The Best CPUs For Your Money: November 2009

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Price:	The Best CPUs For Your Money
$65	AMD Athlon II X2 245 2.9GHz AM3 65W
$80	AMD Athlon II X3 425 2.7GHz AM3 95W
$100	AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1GHz AM3 80W OR AMD Athlon II X4 620 AM3 95W
$120	AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE 2.8GHz 95W OR AMD Athlon II X4 630 AM3 95W
$140	AMD Phenom II 925 2.8GHz AM3 95W
$175	AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz AM3 125W
$200	Intel Core i5-750 2.66 GHz LGA1156

The Best CPUs For Your Money

The Best CPUs For Your Money?

By that, I mean the CPUs that offer the best performance at a given price.

Why would you want that?

Because You Want:

The best bang for the buck
The best CPU for your money
The highest performance possible!

If you have the time, reading detailed CPUs reviews and specs are a lot of fun. However, most of us don’t have the time to do the research and just want the answers. In other words, what you want to know is what is the best CPU within your budget.

So if you don’t have the time to do the research, or just don’t care to do it, don’t worry. I’ll come to your help with this guide of the best CPU for your money.

Keep in mind:

I’ll use this opportunity to remind you that this article is only a guideline for the prices I’ve seen on November 18th. You’re letting yourself down if you’re not looking for deals when you decide to purchase.

• Prices and availability change everyday. I can’t keep up with accurate pricing everyday, but I can suggest to you great CPUs that you won’t regret buying at the price ranges that I list. If you find what you think is a good deal on a CPU, make sure to compare the CPU against other before making your decision. AnandTech offers this great tool to compare various CPUs in various tests.
• This list is based on the best U.S. prices from NewEgg or Amazon. In other countries or in a retail stores, things might be different. All prices are based on new CPU prices, no used or open box CPU are listed; they might be a good deal, but they come with trade offs, such as limited return policy, limited warranty, etc.Make sure to double-check the CPU socket and other factors that affect compatibility.

Best CPU for ~$65: AMD Athlon II X2 245 2.9GHz AM3 65W

I used to recommend avoiding CPU in this price range simply because they were not worth your money. However, with the recession, we’ve started to see a very respectable CPU in this price range: The Athlon II X2 245.

Based on the same core as the Phenom II, but without any L3 cache and running at 2.9GHz, this dual-core processor will give very good performance for only $60.

Good for budget builds, whether it’s for browsing the web or playing video games.

Intel offering: Intel’s Celeron E3300 is pretty pale compared to the slower Athlon II X2 240. Running 300MHz slower and featuring only 1MB of L2 cache and 800MHz, it struggles to keep up with the much older Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.9GHz, which is based on the old Brisbane core, so I’m sure you can imagine how the new Athlon II X2 has no problem outperforming both.

Best CPU for $80: AMD Athlon II X3 425 2.7GHz AM3 95W

Also based on the Athlon II core like the previous CPU in this list, this is a triple-core processor running at 2.7GHz.

This processor excels because it has three cores. So? Many video games and applications are well optimized for dual-core processors, not for triple-core right?

Yes, but that third core can handle all the background applications such as virus scanning, web browsers, OS overhead, etc. while the two first cores handle what matters. That results in higher performance in the end.

It offers a very nice balance between frequency(Speed: 2.7GHz), number of cores (3) and price ($80).

Intel offering: Intel’s E6300 has a hard time keeping up here, due to having only 2 cores. Even more if you do some video editing/converting or any heavily multi-threaded program.

Best CPU for ~$100: AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1GHz AM3 80W

Based on the Phenom II core, featuring 6MB of L3 cache and running at 3.1GHz, this processor offers tremendous value for $100. While the 400MHz over the Athlon II X3 425 is nice, it’s the 6MB of L3 cache that will make a noticeable difference in performance, especially in video games and makes the processor definitely interesting.

Best Part? This is a Black Edition CPU, meaning that it’s multiplier is unlocked, for easier overclocking. If you enjoy overclocking and/or the extra performance that it brings to you, you should definitely consider this CPU.

Intel offering: At this price range, Intel offers the Pentium E6500, which runs at 2.93GHz and features 2MB of L2 cache. While it’s not a bad processor at all, it doesn’t keep up with the slower Phenom II X2 545 and thus I see no reason to recommend it, unless you already have a socket 775 motherboard and wish to upgrade.

Great Alternative:

1- Recently launched, the AMD Athlon II X4 620 AM3 95W is an interesting alternative.

Being an Athlon II, it features no L3 cache, however this is a quad-core processor running at 2.6GHz for only $100. While I wouldn’t recommend this over my recommendation for a gaming system, due to its lack of L3 cache and lower frequency, it’s a killer offering for anyone doing audio/video/photo/3D editing or any workload that is multi-threaded.

Best CPU for ~$120: AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE 2.8GHz 95W

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself why would I recommend a 2.8GHz CPU when I just recommended a 3.1GHz one?! Take a closer look, this is a X3 CPU from AMD, meaning that it’s a triple-core CPU instead of a dual-core.

So? As I said before, yes…Many video games and applications are well optimized for dual-core processors, not for triple-core CPUs. But I also said to keep in mind that the third core can handle all the background applications such as virus scanning, web browsers, OS overhead, etc. while the two first cores handle what matters. That results in higher performance in the end.

Did I mention that this is a Black Edition CPU, meaning that the multiplier is unlocked and that you can overclock more easily? I really like that from AMD, that you don’t have to pay a huge price premium, unlike with Intel, where you need to buy the most expensive CPU to get such a feature…

Intel offering: Here, Intel offers the Core 2 Duo E7500, a 2.93GHz CPU with 3MB of L2 cache. Once again, Intel can’t keep up here, as the AMD X3 720 use its third core to finish ahead of the E7500 four benchmarks out of four (Page one and Page two).

Great Alternative:
If you do a lot of 3D or video editing/converting, the quad-core AMD Athlon II X4 630 AM3 95W is a more interesting option. If you’re buying a CPU for gaming though, my previous recommendation, the triple-core X3 720 stands, due to it’s additional 6MB of L3 which will give a nice 5-10% performance boost in video games.

Best CPU for ~$140: AMD Phenom II 925 2.8GHz AM3 95W

If you’re buying a CPU for an audio/video/photo/3D editing computer or to handle all kind of workload, this is where a quad-core CPU shines. As opposed to the Athlon II X4 620/630, this CPU offers 6MB of L3 cache for improved performance, especially in video games

Intel offering: At this price, Intel offers the Q8200, a 2.33GHz processor with 4MB of L2 cache. However, the Phenom II 925 outperforms the faster 2.50GHz Q9300, according to iXBT Labs. I’m sure you can imagine what happens to performance with the slower Q8200.

Best CPU for $175: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE 3.2 GHz AM3 125W

Here you have AMD’s second fastest CPU, the Phenom II X4 955. Clocked at 3.2GHz, this is a black edition CPU, meaning that the multiplier is unlocked and that you can overclock it to your heart’s desire.

Intel offering: For $15 more, at the $190, Intel offers the Q9400, which can’t keep in the vast majorite of cases, according to AnandTech’s charts.

Best CPU for ~$200: Intel Core i5 750 2.66 GHz LGA1156 95W

Launched recently, the Lynnfield core, on which this Core i5 CPU is based on, is the mainstream version of Intel’s Nehalem. It’s also the first CPU to integrate a PCI-Express 16X (8X, 8X) controller into its die, which allows for a less expensive motherboard and better graphic performance for a video game system.

One of the most feature of the Core i5 and Core i7 processors from Intel is the Turbo Mode. Basically, this allows the processor to raise its frequency automatically depending on its workload. If your program/video game only uses two out of the four cores, it will shut down two cores and raise the frequency of the two other cores, while remaining in the same TDP zone as when it runs at normal frequency. This is a brilliant feature if you ask me. For a complete review of the Core i5 750 and other CPU based on the Lynnfield core, I recommend to you this excellent article from AnandTech.

AMD offering: At that price, AMD offers the Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4GHz. While it’s AMD best processor, it simply can’t keep up with the Core i5 750, which is in a league of its own.

The Phenom II 965 only can keep up in one benchmark out of four and lose in the three others. Yes, despite a .74Ghz frequency advantage that is.

Best CPU above $200: None worth recommending.

While there is the Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz and the Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz which are priced around $280, I cannot recommend two CPUs which offer very little, if any noticeable performance increase over the Core i5 750, while demanding a 40% ($80) price premium.

It’s even worse if we start talking about the Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz or the Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz priced at $550 and $570 respectively.

Let me tell you: You’re better off putting the extra money toward a better video card, RAM, storage or simply keep it in your wallet

Conclusion

I hope that you enjoyed this guide for the Best CPU for your money.

I also invite you to comment and let me know your opinion on this article, ideas that you have or what you would do to improve this article.

Have a question? Leave it in the comments and I’ll answer it as soon as I have a chance.