Thought Core 2 was the only choice? Think again... AMD's far from dead.
Thought Core 2 was the only choice? Think again... AMD's far from dead.
The graph below shows the price and performance of virtually all of the processors currently available in the market. Each CPU family is coloured differently, making it easier to see the value trend for that range. The perfect CPU would be found in the bottom right-hand corner, since it would deliver maximum performance for minimum cost.
We tell you How We Test here. We discuss the results in the Buyer’s Guide where we pick out the best buys for budget buyers, mid-range buyers and power users. We also offer a description of each processor family below and offer a Feature Table which provides at-a-glance features for every processor.
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Note, that all of these processors are running at stock speeds – overclockers will doubtless argue furiously over the results. Overclocking is discussed to a small degree in the processor family descriptions and Buyer’s Guide but it should not be forgotten that this graph is primarily a guide to the processors in the market right now. Future price drops and new releases will dramatically alter things and we hope to update the results every month or so.
Many thanks to Nintek and Pacstar for providing most of the prices that went into the plotting of this graph. Nintek has offered free delivery to anyone who uses the link here.