Choosing a CPU is not
as difficult as it used to be especially at the high end of the
market. There are two manufactures of CPUs, Intel and AMD. However,
recently AMD has fallen behind Intel in terms of performance and
power consumption. This has meant that there is no AMD made CPU that
can compete with Intel’s offerings at the mid-range and the
enthusiast level. Therefore in this guide we will make suggestions
for both AMD and Intel CPUs at the budget price range but once you
start spending £140 and over you should really be looking for the
performance that Intel CPUs can offer.
CPUs
Before stating our
recommendations there are a few things to know about CPUs. The first
thing is that the CPU is like the brain of the computer. It is one of
the most important parts of the PC and the better the CPU the faster
the computer will carry out tasks from gaming to web browsing. CPUs
also come with different numbers of cores and threads. The standard
core counts of the current generation of processors are dual cores
(two cores) and quad cores (four cores). However, while Intel have
both dual core and quad core processors AMD has muddied the water in
recent times by unveiling a CPU that has eight cores. While this may
seem impressive, AMD has changed its definition of what a core is
and therefore performance is still not as good as Intel's four core
processors. The impact of more cores is still somewhat limited in
many applications although some games as well as video rendering
programs certainly benefit from having more cores. Thus when looking
at processors do not be fooled into thinking that more cores are
always better, although with Intel that is often the case. Finally
some processors can be overclocked, while others can't. Overclocking
is a means of running your CPUs faster in order to gain more
performance out of it. Unfortunately overclocking does carry it risks
and also requires an aftermarket cooler. Intel's marks its CPUs with
a “k” at the end if they can be overclocked whereas all of AMDs
FX processors can be overclocked.
Budget: Intel
Core i3 2100/ AMD fx 4100:
Selecting a budget CPU
like any other component decision, although the point is especially
pertinent here, is about the price to performance ratio. The core i3
2100 is excellent CPU for £90. It is a dual core processor and runs
at 3.1Ghz. Unfortunately unlike Intel's “k” processors this CPU
is unable to be overclocked. Apart from that though there is very
little to dislike about core i3 2100. Indeed as a Tom's Hardware
article showed it is a better gaming CPU than the FX 4100, although
due to it only having two cores it will not be able to match the
video rendering and multi core optimised program performance of the
AMD FX 4100. However, it must also be noted that on 24th
June Intel is set to release its Ivy Bridge core i3 processors. So if
you are looking at the budget end of the market then it is probably
worth waiting to see what Intel unveils in a weeks time.
The AMD fx 4100 is a
quad core processor that runs at 3.6Ghz and for £80 is certainly
excellent value. As previously stated it is not quite a match for the
core i3 2100 in the gaming stakes although it is overclockable which
is a nice feature for those of you hoping to get the most out of your
CPU. Secondly being an AM3+ socket CPU, motherboards for this
processor are slightly cheaper than for the Intel core i3 2100.
Therefore while the processor is only £10 cheaper you may be able to
save around £30-£40 overall when you factor in the cost of the
motherboard (see part 4). Overall there really isn’t too much
difference between the two CPUs. If you want a good gaming processor
that will carry out most of the tasks you want then go with the i3
2100. If on the other hand you want to be able to overclock your
processor and the more cores are of value to you then the AMD FX 4100
will adequately serve your needs.
Mid-Range : i5 3570k
There is only one
option when choosing a mid-range CPU. The £170 Intel core i5 3570k
is a quad core Ivy Bridge CPU that is perfect for gaming as well as
offering the best performance per core ratio of any Intel CPU. Being
a “k” processor the i5 3570k is capable of being overclocked,
although if you are going to overclock you really should buy an
aftermarket cooler. Intel's Ivy bridge processors also have support
for PCI express 3.0, which means if you have a compatible motherboard
and are running two or more graphics cards you are unlikely to see
performance decreasing due to the bandwidth available to each card.
Being one of Intel’s brand new Ivy Bridge CPUs the 3570k also has
around 15% better performance than the previous generation as well as
using up less power with a TPD of 77w. Running at 3.6Ghz there is
little that the 3570k can’t do and while it isn’t quite the best
CPU for video editing, for the price it really is unbeatable. Finally
it is also nice to see that Intel has kept to the same LGA 1155
socket as the previous generation of processors so if you want you
can use your sandy bridge motherboard if you have one. Overall there
isn’t much to say about the i5 3570k apart from that if you are
looking for a mid-range or gaming CPU the 3570k is a must buy.
Enthusiast: i7 3770k
Like the i5 3570k, the i7 3770k is the only CPU that can be
recommended for an enthusiast build. Unless of course you want to
spend £1000 instead of the the £260 that the 3770k will set you
back. Like the i5 3570k the i7 3770k is a quad core CPU, although it
also comes with eight threads which means that it can carry out
processes that benefit from having more cores more quickly. This
isn't really a benefit to gamers but for those of you who use
photoshop regularly as well as edit videos it is certainly going to
help to speed up the rendering process. The i7 3770k being a “k”
processor is also overclockable if the base clock of 3.5Ghz isn't
enough for you already. Indeed the i7 3770k is Intel's top Ivy Bridge
processor and while performance is excellent if you don't need the
hyperthreading that the 3770k comes with that its probably best to
buy the i5 3570k.
