Best 200$ Cpu Mobo Combo???

[Revirst]

I was wondering what the best cpu motherboard combo that is ddr3 compatible for $200 

[Mark77]

1)  Does it have to be brand new? 

 

2)  Do you want absolute best performance for $$ spent today, or is future upgradeability a consideration (ie: in a few months, if you get some more money, do you care if you can replace the CPU easily?)?

 

3)  Any peculiar requirements? 

 

I bet if you shop around, you could do a i7-2600 + H67/H77/Z68/Z77 board for $200 these days used.  But not quite sure that's what you had in mind.  Could do a Haswell or Skylake with a budget CPU and a budget board for that, barely.  Or could get a mid-level "Z" board (ie: Z170) + the cheapest Skylake Celeron, and upgrade that at a later date.  Depends upon your future plans I guess.

[aisle9]

If it's brand new, the best I can come up with is an i3-4170 and a cheapo H81M board. Not a bad combo by any means, really.

[EuphoricLlama]

Just now, aisle9 said:

If it's brand new, the best I can come up with is an i3-4170 and a cheapo H81M board. Not a bad combo by any means, really.

This would have been my suggestion ^

The only problem is as it's a 4th gen cpu it'll be obsolete sooner than a 6th gen cpu (but 6th gen cpus don't take ddr3 so it's your call really)

[Revirst]

I play csgo and plan to record and live stream with 60 fps with a 750 ti

[Mark77]

Quote

The only problem is as it's a 4th gen cpu it'll be obsolete sooner than a 6th gen cpu (but 6th gen cpus don't take ddr3 so it's your call really)

 

There's so little performance difference between 4th gen and 6th gen that they'll likely become obsolete at basically the same timeframes (ie: when Intel finally gives in and starts showering us all with 8-core hyperthreaded CPU's at mainstream SKU pricing!). 

 

 

[Mark77]

 

 

delete

[DannyRyu]

16 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

 

There's so little performance difference between 4th gen and 6th gen that they'll likely become obsolete at basically the same timeframes (ie: when Intel finally gives in and starts showering us all with 8-core hyperthreaded CPU's at mainstream SKU pricing!). 

 

 

what did you just say?

[Mark77]

Quote

what did you just say?

 

I said that Intel is basically running into a situation where they're not going to be able to sell any more CPU's without releasing the floodgates on the number of cores they're putting into them.

 

Capping the "mainstream" platforms at 4 CPU's on the LGA1155/LGA1150/LGA1151 platform is artficial.  They could do an 8-core CPU at this point in LGA1151 with relative ease.  They choose not to because it would cannibalize future sales and prolong the upgrade cycle even more than it already has become. 

 

But at some point, Intel is going to hit that sales brick wall, and they'll release some crazy CPU's at the mainstream price point.  Hence basically obsoleting Sandy/Ivy/Haswell/Broadwell/Skylake quite rapidly. 

 

[SnowyMus]

Haswell has a lot of options in terms of motherboards. There's the Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A board which is about $50 on Newegg. For your processor, you can get an Intel Core i3-4170 for $120, paying only $2 shipping on both. That's $174 total, including shipping but not including any VAT.

 

Most Skylake boards lack DDR3, but there are options here, too. You can get an Intel Core i3-6100 for $125 on Newegg or $119 on Amazon (Newegg is cheaper if you don't have Amazon Prime due to shipping). You can also get an ASUS B150M-A D3 for $77 on Newegg and Amazon, and it has four RAM slots unlike a cheaper H110 board while supporting DDR3. You can also opt for a board with the better H170 chipset (main difference is in chipset PCIe lanes), but it's a bit more expensive, and this B150 board already maxes out your budget. That's $206 total on Newegg including shipping, and $196 on Amazon if you get it through Prime. You get a slightly better CPU this way, but it's still a 3.7 GHz dual-core using the same exact RAM type, so not really any better by anything tangible.

 

Honestly, I'd consider getting a secondhand Haswell, Ivy Bridge, or even a Sandy Bridge CPU and motherboard. You'll get far better bang for your buck this way if you buy used.