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i am creating a budget pc and wanted to know the best 120$ intel cpu for gaming.
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Best sub-120$ intel cpu
- Thread starter Zach Charlie
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2014
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- 27 (0.01/day)
- Location
- TPU Servers
| System Name | Project Aurorus |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel i7 4790k |
| Motherboard | MSI Gaming 7 |
| Cooling | Hyper 212 EVO |
| Memory | 8GB GSkill Ripjaw X |
| Video Card(s) | Asus Strix 970 |
| Storage | Kingston SSDNow V300 120 GB, WD Blue 1 TB |
| Display(s) | 3x VS 239H-P 23" |
| Case | Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl Window |
| Power Supply | Seasonic SS-760XP 760W Platinum |
| Software | Windoge 7 |
If you are willing to wait for a deal, you can get an i3 4150 for sub 120.
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2006
- Messages
- 12,146 (1.87/day)
- Location
- Nebraska, USA
| System Name | Brightworks Systems BWS-6 E-IV |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-6600 @ 3.9GHz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 Rev 1.0 |
| Cooling | Quality case, 2 x Fractal Design 140mm fans, stock CPU HSF |
| Memory | 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3000 Corsair Vengeance |
| Video Card(s) | EVGA GEForce GTX 1050Ti 4Gb GDDR5 |
| Storage | Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD, Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD |
| Display(s) | Samsung S24E650BW LED x 2 |
| Case | Fractal Design Define R4 |
| Power Supply | EVGA Supernova 550W G2 Gold |
| Mouse | Logitech M190 |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Wireless Comfort 5050 |
| Software | W10 Pro 64-bit |
Check out Tom's Hardware, Best Gaming CPUs for the Money, May 2015.
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
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- 9,781 (2.32/day)
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- Massachusetts
| System Name | Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness |
|---|---|
| Processor | i7-11700K |
| Motherboard | Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-U12A |
| Memory | 32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000 |
| Video Card(s) | RTX 3090 Reference |
| Storage | Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb |
| Display(s) | Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2 |
| Case | Fractal Design Meshify-C |
| Audio Device(s) | on board |
| Power Supply | Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt |
| Mouse | Logitech G502 spectrum |
| Keyboard | AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue) |
| Software | Win 10 Professional 64 bit |
| Benchmark Scores | the MLGeesiest |
OneMoar
There is Always Moar
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- Apr 9, 2010
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| System Name | RPC MK2.5 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 5800x |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2 |
| Cooling | Enermax ETX-T50RGB |
| Memory | CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die |
| Video Card(s) | GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC |
| Storage | ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner |
| Display(s) | LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz |
| Case | Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion |
| Audio Device(s) | onboard |
| Power Supply | SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W |
| Mouse | Kone burst Pro |
| Keyboard | EVGA Z15 |
| Software | Windows 11 +startisallback |
pentium K G3258
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
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- Nov 22, 2005
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- 28,472 (4.23/day)
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- Indiana, USA
| Processor | Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | AsRock Z470 Taichi |
| Cooling | Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans |
| Memory | 32GB DDR4-3600 |
| Video Card(s) | RTX 2070 Super |
| Storage | 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache |
| Display(s) | Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28" |
| Case | Fractal Design Define S |
| Audio Device(s) | Onboard is good enough for me |
| Power Supply | eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3 |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
I was just going to suggest exactly this.
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2015
- Messages
- 126 (0.04/day)
| System Name | Main PC |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4690K |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboards GA-Z97-HD3P |
| Cooling | Stock |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 DRAM 2400MHz |
| Video Card(s) | EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Super SC |
| Storage | 2x Samsung 850 EVO's in RAID 0 |
| Software | Windows 10 |
The Intel Xeon X5660 @ 2.80GHz blows the i3 4160 away by a big margin and is only $95.
OneMoar
There is Always Moar
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- 8,746 (1.70/day)
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- Rochester area
| System Name | RPC MK2.5 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 5800x |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2 |
| Cooling | Enermax ETX-T50RGB |
| Memory | CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die |
| Video Card(s) | GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC |
| Storage | ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner |
| Display(s) | LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz |
| Case | Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion |
| Audio Device(s) | onboard |
| Power Supply | SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W |
| Mouse | Kone burst Pro |
| Keyboard | EVGA Z15 |
| Software | Windows 11 +startisallback |
uhh no ... 1. thats a LGA1336 cpu
2. its a 1100.00 new or >200 used (buying from amazon is a terrible terrible idea)
- Joined
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- Messages
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| System Name | Main PC |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4690K |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboards GA-Z97-HD3P |
| Cooling | Stock |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 DRAM 2400MHz |
| Video Card(s) | EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Super SC |
| Storage | 2x Samsung 850 EVO's in RAID 0 |
| Software | Windows 10 |
So Tom's is wrong?
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
- Messages
- 9,781 (2.32/day)
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- Massachusetts
| System Name | Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness |
|---|---|
| Processor | i7-11700K |
| Motherboard | Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-U12A |
| Memory | 32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000 |
| Video Card(s) | RTX 3090 Reference |
| Storage | Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb |
| Display(s) | Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2 |
| Case | Fractal Design Meshify-C |
| Audio Device(s) | on board |
| Power Supply | Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt |
| Mouse | Logitech G502 spectrum |
| Keyboard | AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue) |
| Software | Win 10 Professional 64 bit |
| Benchmark Scores | the MLGeesiest |
wrong?? he's an idiot. and the suggestion I made was perfectly fine, its a good CPU, and I dont care to argue it, I was simply trying to help out the OP, I didnt scan the internet for deals, and performance charts, I just made an INFORMED decision from PERSONAL experience, anything else is nothing He cant do himself. 
newtekie1
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| Processor | Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | AsRock Z470 Taichi |
| Cooling | Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans |
| Memory | 32GB DDR4-3600 |
| Video Card(s) | RTX 2070 Super |
| Storage | 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache |
| Display(s) | Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28" |
| Case | Fractal Design Define S |
| Audio Device(s) | Onboard is good enough for me |
| Power Supply | eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3 |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
It still doesn't make it a good suggestion. The motherboards are getting harder and harder to come by, decent ones start at $140+, and the good ones can easily surpass $200. Then you'd need a cooler, so another $30. And in the end you are stuck with an outdated platform that doesn't have PCI-E 3.0, and very likely doesn't even have USB3.0. And in the end doesn't perform any better in games than the i3-4160, in fact can actually perform worse in a lot of games that are still single threaded(aka: almost all games).
And if you want to go by what Tom's says, according to him the i3-4170 is the best CPU for $125...wonder why they didn't pick the X5660...
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
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| System Name | Black MC in Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 5 5600 |
| Motherboard | Asrock B450M-HDV |
| Cooling | Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2 |
| Memory | 2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz |
| Video Card(s) | XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319 |
| Storage | Kingston A400 240GB | WD Black SN750 2TB |WD Blue 1TB x 2 | Toshiba P300 2TB | Seagate Expansion 8TB |
| Display(s) | Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p |
| Case | Fractal Design Define R4 |
| Audio Device(s) | Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM850x v3 |
| Mouse | Logitech G602 |
| Keyboard | Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown |
| VR HMD | Acer Mixed Reality Headset |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro |
| Benchmark Scores | Rimworld 4K ready! |
- Joined
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- 1,533 (0.42/day)
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- Grunn
| System Name | Indis the Fair (cursed edition) |
|---|---|
| Processor | 11900k 5.1/4.9 undervolted. |
| Motherboard | MSI Z590 Unify-X |
| Cooling | Heatkiller VI Pro, VPP755 V.3, XSPC TX360 slim radiator, 3xA12x25, 4x Arctic P14 case fans |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x16GB 4000 16-19-19 (b-die@3600 14-14-14 1.45v) |
| Video Card(s) | EVGA 2080 Super Hybrid (T30-120 fan) |
| Storage | 970EVO 1TB, 660p 1TB, WD Blue 3D 1TB, Sandisk Ultra 3D 2TB |
| Display(s) | BenQ XL2546K, Dell P2417H |
| Case | FD Define 7 |
| Audio Device(s) | DT770 Pro, Topping A50, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Røde VXLR+, Modmic 5 |
| Power Supply | Seasonic 860w Platinum |
| Mouse | Razer Viper Mini, Odin Infinity mousepad |
| Keyboard | GMMK Fullsize v2 (Boba U4Ts) |
| Software | Win10 x64/Win7 x64/Ubuntu |
I'd say go with one of the i3's if you can find a deal. The advantage of doing that being that you can upgrade to an i5 or i7 later down the line. I have a friend running a 4150 and R9 270, and he's really happy with it. Runs pretty much everything very smoothly.