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Best cheap CPU for overclocking/gaming?

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$ilent

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Whats the best cheap cpu for gaming?

I.e we all know the difference between say a 2700k and 8700k for gaming is negligble, what would be the best cheap cpu that you could overclock that would no longer be the bottleneck in a system for regular 1440p gaming?
 
#2 ·
This really depends on our definitions of cheap. I'm thinking in terms of performance per dollar here and used parts. Also, what GPU are you pairing with it?

I wouldn't really call the difference between a 2700k and an 8700k negligible. Not massive but it could easily be the difference between 40FPS and a solid 60 in a lot of games. I'd personally be looking to go a little bit beyond Sandy by now due to prices coming down. I'm seeing 3770Ks for under $100 and Haswell - Devils Canyon 4790K for under $200. I'd pick from that range and overclock the pants off of the CPU. In terms of gaming, I don't think that's beatable. If I were buying this now on an ultra budget, I'd grab a 3770k and a decent enough board to get it to 4.2+ghz.

Only thing is I don't know what graphics card to suggest, that's going to be your bottleneck in mostly everything.
 
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#3 ·
Delidded i7-4790K is my pick.

It uses DDR3 so if you get fast DDR3 sticks it should perform similar to i7-6700K , without the DDR4 premium.

If you're willing to wait, I think Ryzen+ CPUs would be the best price/perf for DDR4 based platforms.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
I already have a 4790k and gtx 1070. Was just thinking perhaps theres some cpu out there that once overclocked would no longer be the bottleneck. So from looks of things I already have the best value cpu really.

Cheers
 
#5 ·
My 3570k wasn't bad, if I had a good cooler I could have gotten it to 4.4GHz and it would probably be a bottleneck in few to no games. Of course I upgraded to Ryzen because games will be using more and more cores as time goes on most likely.
 
#6 ·
$ilent said:
I already have a 4790k and gtx 1070. Was just thinking perhaps theres some cpu out there that once overclocked would no longer be the bottleneck. So from looks of things I already have the best value cpu really.

Cheers
Click to expand...
Is 4790k really bottlenecking a gtx 1070? That's a tough CPU to beat once up and running at 4.5ghz+. 8700k is about the only place I would go after an OCed 4790k for the extra cores to push it ahead. I agree though, there is no budget CPU around that will be an upgrade from a 4790k for gaming (yet).
 
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#8 ·
If I was getting budget rig now, what you have is what I would buy. Only upgrade for you is a 8700k and 1080 ti.
 
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john1016
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