Best Gaming CPU for $210

Best Gaming CPU for $210:

Core i5-760

Core i5-760
Codename:	Lynnfield
Process:	45 nm
CPU Cores:	4
Clock Speed:	2.8 GHz
Socket:	LGA 1156
L2 Cache:	4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache:	8 MB
Thermal Envelope:	95 W

The Lynnfield-based Core i5 has been a price/performance favorite since its introduction, and the new Core i5-760 ups the ante with a single multiplier ratio increase over the Core i5-750.

The Core i5 provides solid out-of-the-box performance combined with fantastic overclocking potential, traits that won the Core i5-750 our Recommended Buy honor. With a 133 MHz stock speed bump over the older model, the Core i5-760 is just that much better.

Read our review of the Core i5-750

Past the Point of Reason:

With rapidly-increasing prices over $200 offering smaller and smaller performance boosts in games, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-760. This is especially the case since the Core i5-760 can be overclocked to great effect if more performance is desired, easily surpassing the stock clock rate of the $1,000 Core i7-980X Extreme Edition.

Perhaps the only performance-based justification we can think of for moving up from a Core i5-760 is that LGA 1156 processors have an inherent limit of 16 PCIe lanes for graphics use. This is an architectural detail that the LGA 1156-based Core i5 and Core i7 processors share, so if a gamer plans to use more than two graphics cards in CrossFire or SLI, the LGA 1366 Core i7-900-series processors are the way to go.

To summarize, while we recommend against purchasing any CPU that retails for more than $200 from a value point of view, there are those of you for whom money might not be much of an object and who require the best possible performance money can buy. If you're buying several hundred dollars worth of graphics and are worried about a potential platform bottleneck, we recommend the following CPUs:

Best Gaming CPU for $290:

Core i7-930

Core i7-930
Codename:	Bloomfield
Process:	45 nm
CPU Cores/Threads:	4/8
Clock Speed:	2.8 GHz
Socket:	LGA 1366
L2 Cache:	4 x 256 KB
L3 Cache:	8 MB
QuickPath Interconnect (QPI):	4.8 GT/s
Thermal Envelope:	130 W

Intel's Core i7 has proven itself to be the most powerful gaming CPU option available, and the Core i7-930 is a great choice for systems coupled with multiple graphics cards in an SLI or CrossFire configuration.

The motherboards and triple-channel DDR3 RAM that the i7 architecture requires will bring the total platform cost higher than other systems, but the resulting performance should be worth the purchase price.

While the Core i5 performs similarly, there are a few applications and games that can take advantage of the Core i7-900-series' Hyper-Threading and triple-channel memory features, so spending the extra money on the Core i7-930 can pay off, particularly if you plan to overclock.

In addition, LGA 1156-based Core i5 and Core i7 processors are limited to 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes, but the LGA 1366-based Core i7-900s do not share this limitation, since they get their PCI Express connectivity from the X58 chipset. This makes the LGA 1366 Core i7 processors a good choice for CrossFire or SLI configurations with more than two graphics cards

Reference : http://www.tomshardware.com