Best gaming CPU for ~$100. Would be my choice if you're building a $500 gaming PC today.
Funny how the world works, but it looks like Intel is the budget king now (AMD don't have anything that can even touch this in terms of value) and AMD is now the high-end performance king.
I think you mean Kaby Lake (CL i5 is 6 cores), but yeah, pretty much SL/KL i5, probably even a little faster.
yes i mean skylake/kabylake lol
My overclocked 3570K at 4.5Ghz gets the same passmark as this proccy!
Same with my ancient i7 3770.
Paid under 1k 7 years or so ago.
@Korban Dallas: Wouldn't really call an i7 3770 ancient - I have one and it still works great for everything I need it for. Things have been speeding up recently, but diminishing returns.
I think we've hit the limitations of the x86 architecture now. The fundamental architecture hasn't changed much recently and most of Intel's new developments are adding instruction sets which are required for modern tasks, e.g. AVX-512, which basically allows for longer vector calculations. Ultimately the CISC architecture relies on more and more complex instructions to be built directly into the hardware.
All of this is the end result of us not being able to move towards a RISC architecture because Intel dug in their heels in 20 - 30 years ago and didn't want to lose the x86 patents and licensing agreements they've developed. Either way, just look at the latest iPad Pro, RISC is the future and it already dominates everywhere except desktops.
Seems there is a few on the fence like us.
I have i7-3770k and haven't found a compelling argument to upgrade with the recent cpu offerings.
My microserver has the e3-1240v2. Nice and desirable cpu.
@DARK KHAOS: Same boat here too.
I want to upgrade from my i7-3770, but even buying budget will set me back $500 for a minimal boost.
Just waiting for next Ryzen to see if it's worth upgrading or waiting another cycle.
Zen 2 3500 and 3500X will be out soon :) and i think we will even see a Zen 2 3400X with 4 cores
Great price, be aware this cpu doesn’t have any integrated graphics, I’m sure most people know but thought I’d mention it.
The GPU is still on the silicon but defective and disabled :)
F = failed GPU chip
There are some gotchas for new users.
Some tasks, such as certain video encoders, Intel is 50% faster than any Ryzen due to them using Intel iGPU for hardware acceleration. And there are some other tasks where Intel beats AMD because of clockspeed.
Users need to carefully evaluate what their intended tasks are. If they are uncertain Intel is the safest choice.
Not all Intel CPUs have an iGPU… this one for example.
If they are uncertain Intel is the safest choice.
I'd say that if they're uncertain, they're not using their computer for anything to a degree which will separate out Intel vs. AMD chips, so anything is fine.
something tells me you guys above have no idea what a mobile workstation is?
deliberately checked the official list of AMD based pro hardware, a few business laptops yes (I can tell you a few sad stories about Lenovo A475), but alas, no mobile workstations.
there's a reason for it, too, and I think it's going to be a while till AMD based solutions make it into pro hardware market.
@[Deactivated]: I just don't see how your mobile workstation purchasing needs has any relevance in a post about a budget desktop CPU. So maybe that's why you're being downvoted.
@remedycrd: it's ok I am used to being misunderstood :) I upvoted the deal, didn't I? what I am hinting at is power management and reliability is not AMD's strong point, and it's interesting how the market placing has switched around for the two brands lately. still, when I need reliability and stellar power efficiency, looks like Intel is going to be my only choice. clear enough? who cares.
Anyone have any recommendations for other components for a 500 dollar gaming pc? This chip is cheap, the only other thing I've got are some ssds floating about.
This chip is cheap, you might even say cheap as chips!
I just need a large ish collection of other chips to bolt it to… will this come with a stock cooler by any chance?
B360 Board ~ $100
8GB DDR4 ~ $60
Cheap case from MSY ~ $40
PSU - something like Thermaltake Litepower? $50
Leaves you around $150 for the GPU, I'd pick up a used RX 570 and call it a day.
What kind of games would that handle? Low res or medium GTA for example?
If you had 300 for GPU what would U get
This review has it at an average of 89 fps at 1920x1080 with very high. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-570-4gb,5…
You could also get an rx 580 for a little more and get a 15% improvement.
@naturaldecay: Wow thanks man. Goin' to build my first PC soon so just might dip my toe in with this
What kind of games would that handle? Low res or medium GTA for example?
Woah, "low or medium", this sort of system will easily get "high" and even "very high" in most modern titles at 60 Hz. Will be Ultra for most games that are a few generations old now.
This is my build and I spent $1000+ a couple years ago
No mention of heat sink fan needed here and cost
Doesn't it come with one? Either way, can pick up a cheap one for $10 and it'll be fine. You can even go to the local MSY and ask for Intel stock coolers, if you're buying a few things they'll usually give you one for free. I've got a few lying around that I've just asked for.
Gigabyte B365 motherboard $92
Corsair CX550m $76
Thermaltake H18 Case $47
2x4gb crucial ram 2666 mhz $46 for2
Rx 570 MSI Armour $175
obviously the 9100f for $103 and no storage
Total: $539
Will be able to run most games 1080p high settings 60fps
Can get just a bit under $500 but I don't really recommend as it will use a dodgy power supply and a lower-end motherboard.
Legend!
Price significantly higher for non EBay plus members because of shipping
Also has not factored in heatsink fan in cost
Correct me I'm wrong but I think that the i3 9100f includes a stock Intel cooler and that should be enough to cool this cpu.
@MuddyClear: This says it does include one. You can also look up unboxing videos. https://www.pccasegear.com/products/46615/intel-core-i3-9100…
awsome!! this a good build guys?? can spend upto $1000 for a build? anything i should add or upgrade
I would recommend not getting this chip for a $500 build, if you spend a little extra to get a Ryzen G class chip (that means you don't need to a buy a graphics card for it) then that opens you up to being able to upgrade to a modest gpu down the line without risking making something a bottle neck and the G class chips in 3rd gen ryzen can play games quite competently at 1080p by its self at medium graphics, don't take my word for it or anyone else's in this comment section go research for yourself and feel confident in a decision you make not someone random's from the internet.
Rx570 is pretty decent. I'm running a 1050ti in my laptop, good enough for me. I've been asked to build a pc for a mate. I was going to recommend an exbusiness optiplex with a 1050ti low profile… good enough to play on his tv. This however is generally better as far as I can tell, and really for not much extra cash.
If you've got any recommendations I'm honestly all ears.
holly crap people are buying 10!!!
Might be either Techfast system builders or Tech Yes City…
Probably Gumtree builders.
AMD is now the high-end performance king.
Not for gaming, Intel still rules the roost at the top.
But the 3600 has taken the mid range crown. It's hard to recommend the i5 anymore.
I wish the 9th gen had HT enabled!
Slightly faster than the slightly more expensive 3200G ($127.20), but that does come with a decent iGPU and a better upgrade path so it isn't as straightforward a choice.
Slightly faster
Not really, this will be significantly faster - boosts to 4.2 GHz and maintains it. The 3200G, even if you manually OC, won't get that far because AMD's binning process is too good, you really need to get a 3400G to reach those higher clocks.
If you need an iGPU, you won't go for this, so it's really a side point. If you don't need it then you don't need it.
a better upgrade path
People keep bringing up the "upgrade path" thing, but I've never upgraded a CPU in my entire life (and I've owned probably close to 10 PCs now, my first was a Pentium 66 MHz). Is there really anyone who's buying a 3200G today and then proceeding to buy a 3900X later on?
Either way, there's no shortage of great 9th gen Intel chips to choose from. You could go all the way up to a 9900K.
Me too, everytime I've upgraded a CPU I've gone to a brand new socket. By the time your CPU truly becomes obselete, the low/mid end options from the new socket demolish the highest end options of your current one.
Is there really anyone who's buying a 3200G today and then proceeding to buy a 3900X later on?
There may be people buying a 3200G today, and then a 4400G next year. AM4 is here through 2020. With Intel you'll probably need a new motherboard.
People keep bringing up the "upgrade path"
Only if you are in the era of socket 775 to 771… guess you missed it :)
Only if you are in the era of socket 775 to 771… guess you missed it :)
Not really what it's made out to be. There's a pretty big divide in LGA 775 - the old P4 chipsets (e.g. i845GV) are so different and incompatible with the later 945, and P35/P45 chipsets that they might as well be on different sockets. Nobody got a Netburst P4 and upgraded to a Q9650 on the same board.
Anyway, I think you miss my point, which is that if you're buying a board for use with something like a 3200G or 9100F, it's not going to be a good board for the 3900X or 9900K. By the time you want to upgrade, you're better off either going with something new, or if you want to upgrade to a 3900X or 9900K, pick up a cheap used X470/X570 or Z390 board on the used market.
Having the upgrade path is great, I'd prefer it to not having one, but I prefer to base my purchasing decisions on what I need today rather than the possibility of maybe getting some more powerful CPU in the far future.
Nobody got a Netburst P4 and upgraded to a Q9650 on the same board.
Let me explain the era of socket 775 to 771, at that time if you own a low end socket 775 motherboard (e.g. G41 series motherboard -$65 brand new) with a low end cpu like Celeron for a year, then ordered a sticker with a socket 771 Xeon cpu to upgrade as the world most affordable Xeon server of all time with low end spec (Motherboard & RAM)
Of course Intel since close this loophole and redesign everything else, try to define a Home grade, Business grade and Server grade. Since then all chipsets for Xeon are in premium grade, if you still own your Pentium computer, with a proper care and power supply still running, it will run perfectly fine, since motherboard and ram don't die easily in the old days, which imagine if you can only upgrade your CPU without changing anything else, we wouldn't have create such a massive of e-waste thru out the decades.
my first was a Pentium 66 MHz
just saying my first was a XT :) I missed the counting and the boot disk…
I've never upgraded a CPU in my entire life (and I've owned probably close to 10 PCs now, my first was a Pentium 66 MHz
Lots of people went from Ryzen 1000 series to Ryzen 3000. Realistically if you're using an air cooler in a case with intake/exhaust fans even a shit motherboard can handle a high end Zen chip, let alone the mid range ones which only use 65W or whatever. A 3200G to a 4600 would be a decent jump that wouldn't cost much in the future.Not really, this will be significantly faster - boosts to 4.2 GHz and maintains it. The 3200G, even if you manually OC, won't get that far because AMD's binning process is too good, you really need to get a 3400G to reach those higher clocks.
IPC on Zen+ and Skylake are pretty similar depending on the workload. Less in gaming, etc but to make it simple I'll assume it's about the same.
The 3200g is 3.6 base, 4.0 boost. Say we be harsh on AMD and only get 3.9 boost that's still only 10% off the i3. Being hard on AMD and assuming worse IPC you could double that difference. It's still not a huge amount. The i3 is faster but is it fast enough that it's going to matter for a gaming PC where you're probably running into GPU bottlenecks? Probably not.
Either way, there's no shortage of great 9th gen Intel chips to choose from. You could go all the way up to a 9900K.
Top end intel chips always end up really freaking expensive because people always want to make those kinds of moves. Look at the used price of a 7700k. Might as well buy a whole new system rather than that.
I think there's a case for both
me too, only time I considered a CPU upgrade from Intel to AMD (all CPU manufactures used same socket then) was when I had Socket 7 M/B, but never did though :D
Normally I would agree, but since it's a 4 core CPU, you will most likely need to upgrade in the future unless you are not progressing past Dota, Fortnite, etc. While there is still the i5 and i7 in the future, Intel's limited upgrade path means these usually fetch a premium in the future when you actually want to upgrade.
If this was an i5, I would say that upgrades are unlikely, but at 4 cores, they are a certainty.
Great price for an i3 though!
I agree, in my case I'm looking to upgrade from a 2200G to a 2600 or even 1600 depending on what I can find for cheap.
Anyone considering this CPU in the first place is arguably never going to upgrade to the top end, the more likely scenario is going for the mid-range, where AMD is king.
The 2200g/3200g would be the competitor, similar in price when not on sale, the i3 is ~10-15% faster while the AMD has the integrated gpu.
First gen Ryzen we saw the 1300/1400, it would have been interesting to see pricing on a non-G 2200/2400/3200/3400.
Igpu doesn’t even come close to rx570
This is temping me to do a complete build of my unRAID server which is currently using a super micro board with a E3300 Celery in it.
damn this or ryzen 5 2600 when the next deal comes? I don't really need it for anything, just want to to do an rgb build.
Is there any point upgrading to this from a 4690k? From what I've read it's about a 10-15% increase?
would not recommend for gaming, 4 threads are barely enough for modern games, and the problem with not enough threads isn't a few less fps, its games becoming unplayable with mass stutters, as demonstrated by the 2 thread pentiums
LOL, 2 threads and 4 threads are totally different. You may be referring the 2-core pentium from Sandy Bridge V 4 threads from Coffee Lake and then set the graphics on ultra. I've played with SB 2500K paired with a decent GPU and have no issue with stuttering.
clock speeds cannot make up for lack of threads, i've owned the 2 core pentium g3258(haswell) overclocked to 4.6ghz, and back then dragon age inquisition was literally unplayable, meanwhile a 2 core/4 thread i3 clocked lower at 3ghz was perfectly fine, even though the pentium had a 50% clock advantage. what happened was the game engine uses 3 threads heavily, and with only 2 physical cores you get constant context switch which eats up so much cpu time it makes the game unplayable, and the 4 core i5's are not immune to this phenomenon.
You've answered your own question. One is a 2 core the other is a 4 core CPU. BTW Physical 4 cores is better than 2 cores with 4 threads. Yes, there'll be an instance where even 4-core CPU will bottleneck. But that's more than likely when you are expecting the FPS using 1080P monitor to climb over 150. But for a lot of people when under 100 or even 60 is plenty when using 4 core cpu that is, like the one here. And if you are playing games with higher res than 1080 then the GPU will be more of a sticking point.
it's not about hitting 150fps, the 2 core pentium has no problem hitting a consistent 150fps in many titles. but on titles that use more than 2 threads heavily, the games become unplayable. what i mean by unplayable is that the fps counter may say 45fps, but you're getting crazy frametime spikes, and that makes the experience so bad it is way worse than a consistent cinematic 30fps.
it is already known that quad cores are starting to struggle in some modern titles, and when game engines start utilising more than 4 threads heavily, you won't simply get less fps like with a weaker gpu, the games will become unplayable because of stutters.
Are you suggesting that even this quad core i3 won't bottleneck an RTX 2080Ti or RTX Titan for 2160p gaming?
Are you suggesting that even this quad core i3 won't bottleneck an RTX 2080Ti or RTX Titan for 2160p gaming?
Sigh, I never get this entire discussion about "bottlenecking", just put together the best system you can for the budget you have. Something is always going to be limiting something else otherwise we would just have infinite frame rates…
This isn't entirely true though.
If you are the kind of person who pre orders the latest big budget AAA Ubisoft game then yeah, this cpu isn't for you.
But if you play CS, MOBAs, or buy 'GOTY' editions of games at a fraction of their price when new in true OzB fashion, then this cpu with an RX570 or 80 will smash.
or you could get a second hand older gen 4c/8t cpu for similar price: https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=i7+3770&_s…
you lose 20-30% single thread performance, but they are way more future-proof because you get twice the threads
Name a better choice for a similar budget?
a good second hand option is in my post above yours, or even something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz8ThsFOP3w&t=860s
if you are building new then fork another $100 and buy something with at least 8 threads, that's my advice.
Yeah, old Xeons come with their fair share of problems too - pretty poor single threaded performance (which is still very important in games), low clock speeds and rather expensive motherboards.
if you are building new then fork another $100 and buy something with at least 8 threads, that's my advice.
Then you're no longer at the same budget. You can always say "fork another $XXX" and get better performance?
@p1 ama: the h61 motherboard for the 3770 can be had for $60, also ddr3 is cheaper and for the xeon you can use ecc ddr3(cheaper still) in quad channel
the point i'm making is the stuttering you have with lack of threads can be FAR worse than 30-50% single thread performance. you're already beginning to see this with titles like battlefield V.
i'm not saying this is a bad cpu, its great for many applications, just don't expect it to perform on all new titles, which is why i don't recommend it.
Would this be a good good upgrade for a i5 4690?
If you are looking for an upgrade without spending a whole lot of money it is decent. Though unless you are playing games or productivity, for day to day usage you'll probably not going to see much of a difference. Heck, I've got the 9700K and I can't tell any difference when just browsing compares to my old 2600K. In the future when the price drops again you can still upgrade to i7 9700.
Thanks for the advice mate, I'm playing games. Specifically VR ones that are badly coded like vr chat. Single core performance is better for me at this stage. This would have significantly better better performance in that regard right?
It depends on what you mean by significant. Noticeable improvement yes but not night and day.
I would skip, as you are going from a 4 core to a 4 core, so the only benefit you would have is via the architectural improvements since, which has been practically slim-to-none between them. Not saying it wouldn't be faster, but since you would be investing in an entirely new platform, the speed would be hardly anything compared to the money you are putting into it. Grab an i5 or Ryzen, and I think it would be an entirely different experience.
People always say $500 gaming machine but you can’t actually build a decent one for that price - it’s really more closer to $600
Even then, I'd love to see the parts list for this $600 gaming PC.
I built a “gaming” pc for under $500, depends what your needs are.
Cooler Master Elite RC343 mATX Case with 420w Power Supply
QTY: 1 $69.00
Add To Cart
Crucial 4GB (1x4GB) CT4G4DFS8266 2666MHz DDR4 RAM
QTY: 2 $29.00
Add To Cart
Gigabyte A320M-H Socket AM4 mATX Motherboard
QTY: 1 $85.00
AMD 2200G from computer alliance for $109
Sandisk ultra II 256GB SSD $49
This system plays pretty much anything on medium settings completely fine which for the price is amazing.
Not gaming unless it has a dedicated graphics card imo
This system plays pretty much anything on medium settings completely fine
I very highly doubt this.
Better value getting this+RAM+Mobo+Display Card (can reuse other parts) and building a PC myself or just buy a ready built from Techfast?
You get better quality and satisfaction diy. And if you got other parts it should work out cheaper
I am holding up for USB4 next year.
Equivalent of a skylake/coffee lake i5.