intel mb + CPU for $250

[lifeblood]

I have a AM3+ MB (see sig) and plan on upgrading to Vishera if it's competitive. I am budgeting $250 for it. If it sucks I will toss AMD and buy an Intel CPU and MB. My question is, what do you consider a Intel good CPU + MB for $250? Since my wife has her own laptop the primary purpose of my rig is games. I play all sorts of FPS's, RPG's, MMOG, etc, both old and new.

It will be interesting to see if an Intel MB + CPU at $250 can beat an AMD CPU at $250. If so, then AMD & PD has truly failed.

 

[Durvelle27]

Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116775

and

ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157303

 

[Arkaign]

If you can find a Micro Center in your area, or check the FS/FT section here, you can find a 2500K and basic mobo for $250ish.

 

[Ken g6]

Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116775

and

ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157303

I can do better than that.

ASRock B75M, $55 (with $7 shipping)
i5-3450, $195

If you want to count the shipping:

i5-3330, $180AP

Arkaign has a point too, but they discount AMD CPUs as well.

Edit: Is your Windows an OEM version, linked to your mobo? If so, you can't afford the $130 price of a new copy of Windows in your $250 budget.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

If you can find a Micro Center in your area, or check the FS/FT section here, you can find a 2500K and basic mobo for $250ish.

Might not want to do that if you're going to OC the 2500K. The Asrock Z77 Pro4's VRMs cannot keep up with a 2500K @ 4.6GHz, 1.33V (throttles the multiplier back down to 33x under load). I assume the same would occur for the Pro3. I did not notice the same when playing with a 3570K in the same board.

In the end, I said f*ck it and went for a Biostar TZ77XE4 - looks better and has beefier VRMs + cooling.

 

[Ken g6]

The Asrock Z77 Pro4's VRMs cannot keep up with a 2500K @ 4.6GHz, 1.33V (throttles the multiplier back down to 33x under load).

That's the first I've heard of any Z77 that couldn't keep up with overclocking any chip that fits in it. Are you sure there wasn't a maximum TDP setting you missed changing?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

That's the first I've heard of any Z77 that couldn't keep up with overclocking any chip that fits in it. Are you sure there wasn't a maximum TDP setting you missed changing?

Yup, increased every conceivable limit to 500W in the 1.4 BIOS and disabled any and all turbo, speedstep, C-states and thermal protections.

CPU wasn't getting that hot (~69C under IBT load) and the multiplier would be throttled back to 33x periodically to allow the VRM to cool down. It doesn't start right away - in my case, IBT seemed to run just fine for a few minutes at 46x.

Took me awhile to figure out WTF was going on. As soon as I put a squirrel cage blower on the VRM HSF, the throttling stopped. Apparently, this is a common protection mechanism in lower-end ASUS/Asrock boards, so they can unabashedly advertise support for higher wattage CPUs on boards with a lower number of phases.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

EDIT : dp

 

[exar333]

If by a MC, 3570k + any z77 board that's ~$75 after $50 off combo. Bam!

 

[lifeblood]

If you can find a Micro Center in your area, or check the FS/FT section here, you can find a 2500K and basic mobo for $250ish.

I wish we had a Micro Center here but the closest one is 4 hours away in DC. I like the Egg but more competition is always good. The small PC shops here are pretty expensive and Best Buy is worse.

A 2500k and MB is an interesting possibility, i just didn't consider it a realistic possibility. In non-GPU limited games the 2500k smacks BD down. Looking at even the most optimistic performance increase I'm not sure PD will beat it either. We shall have to see. The trick will be finding it and a decent MB for $250.

 

[lifeblood]

So if I tell my wife that if she lets me go to MC in DC I'll let her go to Ikea while we're up there, does the cost of all the stuff she buys at Ikea count against my $250? Hmm, I better count them separately. She's likely to spend more then $250 at Ikea.

 

[Yuriman]

It'll probably cost you close to $100 round trip in gas, depending on what you drive. Fun, but not economical.

 

[AtenRa]

If you will keep the HD7850 you will be GPU limited at 1080p most of the time.

 

[mablo]

Edit: Is your Windows an OEM version, linked to your mobo? If so, you can't afford the $130 price of a new copy of Windows in your $250 budget.

Actually it should work fine, but you'll have to register by phone. I recently used the registration key from a Acer desktop in a new built and it worked fine. I used the CPU from the Acer though, but I don't think that matters.

OP: Unless you plan to OC these B75 mobos are great value. Just make sure to check the specs, some of them have just 2 RAM slots.

 

[Yuriman]

If you will keep the HD7850 you will be GPU limited at 1080p most of the time.

So drop shadows a notch, or turn the AA down a little. Yeah, you sacrifice a little visual quality, but you can still hit the FPS target you want. The 7850 is a fantastic value.

 

[AtenRa]

So drop shadows a notch, or turn the AA down a little. Yeah, you sacrifice a little visual quality, but you can still hit the FPS target you want. The 7850 is a fantastic value.

And you will still be GPU limited.

I haven't said that HD7850 is not a good value, but at 1080p no matter the CPU he will be GPU limited in most of the latest DX-11 games.

 

[lifeblood]

Is your Windows an OEM version, linked to your mobo? If so, you can't afford the $130 price of a new copy of Windows in your $250 budget.

Its a retail version so no problems there. Well, technically I guess its a student version because I bought it for $40 using a student discount, but that shouldn't matter.

 

[lifeblood]

And you will still be GPU limited.

I haven't said that HD7850 is not a good value, but at 1080p no matter the CPU he will be GPU limited in most of the latest DX-11 games.

Something is always going to bottleneck me. The 7850 has been rocking in all the games I'm playing currently. How it fares in 6 months is yet to be seen, but for today it rocks.

Hopefully any new game will be DX-11, I'm tired of DX-9 console ports. For some reason I don't mind replacing the video card, but replacing the CPU is a pain to me.

 

[FalseChristian]

If you don't game than the i3 will be OKAY for web-surfing and playing Solitaire.

I was gonna go that route also but I decided on the low cost i5 2500K and now I'm humming at 4.5GHZ at 1.275.

With my same 2 eVGA GeForce GTX 460 1GB my benchmarks and my gaming nearly doubled.

It brough new life 2 my GPUs and saved me a nice bit of cash as I can wait for the GTX 760 before upgrading whereas my CPU will last a hell of a long time.

 

[Mallibu]

And you will still be GPU limited.

I haven't said that HD7850 is not a good value, but at 1080p no matter the CPU he will be GPU limited in most of the latest DX-11 games.

Why do you keep mentioning "DX-11" ? 90% of todays game don't use it, and when they do it hardly makes a difference (see Batman AC, CiV).
Except BF3 & Skyrim I can't remember a game this year where DX-11 made a noticable difference and I doubt that the situation is going to change until next gen of consoles launch.

 

[AtenRa]

Why do you keep mentioning "DX-11" ? 90% of todays game don't use it, and when they do it hardly makes a difference (see Batman AC, CiV).
Except BF3 & Skyrim I can't remember a game this year where DX-11 made a noticable difference and I doubt that the situation is going to change until next gen of consoles launch.

I always mention DX-11 games because you dont need a high end GPU to get 60 fps or more at 1080p in the majority or DX-9 games anymore.

I though Skyrim was DX-9, did they released a DX-11 patch??

 

[daveybrat]

Why don't you just grab an AMD 965BE 3.4GHz processor for now?

http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Phenom-3-4...ywords=amd+965

For $105 it'll make an easy quick upgrade over your current processor. You get the added 6MB L2 cache and extra MHz plus it's very easy to overclock with a better heatsink.

Give you a nice boost for now then you can sell your mobo with this new processor later next year and get a nice new Intel Haswell processor and mobo.

That's what i'm doing, sticking with my AMD 960T at 3.4GHz until next year, then it's upgrade time.

 

[domerocket]

Cant go wrong with i3/i5 and an ASRock mobo