Possible to get a decent CPU for around $250 USD (new or used)

[M.Laz]

I've recently gotten a new 30 series GPU and it's time to build a new system as nothing I currently have can be carried forward. 
I'm starting with the CPU as the rest of the build really stems from that. I'm open with used CPUs for this build.
What I have to spend seems to put me in mid-tier 10th gen Core or midrange Ryzen 3000 series territory, does this sound right? The reviews of 11th gen Core were underwhelming, does this mean there might be some deals there I'm overlooking
Are there any specific models that would be good to zero in on? 

The reviews of 11th gen Core were underwhelming, does this mean there might be some deals there I'm overlooking?

I'd like the build to be somewhat efficient, is there a clear advantage to AMI or Intel over this?

I expect to upgrade in a couple years now that competition in the CPU space means we are actually starting to see more than incremental improvements each generation, and DDR5 has just hit the scene. So I'm trying to budget this with an upgrade planned in that timeframe. 

[GodOfROG]

Wait. DDR5 Will be here soon.

 

If you cant wait - Mid tier -  AM4 should get you into a 3600/3700/5600G or so @250USD or for a few more bucks often you can get a 5600x (Black friday is coming.)

[Levent]

I am not sure where you live BUT, I have been able to find used 3600 and sometimes 3700s for less than that frequently. If you are going to go with used route, AM4 makes a hell of a lot more sense due to upgradability. I am not saying 10/11th gen CPUs are bad but used AM4 cpus do offer a lot more value imo. 

[GodOfROG]

5 minutes ago, Levent said:

... upgradability. 

 At this point in my life - F*** intel I am sick of the socket games every tick or tock. AMD proved if you invest in a good socket you can make it last for a few full generations.

[chaotic kronos]

10 minutes ago, GodOfROG said:

 At this point in my life - F*** intel I am sick of the socket games every tick or tock. AMD proved if you invest in a good socket you can make it last for a few full generations.

While that is true. alot of the times u would need to upgrade your amd motherboard none the less to get some features that your cpu offers but ur old motherboard doesn't support.  Still I do respect amd for giving the option atleast.  

The I5 12th gen is really a good deal and it's in your price range. It's better than any amd (new) processor on the market now . See some reviews for it . I7 is OK but alot higher than your budget 

[GodOfROG]

22 minutes ago, chaotic kronos said:

While that is true. alot of the times u would need to upgrade your amd motherboard none the less to get some features that your cpu offers but ur old motherboard doesn't support.  Still I do respect amd for giving the option atleast.  

The I5 12th gen is really a good deal and it's in your price range. It's better than any amd (new) processor on the market now . See some reviews for it . I7 is OK but alot higher than your budget 

Very good point with i5 12th Gen - My biggest fear in this case is its still a very young platform, and with all the issues I've seen and read about with gaming. Depending on what specific games he is playing 12th Gen might be completely the wrong choice.

[jtraccsy]

If you get your hands on a i9 10850k used it should be in that price point. New I have seen them for $379 (which is the price I bought mine for). OC'd to 5ghz all 10 cores, runs a like dream and anything you throw at it barely tickles it. Undervolt a bit with that 5ghz OC because she does run warm if you don't. Grab a decent AIO, some ram and a mid tear MOBO and your good to go sir. Ball park all that new for under $800.

[chaotic kronos]

1 hour ago, GodOfROG said:

Very good point with i5 12th Gen - My biggest fear in this case is its still a very young platform, and with all the issues I've seen and read about with gaming. Depending on what specific games he is playing 12th Gen might be completely the wrong choice.

All the problems are about really old titles that stopped getting updates . So unless you are a retro gamer chance is  U won't ever encounter that problem.  All recent and new games are already patched or about to be soon

[GodOfROG]

1 hour ago, chaotic kronos said:

All the problems are about really old titles that stopped getting updates . So unless you are a retro gamer chance is  U won't ever encounter that problem.  All recent and new games are already patched or about to be soon

Where are you getting this information? Madden 22 is on the list, that's a BRAND NEW title. and so was Football Manager 2021. I have not done an in-depth study, but no thanks. Team Red gets the win - wait for Intel 13th Generation and see if all the bugs are ironed out.

[M.Laz]

8 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

 At this point in my life - F*** intel I am sick of the socket games every tick or tock. AMD proved if you invest in a good socket you can make it last for a few full generations.

I hear you. I'm an old fart in computer terms and recall a few sockets that got more than a couple generations of upgrades . When they started moving things on die is when things really went downhill. For Intel, there was a ray of hope with QPI and the one generation they had what was called an IOH (tylersburg was that chip's codename IIRC). But Intel's games with PCIe lanes killed that (I have to wonder if part of the reason Intel kept Thunderbolt around was they thought it might lead to a solution for this). 

Their antics have pretty much killed hope for drop in upgrades. But then, their mediocre showing for nearly the past decade has meant an old system stays relevant for longer.

[M.Laz]

6 hours ago, jtraccsy said:

If you get your hands on a i9 10850k used it should be in that price point. New I have seen them for $379 (which is the price I bought mine for). OC'd to 5ghz all 10 cores, runs a like dream and anything you throw at it barely tickles it. Undervolt a bit with that 5ghz OC because she does run warm if you don't. Grab a decent AIO, some ram and a mid tear MOBO and your good to go sir. Ball park all that new for under $800.

I'm a little convened about its power consumption, but you make a good point about undervolting.
I'd like to see if I can come on closer to $500 but considering my current rig is an opportunistic build that is reminiscent of a season of Scrapyard Wars, I can't complain about prices too much since it's been quite a while since I've paid to build something entirely new. 

Part of my reason for posting here is hoping to find some hidden gems. I was wondering if the largely negative reviews of the 11th gen Intel Core CPUs might have devalued them in the second hand market but a quick look doesn't support that hypothesis. 

 

At this point, I have a couple 10th gen Core CPUs that look nice and price will be the deciding factor if I go that route. I'm also trying to do a more serious read over Ryzen 3000 series to see how things look there. But the generational compatibility and the semiconductor fab capacity shortage both seemed to be keeping prices of AMD's CPUs pretty high even on the second hand market which may tank that plan. 

 

The upgrade after this will probably be after DDR5 is established so no matter what, and upgrade is likely to require a new board unless the performance promises for it don't pan out.

[chaotic kronos]

6 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

Where are you getting this information? Madden 22 is on the list, that's a BRAND NEW title. and so was Football Manager 2021. I have not done an in-depth study, but no thanks. Team Red gets the win - wait for Intel 13th Generation and see if all the bugs are ironed out.

Maybe u missed what I said about newer titles are either patched or about to be patched soon !!!!!

[GodOfROG]

22 minutes ago, chaotic kronos said:

Maybe u missed what I said about newer titles are either patched or about to be patched soon !!!!!

 

1 hour ago, M.Laz said:

...the performance promises for it don't pan out.

They wont for the first few years. DDR4 is mature right now. DDR5 is just starting.

[chaotic kronos]

2 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

 

They wont for the first few years. DDR4 is mature right now. DDR5 is just starting.

Ddr4 started at 2133 but quickly went up to 2666 then later to 3000-3200 . While now there is 5400 kits . I didn't mean full maturity  . I mean a step better like the 2666 at the very least 

[GodOfROG]

31 minutes ago, chaotic kronos said:

Ddr4 started at 2133 but quickly went up to 2666 then later to 3000-3200 . While now there is 5400 kits . I didn't mean full maturity  . I mean a step better like the 2666 at the very least 

As Far as I recall the first DDR4 was DDR4-1600 then DDR4-1866. 

 

 Do you have any sources? or is this purely your opinion and/or speculation?

 

2133 to 2666 so 21.3 GB/s v 17 GB/s. This gain is insignificant and ram is never going to be your bottle neck (except in very specific use cases). The onyl reason we have a gaming culture obesses with ram clock speeds and CL right now is the fact that its ties to FCLK on AMD devices.

 

If you'd like to read more about DDR4 - https://techbuyersguru.com/article/gaming-on-ddr4-memory-2133-vs-2666-3200mhz-8gb-vs-16gb/

 

[chaotic kronos]

2 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

As Far as I recall the first DDR4 was DDR4-1600 then DDR4-1866. 

 

 Do you have any sources? or is this purely your opinion and/or speculation?

 

2133 to 2666 so 21.3 GB/s v 17 GB/s. This gain is insignificant and ram is never going to be your bottle neck (except in very specific use cases). The onyl reason we have a gaming culture obesses with ram clock speeds and CL right now is the fact that its ties to FCLK on AMD devices.

 

If you'd like to read more about DDR4 - https://techbuyersguru.com/article/gaming-on-ddr4-memory-2133-vs-2666-3200mhz-8gb-vs-16gb/

 

I totally don't remember ddr4 1600 . It's purely my opinion.  And ram speed is really important to Ryzen Unlike intel .

[M.Laz]

20 hours ago, GodOfROG said:

 

They wont for the first few years. DDR4 is mature right now. DDR5 is just starting.

That's my point. I just don't think it makes financial sense to be an early adopter and I've been a PC enthusiast long enough that I'm not up to chase the idea of 'future proofing' at this point. Right now, I think going with something second hand and last gen (or even 2 gens old in Intel's case) and saving as much money with plans to do a CPU/mainboard/RAM upgrade in a few years when the tech is more mature and what I'm putting together now starts to chug. 
DDR5 has a lot of potential for sure, but potential isn't in my budget.
 

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/14/2021 at 12:03 AM, GodOfROG said:

 At this point in my life - F*** intel I am sick of the socket games every tick or tock. AMD proved if you invest in a good socket you can make it last for a few full generations.

Didn't prove that,  my b350 doesn't support anything above 3000 series, and that barely... unless you define generation differently,  which then would contradict your statement however. 

 

As for topic: 3600/x should be around that price. 

[GodOfROG]

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Didn't prove that,  my b350 doesn't support anything above 3000 series, and that barely... unless you define generation differently,  which then would contradict your statement however. 

Not sure what you are talking about, so it must be your MFG or something specific to that board that is an issue - I have an ASRock A320 that will run 5000. And I am sure the same goes for B350 and X370 running 5000.

 

[M.Laz]

I think many of you have presented enough options for me to look over, burt I don't think there are any huge gaps in what I was looking into (I think I mentioned that I was concerned that ignoring 11th gen core would be a mistake but that doesn't seem to be the case, the pricing is still too high).

Can we stop the flaming, alpha nerding, and fanboying? It's really not adding to the discussion of what can be purchased near my somewhat arbitrary price point and will offer solid performance for the next few years with the additional consideration that the CPU, mainboard, and RAM will all be switched out to take advantage of the innovations we are just starting to see coming to fruition right now. 

[Mister Woof]

Memory speed does affect both AMD and Intel systems.

 

Is it big? not really for a lot of tasks. But it does help. As we get more powerful GPUs, and depending on some games, it will be more noticeable. 

 

[M.Laz]

9 minutes ago, Mister Woof said:

Memory speed does affect both AMD and Intel systems.

 

Is it big? not really for a lot of tasks. But it does help. As we get more powerful GPUs, and depending on some games, it will be more noticeable. 

 

Do you have a recommendation for the CPU that supports DDR5, will have good midrange performance and costs about $250? If not, the extra cash is just spent on 'future proofing' which I've tried to do enough times in the past to decide I can't be bothered chasing the while whale named "future proof" now.

[Mister Woof]

1 minute ago, M.Laz said:

Do you have a recommendation for the CPU that supports DDR5, will have good midrange performance and costs about $250? If not, the extra cash is just spent on 'future proofing' which I've tried to do enough times in the past to decide I can't be bothered chasing the while whale named "future proof" now.

No. Cheapest DDR5 CPU is 12600KF, which is around the $300 mark.

 

Motherboards are also more expensive.

DDR5 isn't worth it right now for most uses. Selection is very small right now, and what is available is too expensive and is usually beaten in games and whatnot by your average DDR4.

 

Honestly for what you're describing, finding a discounted 5600x with a B550 board should do nicely.