The Best CPUs For Your Money: May 2012

Intel's 3rd Generation of Core CPUs, codename "Ivy Bridge", has arrived!

The Best CPU 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, because you want the best possible CPU for your hard-earned money and because you want the highest performance possible.

If you have the time to do research… but who does in this busy world?

However, I do realize that not everyone has the time to read detailed CPU reviews nor does everyone can make sense of complex CPU specifications.

This is why I write this guide for you: To help you save your time, sanity and money by doing the research for you and letting you know what are the best CPUs for your money.

May 2012 Update: What’s new?

From Intel:

Say hello to Intel’s 3rd generation Core CPUs, Ivy Bridge:

Intel new third generation of Core CPUs, known under the codename Ivy Bridge (IB from here on) is here. Replacing Intel’s LGA1155 Sandy Bridge (SB from here on, known as Core ix 2xxx) CPUs, the LGA1155 based IB CPUs (Known as Core ix 3xxx) bring higher performance, improved Turbo, lower power consumption, dynamic overclocking and more vs the 2nd generation of Core CPUs, codename “Sandy Bridge”

I go into details on all of those points at the $210 price point

Only quad-core CPUs for now, dual-core CPUs to follow in May or June:
For now, Intel are only launching the mainstream and high-end quad-core CPUs, starting at $174. The more affordable budget dual-core CPUs are expected some time in May or June, which means that we’re sticking to the 2nd generation of Core CPUs, “Sandy Bridge” for the lower-end recommendations at this point in time.

From AMD:

Price cuts on A- and FX- series:
As reported by The Tech Report, AMD cut their prices on their A- and FX- series CPUs recently.

More than likely this is due to Intel releasing their Ivy Bridge CPUs. Unfortunately for AMD, while those price cuts would have made their CPUs more competitive vs Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs, with Ivy Bridge bringing improved performance, AMD ends up charging slightly too much for some of its chips to be competitive yet again.

Things to keep in mind when reading this article:

I’ll use this opportunity to remind you that this article is only a guideline for the prices I’ve seen on May 4th 2012. 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 and/or Amazon on new CPUs. No used, open box or refurbished CPUs are included. While you may be able to score a nice discount, those CPUs come with trade offs, such as limited return policy, limited warranty, etc.

Best CPU for ~$50:

$47- Intel Celeron G530 Dual-Core 2.4GHz

Don’t get fooled by the frequencies or the Celeron brand:
The Intel Celeron G530 is based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture and despite running at 2.4GHz, it has no problem outperforming the $65 – AMD A4-3300 Llano Dual-Core 2.5GHz at this price range, thanks to the high performance and efficient Sandy Bridge architecture.

Lower power consumption:
On top of outperforming the AMD A4-3300 Llano, the Celeron G530 is also more power efficient, consuming less power at load than the AMD A4-3300 Llano CPU.

Lower cost:
Finally, the Intel Celeron G530 only costs $47, versus $60 for the A4-3300 Llano CPU, a $13 advantage for the more powerful and more energy efficient Celeron G530.

Ideal for:
Budget builds, if all you want to do is browse the Internet, watch some videos, listen to some music, do some Office work and the like.

Best CPU for ~$70:

$70 – Intel Pentium G620 Dual Core 2.6 GHz

Higher performance than the competition:
In the same price range, we have the AMD A4-3400 Llano that’s available for $70.

Just as with the Celeron G530 vs the A4-3300, the Pentium G620 has no problem outperforming the AMD A4-3400.

Lower power consumption:
On top of outperforming the AMD A4-3400, the Pentium G620 is also more power efficient, consuming less power at load than the AMD A4-3400 Llano CPU.

Lower cost:
Finally, the Intel Pentium G620 only costs $57, versus $65 for the AMD Athlon II X2 260, a $8 advantage for the more powerful and more energy efficient Pentium G620.

Ideal for:
Budget Gaming PCs with a really tight budget or a budget build, to browse the Internet, watch some videos, listen to some music, do some Office work and the like.

Best CPU for ~$85:

$85 – Intel Pentium G850 Dual-Core 2.9GHz

VS the Competition:
AMD’s similarly priced CPU is the Athlon II X3 455 ($80, Triple-Core 3.3GHz, No L3 cache)

I picked the Intel Pentium G850 over the AMD Athlon II X3 455 because:

1. The Pentium G850 easily outperforms it in gaming and pretty much any applications.
2. The Pentium G850 is way more efficient,consuming 51.8W less at load, according to AnandTech.

Ideal for:
A budget Gaming PC, when you can’t afford the much faster Core i3-2120.

However, if you have only $25 more to invest and can afford that Core i3-2120, then by all means, go for it. AnandTech’s bench tool clearly shows how much more powerful the 200MHz slower Core i3-2100 is versus the Pentium G850, so add a tad more of a lead to the Core i3-2100 performance and you’ll get an idea of the performance of the 200MHz faster Core i3-2120, which is only $5 more or so than the Core i3-2100.

AMD Alternative to consider:
The $95 – AMD Phenom II X2 560 3.3GHz Dual-Core 80W 6MB L3 Black Edition AM3: Based on the Phenom II core, featuring 6MB of L3 cache and with two cores running at 3.3GHz, this processor offers tremendous potential for $95.

How so?

1. 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.
2. Many (myself included) report being able to unlock this CPU to a full-fledged quad-core Phenom II CPU.

At its stock settings (2.8GHz Triple-Core), the AMD Phenom II X2 560 is slower than the Intel Pentium G850.

Potential to be unlocked to a quad-core CPU:
However its potential lies in the fact that it can be more often than not unlocked to a quad-core processor and in its unlocked multiplier, which allows you to overclock it to your hearts content. Once unlocked, it offers gaming performance about on par to the Pentium G850, while easily outperforming it in the majority of other tasks.

Overclock it to 3.7GHz and you’ll get this kind of performance vs the Pentium G850. Of course, you can overclock it further more if you want and can.

Do note that it’s an OEM CPU, meaning that it does not include a CPU Cooler. Not exactly an issue, considering that you’ll want an after-market CPU Cooler to overclock it anyway. Of course, make sure to use a motherboard with solid voltage delivery, great case ventilation and a solid power supply to ensure that nothings gets in the way of your overclocking desires. If you have no intention of unlocking this CPU and overclocking it, then you shouldn’t be looking at it.

Also note that the Phenom II X3 720 tends to be in short supply, often going out of stock pretty quickly and sometimes being out of stock for weeks, if not months.

Best CPU for ~$125:

$125 – Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core 65W LGA1155

Don’t let the dual-core part fool you.

Thanks to Hyper-Threading, its high 3.3GHz frequency and the high IPC performance of the SandyBridge architecture, the $125 Core i3-2120 performance is, on average, 9.5% higher than the $120 AMD Phenom II X4 970, when it comes to gaming, according to this Tom’s Hardware article.

Even better, the Core i3-2120 outperforms the Phenom II X4 970 by 16.2% when it comes to minimum frames per second, according to the same Tom’s Hardware article.

In short, it’s the best CPU for $115-150 when it comes to gaming.

One big con: Cannot be overclocked
However, it’s not a perfect CPU. One big con is that you cannot overclock it, since overclocking via the base clock is not really an option with SandyBridge CPUs (You can only raise the base clock by a few MHz before getting stability issues) and also because you cannot overclock via Turbo bins, because it also does not come with Turbo, unlike the Core i5 and i7 CPUs. Overclocking by raising the multiplier is also not an option, since that option is limited to the “K” variant of Core i5 and i7 CPUs, the i5 2500K/2550K and i7 2600K to be exact.

Then again, if you desire either or both of these features, you can simply upgrade to one of the Core i5 or i7 CPUs recommended below.

Overclocking alternative:
While at its default frequency, the $110 – AMD Phenom II X4 965 Quad-Core 3.4GHz Black Edition 125W AM3 is slower than the Core i3-2120, its potential lies in the fact that it’s an excellent choice for overclocking.

Thanks to its unlocked multiplier, overclocking it is relatively easy and once its overclocked to say 3.8-4.0GHz, it will have no problem being on par or outperforming the Core i3-2100 when it comes to gaming and easily outperform it when it comes to picture or video editing..

However, do keep in mind that its a 125W TDP CPU at its default frequency, so to maximize its overclocking potential, you’ll need a serious CPU Cooler, like the $40 – Corsair A70 CPU Cooler or one of the better options recommended in the The Best CPU Coolers For Your Money article.

Potential unlock to a six-core CPU alternative:
The $138 – AMD Phenom II X4 960T Black Edition 3.0Ghz Quad-Core is based on the “Zosma” core, the 4-core version of the 6-core “Thuban” core, featuring 6MB of L3 cache and with 4 cores running at 3.0GHz, this processor offers tremendous potential for $137.

How so?

1. 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.
2. Many report being able to unlock this CPU to a full-fledged six-core Phenom II CPU.

At its stock settings (3.0GHz Quad-Core), the AMD Phenom II X4 960T is no match for the Core i3-2120. However its potential lies in the fact that it can be more often than not unlocked to a six-core processor and in its unlocked multiplier, which allows you to overclock it to your hearts content.

Once unlocked, it’s still no match for the Core i3-2100 (and even less so for the Core i3-2120) when it comes to gaming performance, but it takes the lead for audio/photo/video editing and other heavily multithreaded workloads.

Overclock it to 3.3GHz and you’ll get this kind of performance vs the Core i3-2100. Of course, you can overclock it further more if you want and can, to get even better performance.

Best CPU for ~$200:

$210 – Intel Core i5-3550 3.3-3.7GHz Turbo Quad-Core 77W

Say hello to Intel’s 3rd generation Core CPUs, Ivy Bridge:

Performance:
Intel new third generation of Core CPUs, known under the codename Ivy Bridge (IB from here on) is here.

Replacing Intel’s LGA1155 Sandy Bridge (SB from here on, known as Core ix 2xxx) CPUs, the LGA1155 based IB CPUs (Known as Core ix 3xxx) bring in on average a 7%-15% performance improvement compared to the previous-generation of LGA1155 SB CPUs.

The higher performance is due to improved IPC (instructions per clock, aka performance at a given frequency), improved Turbo and slightly higher frequencies.

Needless to say, if it’s slightly faster than Sandy Bridge, which has no problem outperforming AMD’s Bulldozer/Llano CPUs, Ivy Bridge has no problem outperforming the competition.

Improved Turbo:

• On Sandy Bridge, Turbo increases the frequency by 100, 200, 300 or 400MHz, with 4, 3, 2 or 1 core(s) active respectively.
• On Ivy Bridge, Turbo increases the frequency by 200, 300, 400 or 400MHz, with 4, 3, 2 or 1 core(s) active respectively.

On top of that, Ivy Bridge runs at Turbo frequencies more often and for longer than Sandy Bridge.

Power consumption:
IB consumes about 17-18W less at load compared to SB and if you consider to it completes workloads faster than SB, it’s quite a bit more power efficient than SB. Idle power consumption is pretty much identical between IB and SB.

Overclocking:
Back in the Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Quad days and with previous generations of Intel CPUs, to overclock, all you had to do was to raise the BCLK (baseclock) or FSB frequency, until you reach the limit of your CPU and/or motherboard and/or cooling solution.

With Ivy Bridge, just like with SandyBridge, this is no longer the case: the 6 and 7-series chipsets integrate the clock generator. What once was a component on the motherboard, the PLL is now on the 6/7-series chipset die. The integrated PLL feeds a source clock to many other controllers (e.g. SATA) to the CPU itself.

The problem will that is if you if you raise the BCLK frequency, you will also raise the frequency of many other controllers and that will cause your PC to crash after raising the BLCK by more than 5-7%. So forget overclocking via the BCLK if you’re serious about overclocking.

To overclock, you’ll want to raise the CPU multiplier. How much you can raise it depends on your CPU:

• If you have a CPU that offers no Turbo mode (e.g. Celeron/Pentium/Core i3), then you can’t raise the multiplier at all and thus can’t overclock. In short: Your CPU is completely locked.
• If you have a CPU with Turbo modes (e.g. Core i5-3550), you can overclock, but just a bit, using a motherboard equipped with a Z chipset. You are limited to an overclock of 4 processor bins above and beyond the highest turbo frequency.

Let’s use a Core i5-3550, which runs at 3.3GHz by default, as an example:

• When one or two cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.7GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 4.1GHz.
• When three cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.6GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 4.0GHz.
• When four cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.5GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 3.9GHz.

Overclocking the non-K Core i5/i7 chips relies entirely on turbo however. In the case above, the fastest your chip will run is 4.1GHz but with only one core or two cores active. If you have four cores active the fastest your chip can run is 3.9GHz. Makes sense?

• Finally, there’s the K-series of CPUs, with the Core i5-3570K and Core i7-3770K currently available. These chips are fully unlocked and will let you overclock them as far as the CPU and/or your cooling can sustain.

Dynamic overclocking:
One of the cool new features of Ivy Bridge is dynamic overclocking, which allows users to change the CPU/IGP multipliers within Windows without rebooting. It works flawlessly with Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU).

Ivy Bridge running hot when overclocked?
You may have heard reports that Ivy Bridge runs hot, much hotter than Sandy Bridge, when overclocked. There’s some truth to this, so let me explain it to you.

Simply put, Ivy Bridge doesn’t react well to highly increased voltage. Past 1.30-1.35V temperatures greatly increase, so I recommend that if you use air-cooling, even high-end air-cooling, stay in the 1.20V-1.25V range.

Of course, make sure to monitor your temperatures. Ivy Bridge maximum temperature before it starts throttling its frequency down to protect itself from damage is 105C, 5C higher than Sandy Bridge’s 100C. However, for 24/7 usage, I recommend not exceeding 85C, to keep your CPU safe.

The good news is that most chips shouldn’t have any problems hitting 4.5-4.7GHz with 1.20V or less, which is great for the average overclocker, but scaling gets progressively worse as you go above these levels.

In other words, Ivy Bridge is great for the average overclocker and if you intend on really pushing it to its limits, be warned that you’ll need a serious after-market cooling solution.

Does that mean that you should get a Sandy Bridge CPU instead, if you intend to overclock?
In my opinion, no. Even if you’re able to get an extra 100-300MHz with a Sandy Bridge CPU vs an Ivy Bridge CPU, it won’t be enough to overcome Ivy Bridge architecture improvements, so you’ll end with either lower or similar performance and higher power consumption with an overclocked Sandy Bridge CPU vs an overclocked Ivy Bridge CPU.

That said, if you already have a Sandy Bridge CPU, there’s no point upgrading to Ivy Bridge, except perhaps getting PCI-Express 3.0 if you run or intend to run two high-end video cards in Crossfire or SLI and don’t want to be bottlenecked by PCI-Express 2.0.

Overclocking alternative:
If you want to overclock, the $230 – Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4-3.8GHz Turbo Unlocked Multiplier 77W K variant is the way to go, with its unlocked multiplier.

Needless to say, you’ll need a serious CPU Cooler, like the $60 – NZXT Havik 140 Dual Fans CPU Cooler or even better, the $83 – Noctua NH-D14 to get the most out of it.

Best CPU for ~$300:

$320 – Intel Core i7-3770 3.4-3.8GHz Turbo Quad-Core 77W

Replacing the previously recommended Core i7-3820 is the new Core i7-3770K, based on the new “Ivy Bridge” architecture.

Thanks to the improvements on Ivy Bridge, it has the edge vs the Core i7-3820 when it comes to performance, according to AnandTech.

It also consumes about 8W less power at idle and 60W less under load, also according to AnandTech.

In short, it’s more powerful than the Core i7-3820, as well as more power efficient, so it’s an easy recommendation.

Overclocking:

The Core i7-3770 is a partly unlocked CPU. What does this mean? Well, it means that its multiplier is limited to 43x, so overclocking the chip relies on Turbo. With the Core i7-3820, you can raise the frequency by 400MHz, or four Turbo bins. This means that the fastest your chip will run is 4.3GHz but with only one or two cores active. If you have four cores active the fastest your chip can run is 4.1GHz.

For more information on how Ivy Bridge behaves when overclocking, see the “Dynamic overclocking” and the “Ivy Bridge running hot when overclocked?” sections above, in the Best CPU for $200 section.

Overclocking alternative:
If you want to overclock, the $350 – Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5-3.9GHz Turbo Unlocked Multiplier 77W K variant is the way to go, with its unlocked multiplier.

Needless to say, you’ll need a serious CPU Cooler, like the $60 – NZXT Havik 140 Dual Fans CPU Cooler or even better, the $83 – Noctua NH-D14 to get the most out of it.

Compared to the competition:
AMD’s most powerful offering now is the FX-8150. I went with the Core i7-3770 for the following reasons:

1. The Core i7-3770 wins the vast majority of tests and is particularly outstanding in video game tests, according to AnandTech.
2. The Core i7-3770 uses 9W less power at idle and nothing short of 100W(!) less at load, according to AnandTech.

Best CPU for $570:

$570 – Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E Six-Core 3.2GHz-3.8GHz Turbo LGA 2011 Unlocked Multiplier

The 2nd fastest CPU on the market, selling for close to $450 less than THE fastest CPU on the market, the $1038 Intel Core i7-3960X, which is only clocked 100Mhz higher and features an additional 3MB of L3 cache.

This CPU is the best bang for your buck if you want a CPU based on the Sandy-Bridge E architecture, with 6-cores, quad-channel memory and an unlocked multiplier for overclocking.

Ideal for a Workstation that needs all the CPU processing power that it can get. Overkill for all but the most high-end gaming PCs that are already equipped with high-end video cards.

I recommend this CPU only if:

1. You run audio/photo/video or heavy multi-threaded programs that can take advantage of 6 cores.
2. You’re building/running a high-end Gaming PCs and already have high-end video cards.
3. You’re an enthusiast who’s want only the best that money can buy.

Does not include a CPU Cooler.

Best CPU for ~$1000:

$1038 – Intel Core i7-3960X EE Sandy Bridge-E Six-Core 3.3GHz-3.9GHz Turbo LGA2011

Simply put, this is THE fastest desktop CPU available on the market.

If money is not a problem, then the Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition is the fastest desktop CPU currently available on the market, with 6 cores running at 3.3GHz and the Turbo that allows a single core to reach 3.9GHz.

Of course, like the Core i7-3930K above, this CPU features Hyper-Threading, allowing it to handle up to 12 threads.

Unless you’re an enthusiast who’s want only the best that money can buy, I recommend avoiding this CPU, get the Core i7-3930K instead and save $468

Core i7-3960X vs Core i7-3930K:
The only advantages that the Core i7-3960X offers over the Core i7-3930K is a 100MHz higher frequency, which is meaningless when both CPUs offer unlocked multiplier that easily allows you to overclock the Core i7-3930K to match the frequency of the Core i7-3960X and the additional 3MB of L3 cache, which clearly isn’t worth an additional $438 in my opinion.

Of course, that’s only my opinion. If you want THE fastest desktop CPU, this is it.

Does not include a CPU Cooler.

Conclusion

What’s next?

From AMD:

Trinity in May:
The latest rumors point to a launch of AMD’s Trinity on May 15th. According to rumors, it will feature “Piledriver” (AMD’s next generation CPU) CPU Cores and a Radeon HD 7xxx GPU. Hopefully Trinity will be more competitive than Llano, which I rarely recommend, considering that you can usually get a better CPU and/or video card for a similar price to Llano. It should be also interesting to see how it will do in the notebook and “ultrabook” arenas.

Piledriver in Q3 2012:
We can also expect AMD’s Piledriver, the successor to Bulldozer, in the third quarter of 2012. Rumors predict a 15% performance improvement at the same frequency as Bulldozer, along with other improvements allowing it to run at even greater frequencies than Bulldozer. While I don’t expect Piledriver to challenge Intel when it comes to best performing CPU, it should at least be more competitive than Bulldozer is right now.