Ah, the monthly CPU Reviews are back. 
The beginning of the year has been really busy and I apologize I’ve been lax on updating my hardware reviews. I also started a site redesign and didn’t get very far until now. I promise the information will be more forthcoming from now on.
Some exciting things have happened at the beginning of the year. First, Intel launched their Sandy Bridge architecture. Intel has been sitting at the top of the performance mountain for the last several years with AMD trying to dig the middle out from under them. This is not a strategy that I think AMD wants to continue long term, however judging by the change in Intel’s launch tactics it appears that it’s had some effect.
The first thing to note is that rather than starting with the release of their flagship, uber expensive, ultimate performance chip that most of us can’t afford, Intel has released its mainstream lineup first. At first I was really excited about this new strategy. Groundbreaking performance is available at a reasonable price ahead of when I expected it. After further reflection though I’m disappointed. Now I feel the need to build myself a new computer, but it’s a good year ahead of my normal schedule. What’s a tech junkie to do? I agree. It would be a disservice to my readers to not show them a new build with a Sandy Bridge CPU. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime let me give you my CPU recommendations if you are building a new gaming computer this month.
First Choice – Core i5 2500K
Don’t act surprised. I just told you how excited I was about the Sandy Bridge release. I assure you that my excitement has in no way skewed my recommendation. Intel has once again delivered on their new release.
The Core i5 2500K rides on the 1155 socket. Now don’t get confused with the old socket 1156 that the Lynnfield processors used. I’m not sure why they reduced the number for the new socket set? Wouldn’t have made more sense to call it 1157? Anyhow, you get a little of the old but a lot of new with it.
First, I’m going to start with the only negative. the 1155 socket shares the limitation 16 PCIe lanes of its predecessor. Before you throw your hands up in despair this really isn’t a big deal for most of us. Without being overly technical all this means is that if we want to use multiple video cards the “bandwidth” will be divided between each video card. So, if you use one video card it runs at x16. For two video cards each would get x8. Performance really won’t take a noticeable hit unless you use three or more. IMHO most of us really don’t need more than two video cards. My computer kicks serious gaming ass and I’m rocking one video card. Spend your money wisely. Would you rather have 3 poodles in a dog fight or one pit bull?
That’s it for the negatives. There are more, but the details are so technologically in depth that I’ll leave it to my friends at Tom’s Hardware to regale at length about them in their 22 page review. It’s really great information, but if you aren’t an electrical engineer much of the information may go over your head (it does mine).
Intel is claiming a 30% performance boost with Sandy Bridge over Clarkfield. That’s very significant. I know better than to take the manufacturer’s word for it. There was probably a test that it was 30% better. Judging by the initial benchmarks it looks very promising though. Stealing from the benchmark results at Tom’s Hardware (don’t judge me, their budget is much larger than mine) when comparing the overall results of PC Mark the Core i5 2500k (Sandy Bridge) was 20,208. The Core i5 655K (Clarkdale) was 15,981. That’s a 20% difference. The gaming score came in about 14% better. Before you flame at me in the comments I’m well aware of the limitations of these tests. But we need something to establish a baseline don’t we?
The Core i5 2500K also comes with an unlocked multiplier. What that means is it’s open for overclocking. When it comes to gaming, out of the box the Core i5 2500K is a monster. Overclock it and you will hit performance levels of the much more expensive Core i7 products. Again, the only reason to go beyond this chip is if you have more money than you know what to do with and you want to brag about your benchmark scores. In actual game performance I’m willing to wager that the performance difference will be negligible.
So, there you have it. My top recommendation if you are building a gaming computer is the Core i5 2500K. You can pick one up for just a little over $200. It will power midrange gaming computers all the way up to high powered ultimate gaming computers.
Click Here For A Great Price on the Intel Core i5 2500K
Second Choice – AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black
I’m only giving two choices this month. The top choice is a very reasonable $229. The AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE is only $140. It will handle performance for a budget build up to a mid range build. You can build a very reasonable $800 Gaming Computer based around this processor. If you want to spend less for a gaming computer I recommend you save some money for a few months and get up to the $800 range. The $300 difference between a $500 and an $800 build will be noticeable.
The Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition has been around for awhile. I don’t have much new to say about it. It is not the highest performing processor from AMD, however I believe it gives the best bang for your buck. The black edition processors from AMD are traditionally overclocking, well to be cliche “phenoms”. For $140 you can get a quad core processor that you can overclock to speeds that will rival many of the Intel chips at stock speed for a fraction of the price.
I’m a long time AMD fan. I really wish they would put out some chips that will hold Intel in check or at least get back in the game near the top. Hopefully they will with the release of their Bulldozer platform. At least AMD has much better names for their architecture. Bulldozer sounds much more intimidating than Sandy Bridge. We won’t get to see if the Bulldozer can take out the Sandy Bridge until sometime around summer 2011 though. I can’t wait.
Back to the Phenom II X4 955 BE. 4 cores, overclocks like mad, and it’s cheap. Not to mention if you are a fan of Radeon Video Cards, AMD platforms work very well with them (AMD bought ATI a while ago, where have you been). There also isn’t the limitation of the PCIe pipelines so Crossfire your hart out if your goal is to have more video cards than everyone else.
There you have it. The March recommendations. Only two to choose from but in my opinion as I am writing this these are the best choices for price/performance.
Great review. I’ve always gone AMD, question: is their a noticeable difference between the i5 and an AMD quad core?
Tests show that the i5 is going to give you superior performance. The Sandybridge i5 will definitely give you superior performance. But, will you build an AMD Phenom II Quad Core machine and think to yourself, “Man I should have went with the i5″, I doubt it, unless your video card, power supply, and other components are inferior.