Best Gaming CPU for the Money Feb. 2012

[Brandon Warren]

Tom's Hardware has released their monthly "Best Gaming CPU for the Money" article. The article has proven to be very helpful in my last 3 builds and can be informative for those who may be on the fence on what to buy for their next upgrade, or if they simply wonder if it will make a substantial difference. The article can be found here

Perhaps the best thing about this article is at the end it provides a basic gaming "CPU Hierarchy Chart" and can be found here. I have provided the chart below. Basically, you should only upgrade your CPU to a new one only if the new one is 3 tiers above the old one. Otherwise, there isn't going to be a meaningful difference. For more information on how this chart is constructed, please refer to the article (it is a bit different than a hierarchy on CPUs that are non-gaming related!)

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http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

 

[Brandon Warren]

Also.. would you be interested in seeing RaceDepartment occasionally post PC hardware guides and/or major reviews on the front page or at the very least the hardware section? Let us know!

 

[Abdul Al-Amry]

Thanks Brandon. I have a Q6600 which has treated me well so far. I might just wait a lil longer to upgrade. GPU is more of a priority for me atm.

 

[Jim Cole]

Tom's Hardware has been one of the best hardware review sites for at least 10 to 15 years now. I have been using the site all those years to help my customers get the most out of their upgrade dollars.

@Abdul: When looking at the CPU's, consider what you are going to use the computer for. If it is only going to be a gaming rig, then get the i5 2500K CPU as going for the i7 will cost more, but you won't see any real improvement in game performance. just make sure you get a decent motherboard along with the CPU so that voltages are stable. If you do other things that require processor power with your computer, then go for the i7 2600K. Both of those CPU's are the Sandybridge processors.

 

[Brandon Warren]

Thanks Brandon. I have a Q6600 which has treated me well so far. I might just wait a lil longer to upgrade. GPU is more of a priority for me atm.

Abdul they have a guide for GPUs as well. I should have probably posted that up as well!