# Best budget CPU



## Mac2580 (Feb 17, 2019)

So my motherboard in my AMD build died yesterday so I need to replace it.

Im not gonna buy used and dont want to spend alot. Im looking at a Pentium or Ryzen 3 currently but suggestions are welcome. It will be paired with a 1050 ti, and 16gb ram.

I need it to hold 60fps at GTA V and Forza Horizon 4, as its predecessor did.


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## Vya Domus (Feb 17, 2019)

Ryzen 3 definitely, they are quad cores vs hyper-threaded dual cores with the Pentiums.


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## Mac2580 (Feb 17, 2019)

Yeah i see your point R3 2200G looks like the one to get. I see here in SA prices have dipped sharply for the R5 1600x to the point where its the same price as an i3 8100 and cheaper than 2400G. Did it possibly have any flaws besides being old?


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## newtekie1 (Feb 17, 2019)

Mac2580 said:


> Yeah i see your point R3 2200G looks like the one to get. I see here in SA prices have dipped sharply for the R5 1600x to the point where its the same price as an i3 8100 and cheaper than 2400G. Did it possibly have any flaws besides being old?



If it the choice is between the 2400G and 1600X, I'd go with the 1600X every time(unless you need the iGPU of the 2400G).  CPU wise, the 2400G/2200G and 1600X are the same "age", the 2200/2400G use the first generation Ryzen CPU cores, same as the 1600X.

I mean, if you're looking around the 2200G/2400G range, there are a few other processors you might consider that should be close in price as well.  The Ryzen 3 1200\1300X as well as the Ryzen 5 1400\1500X are good quad-core chips that should be pretty darn cheap.


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## Mussels (Feb 17, 2019)

Ryzen 2200G is a good budget match, i got a ryzen 1400 dirt cheap and cant be happier - even on a crappy board with a terrible chip, you'll get 3.7Ghz all core easily. In my case, i settled for a cold running 3.8Ghz

1600x still a really good chip, wouldnt even need to OC it.


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## Komshija (Feb 17, 2019)

Yep, Ryzen 3. Depends which one is cheaper - Ryzen 3 1200 or Ryzen 3 2200G. Boxed versions come with coolers which will be fine for these CPU's.


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## cucker tarlson (Feb 17, 2019)

i3 8100 will smoke that ryzen 3,but costs a little more at the same time.

https://www.purepc.pl/procesory/test_intel_core_i3_8100_core_i5_7500_w_cenie_core_i3_7100?page=0,31

if it's ryzen 3 vs pentium,take that ryzen 3. I think neither ryzen 3 nor 8100 are guaranteed to maintain 60,that's why  like the idea of 1600x that someone mentioned here before more.


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## Komshija (Feb 17, 2019)

cucker tarlson said:


> i3 8100 will smoke that ryzen 3,but costs a little more at the same time.
> 
> https://www.purepc.pl/procesory/test_intel_core_i3_8100_core_i5_7500_w_cenie_core_i3_7100?page=0,31
> 
> if it's ryzen 3 vs pentium,take that ryzen 3.



Intel i3 8100 "will smoke" Ryzen 3 2200G?   In reality the difference between these two is negligible or almost none. Intel i3 8100 is just barely faster than the older Ryzen 3 1200. Having in mind that i3 8100 over here costs as much as Ryzen 3 1300X (and Ryzen 3 1300X is slightly faster than i3 8100 plus it can be OC'ed), it would be really foolish to buy Intel.


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## cucker tarlson (Feb 17, 2019)

Komshija said:


> Intel i3 8100 "will smoke" Ryzen 3 2200G?   In reality the difference between these two is negligible or almost none. Intel i3 8100 is just barely faster than the older Ryzen 3 1200. Having in mind that i3 8100 over here costs as much as Ryzen 3 1300X (and Ryzen 3 1300X is slightly faster than i3 8100 plus it can be OC'ed), it would be really foolish to buy Intel.


1.r3 1200 is a faster cpu than 2200g,2200g is 1st gen too and has half the l3 cache of 1200
2.look at the results,how is 1300x faster than 8100. 8400 is as fast as 2700x in gaming,why would 1300x be faster than 8100.
3.the OP does not live in Croatia if you missed that.



Mac2580 said:


> Yeah i see your point R3 2200G looks like the one to get. I see here in SA prices have dipped sharply for the R5 1600x to the point where its the same price as an i3 8100 and cheaper than 2400G. Did it possibly have any flaws besides being old?


no it does not have any flaws and its a banging value cpu,probably the one you want.it's not old either.
2200g is seriously nerfed by having only 4mb of l3 cache vs r3 1200's 8mb


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## kastriot (Feb 17, 2019)

Erm this is not thread named "mine is bigger than yours" but best cpu for buck so 1600x it's clear winner.


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## Assimilator (Feb 17, 2019)

Mac2580 said:


> Yeah i see your point R3 2200G looks like the one to get. I see here in SA prices have dipped sharply for the R5 1600x to the point where its the same price as an i3 8100 and cheaper than 2400G. Did it possibly have any flaws besides being old?



Dude, R 2,500 for a new 1600X (I assume you're looking at EveTech's price?) is a f**king STEAL. Stop thinking about it and just BUY IT ALREADY before they run out of stock and you regret it. You *will not* find anything _remotely_ near the same amount of horsepower at that price unless you're buying second-hand.

The only consideration would be that 1600X lack integrated graphics, but since you've already stated you're gonna be pairing it with a 1050Ti, that's not an issue.

However, what will be an issue is that the DDR3 from your old FX-8300 build won't work in a Ryzen motherboard, and unfortunately RAM prices remain hella expensive, so you're looking at around R 2,000 for 16GB DDR4 (here's a good deal). Not sure how that affects your CPU pricing calculation...

(BTW, nice to see a fellow Saffer on ye olde interwebs. At least we don't have any loadshedding this weekend...)


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## Mussels (Feb 17, 2019)

cucker tarlson said:


> i3 8100 will smoke that ryzen 3,but costs a little more at the same time.
> 
> https://www.purepc.pl/procesory/test_intel_core_i3_8100_core_i5_7500_w_cenie_core_i3_7100?page=0,31
> 
> if it's ryzen 3 vs pentium,take that ryzen 3. I think neither ryzen 3 nor 8100 are guaranteed to maintain 60,that's why  like the idea of 1600x that someone mentioned here before more.



Less biased benchmark calls them basically equal. hardly 'smoked' and ones unlocked for OCing...
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-8100-vs-AMD-Ryzen-3-2200G/3942vsm441832


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## NdMk2o1o (Feb 17, 2019)

I thought it was your motherboard that died not the cpu, what cpu did you have? Though agreed on the 1600x shouts much better than both the I 8100 and 2200g/2400g


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## cucker tarlson (Feb 17, 2019)

Mussels said:


> Less biased benchmark calls them basically equal. hardly 'smoked' and ones unlocked for OCing...
> https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-8100-vs-AMD-Ryzen-3-2200G/3942vsm441832


less biased,that's a good one.
explain how this is baised.


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## dirtyferret (Feb 17, 2019)

I would avoid the 2200/2400g if using a dedicated video card and go straight for the 1600/1600x


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## Mac2580 (Feb 17, 2019)

Assimilator said:


> Dude, R 2,500 for a new 1600X (I assume you're looking at EveTech's price?) is a f**king STEAL. Stop thinking about it and just BUY IT ALREADY before they run out of stock and you regret it. You *will not* find anything _remotely_ near the same amount of horsepower at that price unless you're buying second-hand.
> 
> The only consideration would be that 1600X lack integrated graphics, but since you've already stated you're gonna be pairing it with a 1050Ti, that's not an issue.
> 
> ...



Yeah my mind is pretty much made on the 1600x, with a asus prime x470 pro, 8gb ram till next month.

Thats if stock lasts till the 20th.

Thanks everyone.

@Assimilator, I appreciate the local perspective, in theory its quite a far stretch from the R3, but pricing is what it is.


Load shedding likely killed my old board,, it actually goes to show how cheaply made it was, PSU, GPU, and ram all found to still be working.


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## notb (Feb 17, 2019)

Mussels said:


> Less biased benchmark calls them basically equal. hardly 'smoked' and ones unlocked for OCing...
> https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-8100-vs-AMD-Ryzen-3-2200G/3942vsm441832


I would be nice to hear from the OP whether he's actually planning to do any OC, before you start to recommend CPUs based on them being unlocked or not...


Assimilator said:


> However, what will be an issue is that the DDR3 from your old FX-8300 build won't work in a Ryzen motherboard, and unfortunately RAM prices remain hella expensive, so you're looking at around R 2,000 for 16GB DDR4 (here's a good deal). Not sure how that affects your CPU pricing calculation...


Well, he had 8GB with that FX, so he surely considers buying RAM.
As for the G.Skill you've suggested - it's a nice sale at the moment, but they're not exactly a "budget buy" at their normal price point.

Also, I just checked some random motherboards from 3 brands and this RAM wasn't on any QVL. Please don't recommend RAM that isn't confirmed to work with Ryzen.
Haven't we seen enough Zen-RAM-issue threads already?



Mac2580 said:


> Yeah my mind is pretty much made on the 1600x, with a asus prime x470 pro, 8gb ram till next month.


IMO the CPU is meh, but the deal you've found at least makes it cheap.
If you miss the deal for whatever reason (like they tell you it was a mistake on the website ;-)) but you'll swallow the normal 1600X's price, then go for 2600. At that point you could also look at i5-8400.

The motherboard is clearly fine, but doesn't really scream "budget". You need its features?
Keep in mind you're buying into Zen (even worse: the first gen). Choose your RAM carefully. The G.Skill from @Assimilator 's link is not on that mobo's QVL.


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## R0H1T (Feb 17, 2019)

1600x is meh, do you have a better alternative anywhere near that price bracket? Not counting the 1600 obviously


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## Vya Domus (Feb 17, 2019)

1600X is fine, you people forget just how little of a difference there is between these processors for gaming.


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## notb (Feb 17, 2019)

R0H1T said:


> 1600x is meh, do you have a better alternative anywhere near that price bracket? Not counting the 1600 obviously


In the price bracket he found it for - no. AMD CPUs are cheaper in general and there's a huge discount on top of it.
In the price bracket 1600X is usually sold for it is bad value. On Amazon US it's $158 at the moment. For $12 more you can have a 1700 (8 cores, cooler). And as the known Ryzen fan @Vya Domus notices above, there's not a lot difference in gaming between these CPUs. Thanks man! ;-)

I also don't like the 95W TDP (confirmed in reviews). This takes away the possibility of getting a cheap and silent cooler. You'll end up with something either loud or expensive - effectively killing the price advantage over Ryzen 1700 or even some Intel options.

@Mac2580 your specs say you have a CM Hyper 212 LED. Do you intend to use it on AM4? There were 2 versions of this cooler and only the newer one is AM4-compatible. There's an instruction on CM site on how to check this.
Even if you have the more recent version, you'll still need an upgrade kit. CM sells it for 0, but shipping to RSA may be expensive. You may also find it in local stores (in Europe it's ~€5).


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## cucker tarlson (Feb 17, 2019)

R0H1T said:


> 1600x is meh, do you have a better alternative anywhere near that price bracket? Not counting the 1600 obviously


why ? it's not the best choice for sure,but for the money (he mentioned it's priced around 2200g) you get a 6c/12t cpu on a platform that will support 7nm ones too.Remember the goal here is 60 fps,and in this price bracket there's nothing that would guarantee that except for  the 1600x.
what should be noted here is that a 6c/12t cpu will stay very cool for gaming given how core load will be shared among 12 threads.


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## R0H1T (Feb 17, 2019)

notb said:


> In the price bracket 1600X is usually sold for it is bad value.


There's only one CPU in that range which is a better value - 1600 non X, the 1600x itself isn't bad per se if you're looking for higher clocks out of the box.


cucker tarlson said:


> why ?


I'm actually agreeing with the choice, though there's that Zen2 peeping through the wormhole.


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## Vario (Feb 17, 2019)

I got an i5 8400 6 months ago retail open box for $130, pretty good budget CPU if you ever find one at that price.

Otherwise get a 1600/X.


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## notb (Feb 17, 2019)

R0H1T said:


> There's only one CPU in that range which is a better value - 1600 non X, the 1600x itself isn't bad per se if you're looking for higher clocks out of the box.


As I said earlier: you can only say 1600X is good value if you already have a cooler that fits and you can find cheap RAM that works.

But being forced to buy a cooler (95W) makes it a much worse option than 1600/2600 and fairly close to the Intel pricing.
With Intel, you can keep the bundled cooler (which is awful but works) or buy something cheap and decent (i5-8400 is pulling around 50W under load).

It's even more interesting in OP's case. He has a ~$30 cooler that he could use in an LGA1151 build, but may not be able to use for AM4.

With "budget" or "value" choices it's always important to check the big picture.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 17, 2019)

This is a decent chart to give you an idea on the performance of all the processors we are talking about in this thread. Note that the i3-8100 will perform in the area between the i5-7400 and i5-7500, so it competes directly with the 1600x, 1700x, and 1800x.


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## Vario (Feb 17, 2019)

newtekie1 said:


> Note that the i3-8100 will perform in the area between the i5-7400 and i5-7500, so it competes directly with the 1600x, 1700x, and 1800x.



yep i3 8100 is virtually identical to the i5 7500, both are quads with 14nm lake μ-arch, 6mb cache. The only difference is the 7500 has a turbo of 3.8 and a base speed of 3.4 while the 8100 is 3.6 base with no turbo frequency, just 3.6 flat.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 17, 2019)

Vario said:


> yep i3 8100 is virtually identical to the i5 7500, both are quads with 14nm lake μ-arch, 6mb cache. The only difference is the 7500 has a turbo of 3.8 and a base speed of 3.4 while the 8100 is 3.6 base with no turbo frequency, just 3.6 flat.



Also, I should note that those tests were done with a GTX1080.  The OP has a 1050Ti, so the fact is pretty much any of the CPUs we are talking about in this thread will not be the limiting factor in games, the 1050Ti will be the limiting factor.


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## Mac2580 (Feb 18, 2019)

Its coming with a cooler and 8gb ram. Next month ill get another 8gb. Mods are welcome to delete pics if not allowed but nothing explains the situation better. No i5 8400 in stock, no r5 1400/1500. Both my cpus will be heavily bottlenecked for the next few years. Even as a die hard pc master race fanboy i need to see how next gen consoles perform before i fork out money for graphics at which point the 1060 will be passed onto the Ryzen. This "LAN" build will and has been used for the latest FIFA, as i play with a keyboard and both xbox and ps4 controllers work. Forza Horizon 4 is cross platform and I LAN with my friends with Xbox's and 1 other PC player. GTA V is simply my favourite game. Other than that, when we get together its ONLY gonna be Dota 2, Company of Heroes 1, Call of Duty modern warfare 1, Red alert 1,2,3, and LOTRBFME 1 and 2. From the above my decision should make more sense. The board i've chosen is because i do like to OC for fun/to compare scores. I really don;t mind spending the extra money for that alone. I'm sure this was quite confusing as to why i didn't consider R5 1600 non x with free cooler and same performance (from reviews ive seen today) once OCD. Hopefully the pictures and use case make it clearer.

I really do appreciate all the help though, @notb thaks for letting me know regarding 212, I was actually planning on using it, but will run the cooler it comes with till  CPU is bottleneck.



NdMk2o1o said:


> I thought it was your motherboard that died not the cpu, what cpu did you have? Though agreed on the 1600x shouts much better than both the I 8100 and 2200g/2400g



Yeah well the truth is I haven't tested CPU yet, but RAM, and GPU are working. Also used a little wire to test PSU and its working fine. I'm not really wiling to spend anything on this platform, i've spent money on old platforms (LGA 775) before and regretted it after.


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## Mac2580 (Feb 19, 2019)

Thanks once again, system built last night. Screenshot attached of Forza Horizon 4 High preset just in case anyone wants to join me in the sport of bottlenecking a CPU. Dont see many becnhmarks for this title.


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