CPU choices for budget build

[Whoopsie988]

I'm planning a budget oriented gaming PC and I was wondering about CPU options. I was considering waiting for new AMD CPUs but I was also thinking about other options like the G3258 or saving up for an i5. I am from Australia and our tech prices are astronomically higher than the US's prices so that'll have to be taken into account.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[DimasRMDO]

Or go with an i3.

If you want AMD then you have many choices (Athlon, Sempron (not recommended), FX, ...).

 

Personally I'd go with i3, better upgrade path thus it performs good in gaming and fine for other tasks like editing.

[ind3x]

An i5 4460 is a strong option, but something like the i3 4140 is also pretty good.

The sad thing about the CPU market right now is that i wouldn't recommend AMD unless you're going for an APU.

In general i wouldn't go with the g3258 for gaming, but it's a good CPU for small servers, home theaters etc.

[desertcomputer]

750ti if you want go green

[DimasRMDO]

750ti if you want go green

CPU, not GPU.

 

I almost misread the title :3

[DimasRMDO]

An i5 4460 is a strong option.

If you can go for this, if you can't then i3.... I'd recommend i3-4150 or 4160, 4130 is still fine, go with the cheaper option.

[desertcomputer]

CPU, not GPU.

 

I almost misread the title :3

 

 

AHHAH same :c 

 

You could look at Pentium anniversary edition, cause you can upgard to i5 or i7 later down the track, a i dont think new AMD going to stay AM3, best to go Inetl, there have much stornger cores. 

[Tim Drake]

Imo best minimum is i3 while minimum minimum would be an Athlon 860k

[ImstillLeaTheTechWoman]

G3258

I3 4160

I5 4460

 

three best option for budget cpus

[Pool]

G3258 until you can afford something better.

[TwOne]

I would have to agree on the G3258, and then when the new Intel chips hit and you've saved up, you can grab yourself a nice i5.

[BleakCracker]

Well it's all your preference. The main thing you need to focus on is your CPU and your GPU. The cost of those need to be more significant that that, of say, your case or type of ram. As long as you have a moderate ram amount than you'll be fine. Don't go overboard or useless things like threaded cables or a power supply cover, and later on down the road you can upgrade your stoarage size and maybe get some SSD. Just make smart decisions.

[CalumGiff]

I'm planning a budget oriented gaming PC and I was wondering about CPU options. I was considering waiting for new AMD CPUs but I was also thinking about other options like the G3258 or saving up for an i5. I am from Australia and our tech prices are astronomically higher than the US's prices so that'll have to be taken into account.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

an i3 4150 is a good choice

[incarnate]

An i3 would do well with an upgrade path later on, if you don't plan on upgrading your pc then an Athlon x4 would work ok as well

[Delusional Phil]

go i3-4150/4160 and then go straight up to a Xeon 1231 v3 . 

[Whoopsie988]

Holy crap, thanks for the advice. Looks like I'll be going with Intel. All I need now is money.

[Ketcchup]

G3258 -> cheaper, has major Stuttering in games like Ryse, BF4(64player) or GTAV. Doesn't work at all with FC4. Really low minimums, high frame time. (Suffers from having 2C/2T)

i3 -> more expensive, still budget. Smooth gameplay, good minimums and decent average fps.

 

Athlon 860K -> Cheaper, no stuttering, no low minimums but lower FPS than i3 (still very decent)

 

 

So, get an i3 or 860K.

[flipped_bit]

We really need a sticky; this question gets asked a lot!

 

The i3-4160 with an entry-level Z97 board is what I'd go with.  That way you have a nice upgrade path all the way up to a 4790K years down the road.

 

The 860K/870K actually is a pretty decent chip for the price, but there's no upgrade path at all.  Unfortunately (because I like competition) Intel is where it's at these days.

[Nena Trinity]

860K or G3258

 

First one if your game needs quad and 2nd if you do not need quad. But quad is quite helpful in many cases and more future proof kinda...

[drkRoss89]

For Team Red (AMD) 

 

 AMD Athlon x4 860K - an over-clockable quad core system at a dirt cheap price, a decent option paired with a budget to mid-tier GPU

 

AMD FX 6300 - I don't know about in the USA, but the prices over in the UK are really good with solid performance to boot and costs a little bit more than the 860K) 

 

AMD 8320 - If you feel the need for an 8-core solution and use heavily threaded applications, this is the best option. No need for the 9000 series CPUs as they are the same chip as the 8300 but with the overclock pre-applied

 

For Team Blue (Intel)

 

Intel Pentium G3258 - a solid dual core with overclocking and around the same price-bracket as the Athlon and with a solid upgrade path to Intel i3/ i5 and i7 later on down the line 

 

Intel i3 4160 - a solid hyper-threaded dual core that shoves more programming through each core with a solid 3.6Ghz clock speed and considered a solid system for gaming. 

 

Intel i5 (any from the 4000 series Haswell Chips) - If your budget can stretch this far, get a hold of one. These chips are really solid for general performance and for gaming they out-pace the AMD's best offerings to date, the FX 4300/6300/ 8300 series while achieving greater frame-rates when it comes to gaming. 

 

 

For recommendations, I would probably recommed either the Athlon 860K, FX6300, the G3258 or the Intel i3 4160. 

 

At base-level the Athlon is just a solid chip and the quad core performance makes it that little bit better than a G3258 when it comes to multi-tasking and multi-threaded gaming, however there is limited upgrade potential. Another thing worth considering is that the chip does overclock pretty well and the top-end performance puts it in-line with the FX 4300 chips (which is pretty impressive for a budget-priced chip). 

 

At the base-end the G3258 has plenty of overclocking potential but I have heard (which I can't confirm since I don't own one) that there are some games that either stutter from games with multi-threaded engines or just don't work at all (Far Cry 4 being one of those titles), hence my recommendation for an i3. The G3258 however seems to be a good stop-gap before upgrading to i5 in around 6 - 12 months. If you need more time, then plump for the i3 as the hyper-threading does benefit from more stable performance and higher FPS despite a locked down multiplier.  

 

The FX6300 is also a sound option with the performance being slightly under the i3, however it does have the advantage of an unlocked multiplier meaning you can overclock this thing to high heaven and is a good workhorse system if you are a multi-tasker. But keep in mind that it will be trumped by an Intel i5 and the i3 is more power-efficient (if efficiency is a factor you are looking for).