8/25/2011

Tom's Hardware : Review cpu gaming performance

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

Tom's Guide | Tom's Games | Tom's Hardware Worldwide | | | |

Search
Home Articles News Forums Charts For IT Pros

Find

Join | Sign In

Brands

Shopping

Focus On: Antec

Cases, Power Supplies & Cooling products
Sponsored by Antec Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > C omponents > C PU > Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2011

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart

12:00 AM - August 23, 2011 by Don W oligrosk i

Ads

Tweet

Share

Related Stories
08/23 Best Gaming CPUs For The Money:...

What about this other CPU thats not on the list? How do I know if its a good deal or not? This will happen. In fact, its guaranteed to happen because availability and prices change quickly. So how do you know if that C PU you have your eye on is a good buy in its price range? Here is a resource to help you judge if a C PU is a reasonable value or not: the gaming C PU hierarchy chart, which groups C PUs with similar overall gaming performance levels into tiers. The top tier contains the highest-performing gaming C PUs available and gaming performance decreases as you go down the tiers from there. This hierarchy was originally based on the average performance each C PU achieved in our charts test suite using only four game titles: C rysis, Unreal Tournament 3, World in C onflict, and Supreme C ommander. We have since incorporated new game data into our criteria, but it should be known that any specific game title will likely perform differently depending on its unique programming. Some games, for example, will be severely graphics subsystem-limited, while others may react positively to more C PU cores, larger amounts of C PU cache, or even a specific architecture. We also did not have access to every C PU on the market, so some of the C PU performance estimates are based on the numbers similar architectures deliver. Indeed, this hierarchy chart is useful as a general guideline, but certainly not as a one-size-fits-all C PU comparison resource. For that, we recommend you check out our CPU Performance Charts. You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two processors, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I dont recommend upgrading your C PU unless the potential replacement is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in game performance.

08/18 SSD Performance In Crysis 2, World Of... 08/10 Tom's Hardware Wants You: CPU... 08/09 External Thunderbolt Graphics Adapter... 08/08 AMD Radeon Memory Modules Spotted in... 08/05 Could An SSD Be The Best Upgrade For... 07/27 Razer Switchblade Powered by Atom Z690 07/27 Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: July... 07/05 Best Graphics Cards For The Money:... 06/30 AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks... Read more

Sponsored All about CPU

CPU performance charts
X86 C ore Performance C omparison Desktop C PU C harts 2010 2009 Desktop C PU C harts (Update 1) All C PU charts

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart Intel

C ore i7-2600, -2600K C ore i7-965, -975 Extreme, -980X Extreme, -990X Extreme C ore i7-980, -970, -960 C ore i5-2500, -2500K, -2400, -2310, -2300 C ore C ore C ore C ore C ore i7-860, -870, -875K, -920, -930, -940, -950, i5-750, -760, -2405S, -2400S 2 Extreme QX9775, QX9770, QX9650 2 Quad Q9650 i3-2100, -2105, -2120 Phenom II X4 Black Edition 980, 975

AMD

This portion of the requested page has been blocked. Click here for details.

C ore 2 Extreme QX6850, QX6800 C ore 2 Quad Q9550, Q9450, Q9400 C ore i5-650, -655K, -660, -661, -670, -680 C ore 2 Extreme QX6700 C ore 2 Quad Q6700, Q9300, Q8400, Q6600, Q8300 C ore 2 Duo E8600, E8500, E8400, E7600 C ore i3 -530, -540, -550 Pentium G850, G840

Phenom II X6 1100T BE, 1090T BE, 1075T Phenom II X4 Black Edition 970, 965, 955

Phenom II X6 1055T Phenom II X4 945, 940, 920, 910, 910e, 810 Phenom II X3 Black Edition 720, 740 A8-3850 A6-3650 Athlon II X4 645, 640, 635, 630 Athlon II X3 460, 455, 450, 445, 440, 435 Phenom II X4 905e, 805 Phenom II X3 710, 705e Phenom II X2 565 BE, 560 BE, 555 BE, 550 BE, 545 Phenom X4 9950 Athlon II X4 620

Newsletters
Tom's Hard News - Example

Your Email

OK
Ads

C ore 2 Extreme X6800 C ore 2 Quad Q8200 C ore 2 Duo E8300, E8200, E8190, E7500, E7400, E6850, E6750 Pentium G620

Ads by Google
Sager Gaming Notebooks Powered by 2nd generation Intel C ore i7 with GF GTX 580M GPU www.sagernotebook.com/gaming_laptop

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

1/6

8/25/2011
C ore 2 Duo E7200, E6550, E7300, E6540, E6700 Pentium Dual-C ore E5700, E5800, E6300, E6500, E6600, E6700 Pentium G9650 C ore 2 Duo E4700, E4600, E6600, E4500, E6420 Pentium Dual-C ore E5400, E5300, E5200, G620T

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

Athlon II X3 425 Phenom X4 9850, 9750, 9650, 9600 Phenom X3 8850, 8750 Athlon II X2 265, 260, 255 Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Phenom X4 9500, 9550, 9450e, 9350e Phenom X3 8650, 8600, 8550, 8450e, 8450, 8400, 8250e Athlon II X2 240, 245, 250 Athlon X2 7850, 7750 Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 5600+ Phenom X4 9150e, 9100e Athlon X2 7550, 7450, 5050e, 4850e/b Athlon 64 X2 5400+, 5200+, 5000+, 4800+ Athlon X2 6550, 6500, 4450e/b, Athlon X2 4600+, 4400+, 4200+, BE-2400

C ore 2 Duo E4400, E4300, E6400, E6320 C eleron E3300

C ore 2 Duo E5500, E6300 Pentium Dual-C ore E2220, E2200, E2210 C eleron E3200 Pentium Dual-C ore E2180 C eleron E1600 Pentium Dual-C ore E2160, E2140 C eleron E1500, E1400, E1200

Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 3800+ Athlon X2 4050e, BE-2300

Summary
There you have it folks: the best gaming C PUs for the money this month. Now all thats left to do is to find and purchase them. Also remember that the stores dont follow this list. Things will change over the course of the month and youll probably have to adapt your buying strategy to deal with fluctuating prices. Good luck! Follow us on Twitter for more tech news, reviews, and exclusive updates!

Best prices for tested products

Athlon II X3 450 Triple Core Newegg.com $77.99

See More Deals

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.20 J&R $104.88

See More Deals

Pentium G850 2.90 GHz

Walmart.com $92.88

See More Deals

Phenom II X4 955 Black

PC Connection Express $131.60

See More Deals

Core i3-2100 Dual Core

Newegg.com $124.99

See More Deals

Core i5-2400 Quad Core

J&R $192.88

See More Deals

Core i5 i5-760 2.80 GHz

Walmart.com $218.00

See More Deals

Core i5-2500K Quad Core

Newegg.com $219.99

See More Deals

Core i7-2600K Quad Core

Newegg.com $314.99

See More Deals

PREVIOUS PAGE

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart

Share

28 C omments |

This portion of the requested page has been blocked.

Read More Intel, AMD, C pu , Gaming , Performance

Subscribe to the Tom's Hardware Newsletter

Enter your email here

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

2/6

8/25/2011
Featured topics

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

Wi-Fi Security: C racking WPA With C PUs, GPUs, And The C loud

AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks Entry-Level Desktops

Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth

Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 3 GB Review: Firing Back With 1024 C UDA C ores

Latest CPU News

08/24 AMD Refreshes C - and E-Series Fusion APUs 08/24 Intel Discloses New Itanium Poulson Features 08/24 Intel Sued Over Atom Power Management Feature 08/23 Report: C edar Trail Delayed Until November 08/23 AMD's Bulldozer: More Design Details Surface All C PU news

Latest CPU reviews

08/25 Deus Ex: Human Revolution Performance Analysis 08/23 Best Gaming C PUs For The Money: August 2011 07/27 Best Gaming C PUs For The Money: July 2011 07/26 Tom's C PU Architecture Shootout: 16 C PUs, One C ore Each,... 06/30 AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks EntryLevel Desktops All C PU reviews

Forum

Intel

AMD

Should a NON-GAMER upgrade to i7? Should a NON-GAMER upgrade to i7? Question on CPU's effect on gaming performance Best CPU for gaming on new rig (performance and value) Will This CPU Improve My Gaming Performance?????

Ads by Google Windows Recommended PCs Our Online Guide W ill Teach You PC Basics & Recommend A PC For You. Microsoft.com/PC-Scout

Comments
Read the comments on the forums 1/2 JDW_SWB 08/23/2011 7:31 AM 2500K....awesome gaming chip. Got mine running at 4.5Ghz, so easy to overclock and maintain low temps. Another month gone, where is AMD/Bulldozer? crisan_tiberiu 08/23/2011 7:41 AM
JDW_SWB :

Next 0
Hide

Hide

.Another month gone, where is AMD/Bulldozer?

September 18 wribbs 08/23/2011 7:54 AM 10

Hide

Now that we have mobile GPU's in the GPU hierarchy chart it would be nice to see some mobile C PU's in the C PU hierarchy chart. iam2thecrowe 08/23/2011 9:02 AM 9
Hide

this list is growing smaller indeed. This is good in a way, a top end cpu only costs $200, that is insane when many, lower end C PU's i have bought in the past cost much more than that. AMD, you need to drop your prices or noone will buy your old tech. alhanelem 08/23/2011 9:09 AM 0
Hide

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

3/6

8/25/2011

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

i hope bulldozer will at least be up to par with the 2nd generation core i chips. i would love to replace my e850 with a cheap yet high performing chip from AMD Koofanator 08/23/2011 9:10 AM Heres to hoping this is the last list without bulldozer. dragonsqrrl 08/23/2011 9:16 AM
iam2thecrowe :

Hide

Hide

this list is growing smaller indeed. This is good in a way, a top end cpu only costs $200, that is insane when many, lower end C PU's i have bought in the past cost much more than that.

AMD's entry level dual-core processor (Athlon 64 X2 3800+) I bought back in summer 2005 cost me around $370. And now you can buy the fastest quad-core processor on the market (i7 2600K) for $315... amazing. bombat1994 08/23/2011 10:45 AM 0
Hide

remember the 2600k is the equivilent of the core i7 920 or 860 the real high end chips have yet to be release as of yet traumadisaster 08/23/2011 1:34 P M As long as these high end chips stay on 1155, fine. Dont make me buy a new mobo. ojas 08/23/2011 2:29 PM 1
Hide

Hide

What really amazes me is the price drops in AMD processors. The Phenom II X6 1100T BE was originally a $265 (company estimate) chip. Today it sells for around $100 less, about 9 months from release (online rates are lower than the company estimated price). The X4 980 prices haven't moved so much during the last 8 months though. C ompare that to any Sandy Bridge processor. I think all of them are selling for more than what the company prices them at, which is still the same as they were at the release date. The various SB i5s and i7s have been around for 8 months as well. We need to Bulldoze some Intel prices i guess... flclkun 08/23/2011 3:47 P M -2
Hide

while i hope BD is successful. I'm gonna laugh my ass off if/when it falls right on its face when it wont be the game changer that AMD fans are hoping it will be or put an end to Intel's rein. Intel is a multi-billion dollar company for a reason. hameem 1 08/23/2011 4:13 P M they should chose the phenom ii x3 720BE as the best cpu for $75 ..right ? quicksilver98 08/23/2011 4:31 P M
traumadisaster :

Hide

Hide

As long as these high end chips stay on 1155, fine. Dont make me buy a new mobo.

ROFL - That's what you get when buying an Intel C PU... jtt283 08/23/2011 5:30 PM 2
Hide

There's another tiny reason to choose a X4 970BE over a 955BE or 965BE: power consumption. For whatever reason, the 970BE uses less power at stock, even though it is faster. OC the other two to match it, and the difference will be even greater. Here's just one chart; I think there were others, but I can't find them: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/C PU/64 There are performance differences, certainly, but any modern C PU can play any game. Yes, you've shown that C PU makes a difference (a lot more than expected in some games), but GPU still generally makes more, and someone willing to lower just a few settings will not experience a decrease in the quality of the game play. With that said, for the same money, I'll take a slower AMD C PU on a full-featured, high quality mobo over a faster Intel C PU on a stripped-down mobo any day. Ben M 08/23/2011 7:20 PM -1
Hide

I feel like you could have saved yourself some time and just posted a link to any of the last 5 "Best C PU" articles. The only change is the price, and in the technology world a price drop is not exactly a surprise to

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

4/6

8/25/2011
anyone.

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

dragonsqrrl 08/23/2011 8:54 P M

ojas :

Hide

What really amazes me is the price drops in AMD processors. The Phenom II X6 1100T BE was originally a $265 (company estimate) chip. Today it sells for around $100 less, about 9 months from release (online rates are lower than the company estimated price). The X4 980 prices haven't moved so much during the last 8 months though.C ompare that to any Sandy Bridge processor. I think all of them are selling for more than what the company prices them at, which is still the same as they were at the release date. The various SB i5s and i7s have been around for 8 months as well.We need to Bulldoze some Intel prices i guess...

... the irony is that the AMD price drops you're referring to occurred because of Sandy Bridge. There's really no immediate reason for Intel to enact a price drop on their Sandy Bridge processors, but even if they did, it would only mean that AMD would have to follow suit with an additional price drop of their own to remain performance competitive at a given price point. AMD is in desperate need of higher performance processors that they can price against Intel at the $200+ price points. The good news is that the FX-8150P seems to be targeted at the $300 price point. If this is true then in all likelihood AMD's highest-end Bulldozer processor will be performance competitive with the i7-2600K. http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-eig [...] -cost-300/ Cleeve 08/23/2011 9:02 P M
hameem 1 :

Hide

they should chose the phenom ii x3 720BE as the best cpu for $75 ..right ?

Doesn't come with a cooler, so add at least $15 on top of that. Then it doesn't look as good, especially since the OEM models come with a reduced warranty... But it can still be decent if you know what you're getting and are hoping for one that unlocks to four cores. Cleeve 08/23/2011 9:10 P M
jtt283 wrote :

Hide

With that said, for the same money, I'll take a slower AMD C PU on a full-featured, high quality mobo over a faster Intel C PU on a stripped-down mobo any day.

The GPU is important, yes, but some modern games can be held back significantly by a Phenom II. If you're thinking an AMD 980 vs i5-2500K, then you're losing out on a big chunk of performance in some cases. A cheap 1155 mobo will that C PU be *significantly* faster in some games. But if you look past games, you're losing an even more significant amount of performance with everything else if you go with a Phenom II. Don't get me wrong, I've been recommending AMD C PUs for years. But Sandy bridge is just that good. Bulldozer needs to arrive soon, and it needs to be decent enough to reach the GPU bottleneck again.

Eddieroolz 08/23/2011 10:58 P M Here's hoping that Zambezi can turn this chart on its head next month! fyasko 08/23/2011 11:51 PM

Hide

-1

Hide

AMD's future is key to keeping prices where they are or potentially dropping for mid-mid/upper class chips. i was an AMD fanboi, now i realize the relationship amd has with intel is what keeps our price/performance ratio where enthusiast want it. hopefully amd's BD has a flawless release and is a great chip.

1/2 Comment:

Next

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

5/6

8/25/2011

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart : Best G

Submit my comment

Ads by Google 15.6" i5 Laptop $659.99 HP Pavilion Core i5(2.30GHz) 4GB Memory, 640GB HDD. $659.99 Shipped www.newegg.com/Laptops

See more
Peripherals How To Special Solutions Storage

Other countries: France | Germany | United Kingdom | Ireland | Italy | Finland | Russia | Turkey About Bestofmedia Network: Advertising | About Us | C ontact | Privacy | Review Product Submission Legal | Terms of Use | RSS | Techsupport | Tom's IT Pro Tom's Hardware is part of Bestofmedia Network C opyright 2011 Bestofmedia. All Rights Reserved.

tomshardware.com//cpu-gaming-per

6/6