Best Ultra Budget Gaming CPU?

[markhannelly]

Hey there guys,

                         I'm putting together an ultra budget gaming pc/htpc to have in the living room as a secondary to my main PC.

So far I've pinned my other components to a EVGA GTX 750Ti SC, EVGA 500w PSU, 8GB Ram, 128GB SSD, 1TB Hard Drive and a Corsair Spec 01 Case, but I can't decide on a processor!

 

I'm looking between a used i5-2400S for €45 (no Fan, about another 20/30 euro for a fan)

https://ie.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SCPUINTI52400SA

 

or

an Athlon 860k for €78 (inc fan)

http://www.dabs.ie/products/amd-athlon-ii-x4-860k-fm2--3-7ghz-4mb-black-edition-9QLS.html?src=15

 

I'm mainly going to be playing games like GTA 5, Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 4 and Cities Skylines.

 

I definitely want a quad core processor minimum so I have no interest in the G3258 (Far Cry 4 and GTA 5 require Quad Cores).

 

Anyone have some hands on experience with these? I can't seem to find a lot of information on the 2400s, all I know is that its a lower clocked enery efficient version of the i5-2400 so I don't know how well it will perform, being Sandy Bridge and at a lower 2.5ghz clock.

 

The 860k is unlocked, so could yield some interesting performance gains so I'm kinda interested in that, but I know steamroller isn't as good with the IPC as even the older Intel chips so I'm looking for the best budget chip for games at the moment, as anything more intensive like media encoding or rendering will be handled by my main PC with its FX-9590, so this PC will simply be for games.

 

Any help appreciated guys thanks

[Infernal Burrito]

I would say that the i5 would more than suffice. Also, what graphics card are you getting? You need a good one to play games well.

[Mikjul]

The i5 has much stronger cores, so i would say i5.

[SeanBond]

if you can get an i5 for that, definitely go for it. 

[markhannelly]

I would say that the i5 would more than suffice. Also, what graphics card are you getting? You need a good one to play games well.

 

It's being paired with the GTX 750Ti Superclocked from EVGA. Right now I have it in my old HP with its Core 2 Quad Q9300, but even though the frame rates are good there is a lot of delays loading things like the phone in game, or loading the garage for instance in GTA 5. CPU usage is constantly at 100%, so I think the bottleneck is the C2Q for sure

[markhannelly]

The i5 has much stronger cores, so i would say i5.

 

Would it matter that it's a Sandy Bridge? I know its a few years old now, and it isn't unlocked, so it's gonna be stuck at that 2.5ghz. It does have turbo boost though, does turbo boost work under a full 4 core load?

[Arc_Jester]

The i5 has much stronger cores, so i would say i5.

 

 

if you can get an i5 for that, definitely go for it. 

 

The i5 has slightly faster cores but the 860k is better if OC slightly.

[Mikjul]

The 2400 goes to 3.3ghz on 4 cores.

[Infernal Burrito]

Would it matter that it's a Sandy Bridge? I know its a few years old now, and it isn't unlocked, so it's gonna be stuck at that 2.5ghz. It does have turbo boost though, does turbo boost work under a full 4 core load?

Not really. A lot of the changes past Ivy were in power consumption with performance only getting slight upgrades.

[Infernal Burrito]

The 2400 goes to 3.3ghz on 4 cores.

He can get an i5-2400s. Not the full 2400.

[Mikjul]

He can get an i5-2400s. Not the full 2400.

http://ark.intel.com/products/52208/Intel-Core-i5-2400S-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz

[Infernal Burrito]

It's being paired with the GTX 750Ti Superclocked from EVGA. Right now I have it in my old HP with its Core 2 Quad Q9300, but even though the frame rates are good there is a lot of delays loading things like the phone in game, or loading the garage for instance in GTA 5. CPU usage is constantly at 100%, so I think the bottleneck is the C2Q for sure

Had you been building a new PC, I would recommend getting something more powerful. Knowing that you already have it, it would suffice, but don't expect to max it. My advise for the load times would be to get the SSD and test the game. If it is still bad, get the i5. If you are using a shite old hard drive, it could be taking a long time to load in the phone textures and such.

[Infernal Burrito]

http://ark.intel.com/products/52208/Intel-Core-i5-2400S-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz

I see. I stand corrected. 

[Arc_Jester]

Would it matter that it's a Sandy Bridge? I know its a few years old now, and it isn't unlocked, so it's gonna be stuck at that 2.5ghz. It does have turbo boost though, does turbo boost work under a full 4 core load?

 

Get the i5 if you're going to leave it stock but get the 860k if you feel comfortable OC'ing it abit.

[markhannelly]

Get the i5 if you're going to leave it stock but get the 860k if you feel comfortable OC'ing it abit.

That's something I was considering actually. Stick with the stock heatsink initially and when some extra money comes around, get a Hyper 212 or somthing and overclock the 860k. People seem to be getting some good overclocks on air with the 860k

[Arc_Jester]

That's something I was considering actually. Stick with the stock heatsink initially and when some extra money comes around, get a Hyper 212 or somthing and overclock the 860k. People seem to be getting some good overclocks on air with the 860k

I get 4.4ghz with an AIO but I think I could get up to 4.7ghz if I tried. Some people have gotten up to 5ghz with liquid nitrogen.

[markhannelly]

Had you been building a new PC, I would recommend getting something more powerful. Knowing that you already have it, it would suffice, but don't expect to max it. My advise for the load times would be to get the SSD and test the game. If it is still bad, get the i5. If you are using a shite old hard drive, it could be taking a long time to load in the phone textures and such.

Yeah I'm trying to keep the budget low, it's only gonna be a secondary system for playing games in the living room, I already have an FX-9590 with an R9 290 in my main rig for my main work and games, so I'm trying not to spend a lot as it's gonna be used every so often for some gaming and probably movies and catching up on Vessel videos. I have a Kingston Hyper X 128GB HDD and a Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda, so IO shoud be fine I think. My housemate has an i3-3220 and the same GPU and he is running 60fps very smooth on high settings, so that sort of performance would have me happy

[Sam Z Man]

The i5 can easily be overclocked to 3.7ghz so clockspeed would be the same.

 

2400S has a better IPC even thought its a sanndy bridge prosesor

[Mikjul]

Yeah I'm trying to keep the budget low, it's only gonna be a secondary system for playing games in the living room, I already have an FX-9590 with an R9 290 in my main rig for my main work and games, so I'm trying not to spend a lot as it's gonna be used every so often for some gaming and probably movies and catching up on Vessel videos. I have a Kingston Hyper X 128GB HDD and a Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda, so IO shoud be fine I think. My housemate has an i3-3220 and the same GPU and he is running 60fps very smooth on high settings, so that sort of performance would have me happy

i5 is better than the i3..

[markhannelly]

The i5 can easily be overclocked to 3.7ghz so clockspeed would be the same.

 

2400S has a better IPC even thought its a sanndy bridge prosesor

Even with the locked multiplier?

 

I was considering this mobo with it

https://www.dabs.ie/products/asrock-h61m-vg4-intel-h61-1155-micro-atx-2-ddr3-sata2-pcie3-B5WS.html?refs=469740000&src=3

 

its an asrock with a H61 chipset

[SteveGrabowski0]

The 2400 goes to 3.3ghz on 4 cores.

 

It only goes to 2.6 GHz on all cores.

 

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei5/sb/CS-032278.htm

[Mikjul]

It only goes to 2.6 GHz on all cores.

 

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei5/sb/CS-032278.htm

FCK THAT SHIEEET

 

GO 860K RIGHT NOW!

[Guest trucker2]

I don't know about Ireland but in US it is actually cheaper to get a 7850k with a 68 chipset MB then it is to buy the 860k and MB do to some cpu/MB combo sales.

I am curious if anyone ever benchmarked an A10 vs an 860k with dGPU's to see if TrueAudio frees up any CPU resources with a dGPU and what effect, if any it would make. Someone did benchmark the 860k vs the 6300 and the 6300 was better then the 860k.

The 860k with an 88 or 68 chipset will have PCIE 3 while IMHO the 81 chipset will have PCIE 2.

Too bad only the 7870k has the really nice stock cooler.

[dexd_fish69]

Use an i5-4690K.

[Infernal Burrito]

Yeah I'm trying to keep the budget low, it's only gonna be a secondary system for playing games in the living room, I already have an FX-9590 with an R9 290 in my main rig for my main work and games, so I'm trying not to spend a lot as it's gonna be used every so often for some gaming and probably movies and catching up on Vessel videos. I have a Kingston Hyper X 128GB HDD and a Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda, so IO shoud be fine I think. My housemate has an i3-3220 and the same GPU and he is running 60fps very smooth on high settings, so that sort of performance would have me happy

Ever heard of in home streaming? It is for exactly that.