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Best CPU Motherboard for $200

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Pretty much I have not kept up with what are the better bang for the buck CPUs . :shadedshu: So again I am here where the ones who have been paying attention might be willing to lend me a hand. :lovetpu: I want to pick up a Motherboard and CPU capable of playing BF4 and similar games but $200.00 is what I am looking at for the chip and motherboard.

AMD or Intel makes no difference. Same for the motherboard brand. I don't care what it looks like I want the performance and stability first and foremost. Overclocking is not really something I want to have to do either. So it doesn't have to be all decked out with the latest gizmos just stable.

Any relevant suggestions and questions are welcome, please let me have a link so I can see what exactly your talking about. And really I'm not spending $500 so don't suggest $300, $400, or $500 combos it would be a waste of your time and mine.

Thanks fellas

For the record this is for a gaming clan member who is on a fixed income that I am trying to help as his current system will no longer allow him to play with his clan mates. In case anyone was wondering.
 
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Pretty much I have not kept up with what are the better bang for the buck CPUs . :shadedshu: So again I am here where the ones who have been paying attention might be willing to lend me a hand. :lovetpu: I want to pick up a Motherboard and CPU capable of playing BF4 and similar games but $200.00 is what I am looking at for the chip and motherboard.

AMD or Intel makes no difference. Same for the motherboard brand. I don't care what it looks like I want the performance and stability first and foremost. Overclocking is not really something I want to have to do either. So it doesn't have to be all decked out with the latest gizmos just stable.

Any relevant suggestions and questions are welcome, please let me have a link so I can see what exactly your talking about. And really I'm not spending $500 so don't suggest $300, $400, or $500 combos it would be a waste of your time and mine.

Thanks fellas

For the record this is for a gaming clan member who is on a fixed income that I am trying to help as his current system will no longer allow him to play with his clan mates. In case anyone was wondering.
This exact combo is $200 and will probably be one of the better options to go with out of the available options

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117447

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512

I feel that will do nicely at his budget as its a pretty high clocked i3 and a decent board which will go well even in heavy games like BF4 at 1080p resolution. There are some AMD solutions as well but personally I think this might be a better solution over all.
 

newtekie1

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I guess I will throw some suggestions your way
AMD A10-7850K + MSI A88XM-E45 FM2+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2251460
AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz CPU + MSI 760GM-P23 (FX)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9083421&CatId=11508
AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz CPU + Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 (a little over budget)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9559038&Sku=M69-00223

Good luck in your search. Very nice of you to try to help him out.
 
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Pretty much I have not kept up with what are the better bang for the buck CPUs . :shadedshu: So again I am here where the ones who have been paying attention might be willing to lend me a hand. :lovetpu: I want to pick up a Motherboard and CPU capable of playing BF4 and similar games but $200.00 is what I am looking at for the chip and motherboard.

AMD or Intel makes no difference. Same for the motherboard brand. I don't care what it looks like I want the performance and stability first and foremost. Overclocking is not really something I want to have to do either. So it doesn't have to be all decked out with the latest gizmos just stable.

Any relevant suggestions and questions are welcome, please let me have a link so I can see what exactly your talking about. And really I'm not spending $500 so don't suggest $300, $400, or $500 combos it would be a waste of your time and mine.

Thanks fellas

For the record this is for a gaming clan member who is on a fixed income that I am trying to help as his current system will no longer allow him to play with his clan mates. In case anyone was wondering.
What is his current system and what is his budget for the whole system? GPU plays as important (actually more important) role than the cpu.
 
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What are you using for a Graphics card?

Hopefuly your not thinking of just a motherboard and CPU with APU graphics for BF4
 
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What are you using for a Graphics card?

Hopefuly your not thinking of just a motherboard and CPU with APU graphics for BF4
My thought exactly :)
 
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I am not taking credit for spending $200 on him although that would be nice. I am donating a spare new Corsair 600W power supply, and my recently replaced XFX 6950 video card to him. Another clan member has given him a new case and some memory I believe. :toast:

The gentleman who it is for, has asked me to help him pick the best CPU motherboard for his $200 budget. I knew you guys would be better at helping with this so I came here. And yes I may pitch in if it was over just a little but I didn't want way over $200 suggestions. ;)

His current system is:
CPU:Intel Core 2 Q6600 2.4Ghz
Mainboard:Gigabite G41M-ES2H
RAM:4 Gig DDR2
400W PSU

 
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Last edited:
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Nice than the i3 would be best that Ghostrider suggested


You could even go with a G3258
 
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I like the i5 option with the Biostar board best. I hope he will go for it I think it will give him a decent foundation. That board is dirt cheap, nice find. Sure helped getting room for a better cpu.

Thank you all very much. I have sent him the i5 with the Biostar as his best option and if he has to go cheaper to go to the i3 chip.
 
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I like the i5 option with the Biostar board best. I hope he will go for it I think it will give him a decent foundation. That board is dirt cheap, nice find. Sure helped getting room for a better cpu.

Thank you all very much. I have sent him the i5 with the Biostar as his best option and if he has to go cheaper to go to the i3 chip.
If your going to go for an i5, I would at least recommend this board instead because the component quality is a bit better and the board has a heat spreader over the VRM to help with temps which will be nice if gaming. I personally am not a big fan of Biostar but at least the Hi-Fi boards from them are not bad even on the low end.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...94&cm_re=Biostar_Hi-Fi-_-13-138-394-_-Product

You can mix that with either of these processors:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117446&cm_re=i3-_-19-117-446-_-Product

or if you go over a lower clocked i5.

I think though it might be better to get the higher clocked i3 over the low clocked i5 just because the budget and the fact that the i5's I see are a good bit lower on the clock speeds which games still fancy most power on the first and second cores over anything else. Albeit the performance in the end might be close and the i5 will probably pull ahead later on, but if your sticking tight to the budget this might keep it in line a bit more.
 
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