View Full Version : What CPU would you buy below £150?
I was just wondering on all your thoughts now since we have the new i3 and i5's out. Normally most would look to AMD for a budget system to get more for your money in the form of the X3 720 BE, or the X2 545. Would you still go AMD?
i5 750 would, and is going to, get my money.
Andrew Moore
10-01-10, 14:36
To be honest tam prices are always going to be the same regardless of platfor
(well within reason).. The i5 750 is epic and can be had for £150 so i'd get that. Problem is the cost of motherboards.
You can get a decent am3 board for £65-70 so that along with a 965c3 would probably be the way to go. Problem is performance is comparable at stock on both chips and when one is 800mhz quicker at stock it makes things a little less appealing to go amd. You would need a 965 at around 4.7ghz to perform on par with a 4ghz 750 accross the board.
Andy
Before the i3 & i5 new varients we have the X2 545 at a great price of around £65. 100Mhz slower than the 550 BE and Multi locked, but the 545 can OC pretty much the same. I got mine to near 4.6Ghz on chilled WC'ing. However, it's just a dual but yes it could be unlocked to X3 or X4.
Then you got the X3 720 which was the sweet spot, especially for gaming and the price of £90. Again a Ph.II that on air/WC'ing can hit 4Ghz.
Theres some other noticeable bargains like the X3 425 @ £55, X4 925 @ £105, & the X4 945 @ £115. Then of course AMD's best, the C3 965 @ £140.
Previously, i would of said for great quad performance for AMD, get the X4 925 and OC to a safe 3.6Ghz at a cost of £105. Or get the 720 @ £90, or even if funds are low, get the X2 545 at only £65; great Ph II chip for the money. Even the X3 425 too @ only £55.. great tri performance for the budget end user.
Now with Intels new line up.. makes things a lot more confusing for the end user. Why must companies make a product per every price point?! :D
Now we have recently the i5 750 @ £150 which when OC'd is amazing value for money. Then the lower end we got the i3 530 @ £95 roughly.
I fear for AMD. If it wasn't for great cheap boards, Intel would have them.
Why are Intel's boards so expencive?
PeterStoba
10-01-10, 15:42
Why are Intel's boards so expencive?
Intel charge alot for their chipsets
if the rest of the budget was tight it would be a 965 but if the rest was free and all i needed was a cpu with £150 to play with it would be a 750.
if the rest of the budget was tight it would be a 965 but if the rest was free and all i needed was a cpu with £150 to play with it would be a 750.
I'd probably go with a new 32nm CPU just cause it'd be so cool :D
nah, they scream oem build to me m8
as much as i love to play with new tech some stuff i know just isnt aimed at me.
So, which CPU guys? AMD or Intel?
The i5 looks like a great one but is it great even if you don't overclock it?
DDR3 RAM, MOBO, CPU wise.. you can build a solid and very overclockable AMD system for £230 featuring a X3 720 BE, 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz & Gigabyte UD3P.
How much of a difference in performance would there be from a X3 720 BE to a X4 965 125w BE, even with the unlocked core?
I would geuss it depends on whether you use a lot of software that can make proper use of the 4th core. If the x3 is unlocked then i wouldn't bother, if it isn't and you don't do much say encoding or whatever that loads the cpu up to 100% across the board, then i wouldn't bother.
Day to day use, I've had all Athlon II/Phenom II X2, X3 & X4's (including unlocks too) and i can't tell the difference. It's only if you use stuff like say Photoshop or like Alek said encoding you'll see and feel it.. and benching too :P
I might have a look into one of the tri-core's then to see what the pricing is like as I would only use PS, etc on rare occasions these days.
My pc would be more geared towards gaming tbh. So i don't know if it would be worthwhile having the quad.
Tri core is still the sweet spot :)
I am selling an AMD x3 720 CPU and Motherboard!
Below £150 it has got to be the 965 c3. Below £100 you have got to go with an athlon II quad imo. I've been trying to persuade people to move away from the 720 and go with either an energy efficient phenom II like the 700e or 705e since they are generally better overclockers and more fun with the right chipset :D or the athlon II 620 and up, they are very good chips and perform on a par with the phenom counterparts as far as gaming goes. Not to meantion the money you save.
What about people who don't overclock? Who just want a fast PC, 'out of the box'?
The 720 and 630 are both 2.8 and in the same price range :o The e series phenoms arn't exactly slow out of the box either. I've put athlon II's in the rigs around my home and don't regret it 1 bit.
Andrew Moore
14-01-10, 18:53
I must admit AMD are brilliant for budget and mainstream.
Andy
Sadly thats it for AMD.. gonna have to wait till 2011 for something better :/
The 720 and 630 are both 2.8 and in the same price range :o The e series phenoms arn't exactly slow out of the box either. I've put athlon II's in the rigs around my home and don't regret it 1 bit.
But the 720 must be still faster due to the 3 cores and also it has a possible potential of having the 4th core unlocked!
PeterStoba
14-01-10, 22:43
The 630 has 4 cores.
620 and a nice lil Giga board.......under £150 :D
Sadly thats it for AMD.. gonna have to wait till 2011 for something better :/
What about the Thuban? Arent they due in Q2?
I would go for a second hand i5 750, that's what mine was, well it was only about 2 weeks old. :)
AaronWHUFC
21-01-10, 21:03
Phenom II 965 all day long;)
I'd get a 32nm quad core :D (that doesn't exist yet) :p
Phenom II 965 all day long;)
this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Used I7 or I5, mine was less than £150 :lol:
Phenom II 965 all day long;)
Thats the last piece of the puzzle that is my new build. Once I get that I'm good to go...
Now where's my anti-static wristband ffs...
Now where's my anti-static wristband ffs...
lol do people actually use these?
I never have lol.
I'm sure you are meant to but I can never be bothered buying one, never had any problems either.
lol do people actually use these?
Woo i got a negative rep for that :rolleyes:
Never used an anti-static band, seen some horrific things (boards on carpets etc) yet i've never heard of anything actually being killed by static.
Woo i got a negative rep for that :rolleyes:
woohoo, another one joins the negative club :D I too have never used one, common sense prevails to not be wearing a big fluffy static fleece that has just come out the tumble drier. There are so many layers on boards, you really would have to give it one hell of a jolt to do damage.
They are a waste of time, effort and money - so go on then, pile on the -ve rep :lol:
DT.
woohoo, another one joins the negative club :D
I'm feeling the love :beer
I gave you some +ve because I agreed.....didn't show though lol.
ooopps, wrong thread :lol:
i3 530. This a worthy CPU to get? Looking to build a low energy system but with plenty of grunt!
Overclock the hell out of it and its a great budget buy :D
Is i3 a worthy contender? Or would an i5 be a better bet?
The i5 750 is what I'd get.
yup i'd got for the i5 750 aswell if your spending 150 on a cpu theres no real reason to go AMD imo.
Andrew Moore
29-01-10, 18:04
£120 for an i7 920!! That's what I'd buy if the pricing wasn't just offer only lol!
Andy
I3R0K3N7FEET
02-02-10, 01:57
just to bump this.. there are the x2 555 x3 740 and x4 975 on their way (i think the x2 555 is already out) all C3 stepping and with stronger memory controller...
imo if you dont overclock go AMD if you do intel.. though personally i would say go for whatever is cheapest.. even then the i5/i3 mobo's arent all that cheap where as on AMD platform you can get pretty comprehensive motherboards in the £65-75 area so thats where i would push..
The problem with these new C3 and upgrade chips from AMD is that, it would be pointless getting the 975 when the i5 750 is alot better and probably cheaper. i5 boards (as in good ones) are getting cheaper too so what AMD had with cheap boards to beat Intel on price is slowly going away sadly. I see no reason in the 555. 550 was great but the 545 is the same and can be had for £60 which OC's just the same; infact my 545 i had could OC further on WC'ing than my 550 by 300Mhz lol.
i5 750 would, and is going to, get my money.
Got my money :D
hi koolpc
i go for the
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 125W 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail
Quickcode: #38891
it's £133.94 inc. VAT that will keep you going for a while, 1156 Mobos will come down in price and so will i5 & i7 CPU's.
For that price, I will spend my money on Intel. Cos there are more software supports!
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