The processor is the best, buy and install on your PC
Fortunately, while there are many lists of processors available, it is actually not so difficult to reduce the selection to a more practical level and is set to determine the processor to buy. You just have to take a step by step process, analyze needs and seeing the best candidates to meet them, and this begins with thinking about the ancient question: Intel or AMD?
AMD vs Intel
You may have selected the CPU manufacturer of your choice, of course. Maybe you always go with one particular company. Or maybe you have your motherboard already, in case the decision has been made already: You should choose whatever is compatible.
If not, though, choose Intel or AMD will lead to an interesting dilemma.
Currently, Intel is king of performance. Its Core i7 range blisteringly fast and, initially at least, ahead of anything AMD has to offer.
It's just a matter of price, though - if you are looking for value, then the AMD offer much better deals. As we write, for example, the quad-core AMD Phenom X4 Black Edition II 965, one of the fastest AMD processors, can be yours for around £ 130. Intel Core i5-680 delivers the performance is roughly equivalent, but may incur a cost of £ 230. And become a king of speed through something like the Intel Core i7-950 will almost double the picture again: You can expect to pay £ 450 or more.
(These numbers change day to day, but AMD will still be an option value for the future If you already have multiple CPUs in mind. Check our processor reviews and more up-to-date price comparisons.)
It's also worth factoring motherboard prices. Spending just £ 60 to £ 70 will give more homes as possible to high-end AMD CPU, choose the best that Intel has to offer and you will probably spend at least two times more. (But again, visit our motherboard reviews for up-to-date prices.)
If you want and need the performance of Intel's then things are not as bad as they seem. Intel CPU overclock generally little more than AMDs, and something like the i5-750 (priced around £ 150 as we write) to encourage a very long way.
But if you do not need that kind of power the high-end (or you simply can not afford it) then AMD is the way to go. You still will get a lot of speed when you need it, and will save a pile of cash, too.
Processor features
These days CPU features that attract the attention of the majority of the number of cores and clock speeds. Second is the concept easy to understand, but you still have to be careful how you interpret it.
AMD Phenom Black Edition II X6 1090T, for example, contains six core, individual processors, which means the CPU can work on six separate tasks at the same time. And each running at 3.2GHz is very respectable.
Meanwhile, Intel's Core i7-860 only has four cores, and runs at a mere 2.8GHz. So you may, no sense, look forward to more slowly. However, supports Intel Hyper-Threading technology, providing four extra "virtual" cores, and this blessing, and several other design decisions, it's really beyond II Phenom X6 1090T. So you can not just rely on these figures to determine the best CPU.
However, as a general rule for the processor from the same manufacturer, more CPU cores to provide, the happier you will. You will not see a huge speed improvement of all programs - popular LAME encoder is still single-threaded, for example, so an upgrade from dual-core CPU to quad will not provide any visible change - but most applications that can significantly benefit from multithreading , now do it, and will take advantage of additional processing power. And other things will be upgraded from time to time.
Core should be your first priority, then: You'll want a quad-core CPU minimum. After that, choose the highest clock speed you can afford, or need, but do not worry about it quite as much. You often can path a little later with overclocking wise.
Quad-core CPU i7 is a very good player, easy to surpass AMD's competition
Socket sets
Each processor comes sizes to fit the "socket CPU" certain, a component that connects the CPU to the motherboard. If you have selected your motherboard is then you will know what this is, if not, then now might be a good time to think about it, as you need a compatible processor.
If you choose to CPU AMD then there are several options. The cheapest is to go for Socket AM2 + motherboards, but Socket AM3 choosing instead will make you faster RAM support for DDR3. AM3 boards will usually also come with USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and a very affordable price that makes sense a bit to go to something else.
If you choose an Intel Core CPU i5 then there is less to think about: You'll want a motherboard LGA1156.
But if you splash out on the Core i7 then it's a bit more complicated.
You can buy a Core i7 CPUs are also compatible with LGA1156 motherboards. This is known as series 800, so that they all will have the product number 800 and something: Core i7-860, said. This will save a little money, but LGA1156 board has some limitations, and such are often lacking in the PCI Express lane, cutting off the possibility of your expansion.
An alternative is to buy a Core i7 CPUs are designed for LGA1366 motherboards, which means the 900 series chips like the Core i7-930 or -940. Not only are more powerful board, but also future-proof enough. High-end Intel releases such as 6-core i7-975 is available in LGA1366 format only, for example.
If you're building power systems, need a lot of PCI Express (perhaps to install some graphics cards) or want to ensure your future system upgradeability, then, LGA1366 board is the way to go.
But if the Core i7 CPUs are much more expensive than you really want to pay, and you just build a regular system, then the LGA1156 board and processor will be fine. Avoid the problem of PCI Express and there is little difference in performance, and you can put the money you save to improve other areas of your PC.
Motherboards
Your choice will determine where the CPU motherboard that you can install
CPU options
We have reduced the original mountains of the CPU which may be only a handful, and then, but to choose an appropriate model than you will need to understand only the terms associated with fewer processors.
As we have mentioned, a lot of Intel CPUs, including a feature called Hyper-Threading, which allows each core to run two sets of instructions simultaneously. This can be a very effective technology - Intel Core i7 CPU basically i5 with Hyper-Threading enabled - and you'll want to get it if you can.
Any Intel processor also contains a number of embedded memory called cache, which is used to store information is regularly used. If the CPU needs it again, it can be retrieved from the cache, which is much faster than accessing the system RAM. Find descriptions such as L2 (Level 2 Cache), L3 (Level 3 cache) or "Intel Smart Cache" (which means L3) - you better have a processor, the better.
And the same story with AMD CPUs, though less dramatic. Choosing to quad-core Phenom X4 II and you'll find they all have the same amount of cache, 2MB to L2, 6MB for the L3. 6-core Phenom II X6 increased to 3MB L2 cache, though, while the increase in speed will provide a useful in many situations.
What you also might want to consider, though, is the second Phenom's "Thermal Design Power" (TDP), the maximum amount of power it tends to consume when running the application is busy. This ranges from 65W (Phenom X4 II 905e or 910e) to 125W (Phenom X4 II 955 and higher), low TDP CPU slower, but use less electricity and run cooler, making them a better choice for media center PC where you want to keep fan noise minimum.
You should now have a better idea of what you want from the CPU, then - but you still need to seek confirmation of exactly which model is best for you. And review our processor is a great place to start. There are over 100 reviews online, all filterable by the socket, CPU type and more, and with a quick price comparison to hand you will soon find the best CPU offerings.
Intel core i5 750, That is the best CPUs, but Intel Core I5 750 does not have Hyper-Threading, reduce performance slightly
Category Article Core i5, CPU, Intel Core I7, Motherboard
