Gaming CPU-s

What's really going on in the processor market for gamers? Computer tech, naming conventions, CPU performance indicators. It can all get confusing, fast. Sure, lots of our tech savvy readers will know what the K signifies at the end of the Intel processor number/letter naming convention, but to many many more readers... who cares.

What gamers do care about is that the next hardware upgrade they spend their money is a solid choice. 

We don't always have the time or interest in researching current trends and price options, but none of us want an upgrade that's obsolete in a year. Really we're looking for the best bang for our buck. So this is a quick-fire list of processors that should catch your eye today, so you don't have to research stuff like that bloody K naming nonsense.

GD has a tonne of cool website tools and data to help you choose from any hardware combo and double check its compatibility. So have a hunt around the site if you want, or do what I always advise, ask the awesome GD community in the comments section below.

Ok here is a quick processor state of affairs tech roundup, for any of you interested in a micro catchup

AMD is focusing on its long overdue CPU architecture called Zen. It's due out soon. 2016 is all we know at this point. Until then AMD is still treading processor water. Zen will address all the lackluster performance that proved an issue with their Bulldozer series release a few years back.

In short, AMD's making some exciting claims, like the Zen is 14nm and provides 40% IPC improvements (Inter-process communication - the speed at which it can communicate with the rest of your PC). Bulldozer was late and failed to deliver on the AMD promises. Let's wait and see what this next AMD CPU release will actually be like. I am guessing it will seriously shake up the processor competition, as Intel has started to lose a little steam itself over the past few years.

Intel has been trying to get to 14nm for a while. It's been talking about Broadwell 14nm architecture for what seems like an eternity. Through stalling again and again the release of the 14nm Broadwell will be trimmed down to just a pair of desktop processors, the Core i5 and i7 quad core 5000 series, alongside the already available mobile variants. These chips will fit the LGA1150 socket and existing 9 Series chipsets. Both sport a cheeky 'C' at the end of their names, instead of the traditional K, used to indicate that a CPU is unlocked. Check you out with all your fancy naming knowledge. What does 'unlocked' mean? It means you can overclock the processor. What does "overclock" mean? Get out of here, you are on the wrong site. Nah, just kidding.

Obviously Intel is the benchmark for gaming CPUs and I would be foolish to suggest they are doing badly, but it certainly seems like this 14nm jump from their current 22nm Ivy Bridge and Haswell options seems to be giving them a moment of contemplation.

And so due to the delays in Broadwell we have Intel's next big series release just around the corner as they finally get around to releasing Broadwell. This next series is called Skylake. Skylake is expected to release around August/September 2015. Intel is once more folding its tick-tock cadence with Skylake. Every tick represents the shrinking of the fabrication process, while every tock is the shift to a new microarchitecture in this case moving from Haswell to Skylake.

Like most new processor groups, it will need a new motherboard. So factor that knowledge in when you consider upgrading next. Ok enough already. It's time for the roundup, which I expect will be quicker than that snappy Intel/AMD architecture wars roundup. [Oh and as always, if I have missed anything or anything has changed, then please comment below and share that splendid CPU knowledge of yours]

Gaming CPU Roundup - 2015 June

• AMD A10-7850K: Low price. Its cheap but a little tired compared to Intel performance ratings.
• AMD FX-8350: Low price. Good value, needs quite a bit of power.
• Intel Core i5-4690K: Medium price. Good value, strong performance.
• Intel Core i7-4790K: High price. Good value, strong performance.
• Intel Core i7-5820K: Expensive price. Motherboard upgrade. Strong performance.
• Intel Pentium K Anni G3258: Very Low price. Weak performance. Massive Overclock option.

Processor	Price	Performance	Tech	Socket	Gaming Value
AMD A10-7850K	$129.49	Medium	28nm	FM2+	Medium
AMD FX-8350	$165.93	High	32nm	AM3+	High
Intel Core i5-4690K	$235.99	High	22nm	LGA1150	Ultra
Intel Core i7-4790K	$329.99	Ultra	22nm	LGA1150	High
Intel Core i7-5820K	$416.20	Ultra	22nm	LGA2011v3	Medium
Intel Pentium Anni G3258	$69.29	Low	22nm	LGA1150	Medium (Overclock)
Other