need for it either.

[Majesticii]

Infracted. Please refrain from insulting/trolling users in the future, thank you.

Harsh comment indeed, but the OP is the epitomy of laziness. The ammount of information he gave to go on, and the fact his only response thusfar to the thread is "gaming 10 char" makes me believe this guy isn't really intrested in buying something. Rather trolling himself. And as much as this is a forum, and you're not obligated to respond to any of the posts created here, it is rather insulting to the community to make such an effortless post on a forum. While in the build section (aswell as the systems listed on the MMO frontpage from time to time) it's been quite well known what processor to go for these days. If he had just clicked on one, before creating his wall of text.

So OnTopic: Gonna have to go with the rest here, 2500K (you know, that intel one) is your best bet for today (and future).

[Raphtheone]

Passmark or any other synthetic test has got very little in common with real life usage. i3-2100 with two cores is lower than quad Athlon in Passmark, but with much higher IPC beats it clearly in the 99.9% of games that dont use multiple cores effectively. Including WoW.

Aye, synthetic. Not to be confused with real life performance at specific tasks. On the flipside, passmark was the only complete source of information that I found where the OP's question can be answered ("Best CPU for buck?"). The "real-life" sources I found was either severely lacking in the amount of candidate CPU's, and/or made years ago. The OP also didn't specify for what games, if complete system price should be considered, and so on.

In fact, the lack of information from the OP made me have to not assume anything, and take the question literal. The only viable source I could find listed the AMD CPU on top.

[llDemonll]

OP was vague yes, but the response was also a low-blow (and also a 6-core, not 4-core...but i digress).

We're not sleeping, we're just not trigger-happy

[Rixis]

I dont think you got my point with the budget. Thats the budget for the whole computer.... then a 2500k isnt the best bang for buck cpu in that budget range. It all depends on budget and what you gonna do with it...

And let me state it, yes the 2500k is the best bang for buck gaming cpu atm. But like im trying to say aswell, it all depends on the budget.

ahh, when you said out of the running, i thought you meant relegated to the lower end, as i'd taken budget to be the cpu alone, not the entire system, woo for a fun thread that the op has forgotten about?

[Cyanotical]

Harsh comment indeed, but the OP is the epitomy of laziness. The ammount of information he gave to go on, and the fact his only response thusfar to the thread is "gaming 10 char" makes me believe this guy isn't really intrested in buying something. Rather trolling himself. And as much as this is a forum, and you're not obligated to respond to any of the posts created here, it is rather insulting to the community to make such an effortless post on a forum. While in the build section (aswell as the systems listed on the MMO frontpage from time to time) it's been quite well known what processor to go for these days. If he had just clicked on one, before creating his wall of text.

So OnTopic: Gonna have to go with the rest here, 2500K (you know, that intel one) is your best bet for today (and future).

one of the major differences between this sub forum and other dedicated forums is that in general, people here are nicer, on many other forums computer build help posts are laughed off the forum, here there is the expectation that everyone, even someone with no knowledge of computers can get help

sure the op may be trolling, but you can't make that call, you need to treat everyone like they have a genuine question, and even if a person is trolling you don't need to troll them back

[Milkshake86]

the i7 is "useless" for gaming computers, the i5 will perferm just as well if not better for a lot cheaper with almost no games (i think bf3 is one of the only ones) supporting the HT added by the i7, not a lot for the extra 90$

i do recommend along with everyone else, the i5 2500k (aftermarket cooler and p67 or z68 motherboard) personally

Games coming out are supporting HT atm and using 4 cores more efficiently than previously. i7 is not useless by any form keep in mind people with really good pc's end up doing what? Recording gameplay video editing etc etc so an i7 if in your budget is not a bad choice, nor is it necessary but tbh an i5 2500k is not necessary to max ANY game on the market. Anyone who would dispute that has little to no working knowledge of what is necessary at the current time.

[Gsara]

It really depends what you are wanting to play.

You can play most of the games on the market right now flawlessly with an i3 (dual core) with an i5 2500k being more than enough for any game. We have really only seen a small number of games make use of the hyper threading in an i7, although many more will be able to later on Im sure.

For the price right now, the i5 2500k is the best cpu on the market. With an i5 (or an i3), you can use the savings to put into your mobo and video card.
Look into some barebones kits from newegg or tigerdirect, sometimes you can find really good deals based on the i3 or i5 cpu's. I actually just purchased a new gaming rig for my daughter based on the i5 for under 500 dollars on black friday. The only part of the kit I was meh about was the diablotech PSU, never had any luck with them but so far its fine.

Amd is also another resource worth checking out if you are on a tight budget. I just dont really keep up with amd so cant say much on them.

[Sackman]

Replying with one word saying "gaming" isn't lacking knowledge, it's being lazy.

I don't know shit about heart surgery, but if I walked into the ER with a problem, I wouldn't simply stand there and say "Pain".

I lol'd because it is a good analogy.

I don't know who your friend Buck is, but I recommend the i5 2500k. Best CPU value/performance wise for gaming.

I lol'd even more because it is what I thought too.

[OhpUldum]

Closing the thread as the user has not responded to any of the posts.

For reference the Intel i5 2500K is considered the best performance to price ratio CPU currently available for gaming enthusiasts.