Best budget CPU

[Mac2580]

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.

 

[Vya Domus]

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

 

[Mac2580]

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?

 

[newtekie1]

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.

 

[Mussels]

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.

 

[Komshija]

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.

 

[cucker tarlson]

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.

 

[Komshija]

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.

 

[cucker tarlson]

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.

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

 

[kastriot]

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

 

[Assimilator]

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...)

 

[Mussels]

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

 

[NdMk2o1o]

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

 

[cucker tarlson]

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.

 

[dirtyferret]

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

 

[Mac2580]

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...)

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.

 

[notb]

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...

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?

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.

 

[R0H1T]

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

 

[Vya Domus]

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

 

[notb]

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).

 

[cucker tarlson]

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.

 

[R0H1T]

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.

why ?

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

 

[Vario]

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.

 

[notb]

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.

 

[newtekie1]

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.