When you build a PC, you're often making a series of delicate trade-offs. After all, most of us have budget limits on any PC we build, and making the most of that budget is key. Last spring, we took a look at graphics hardware price/performance, in order to find the sweet spot for gamers.
Trying to determine the sweet spot where price and performance cross over for CPUs is a more daunting task. For one thing, the applications mix is far more complicated. People use office applications, create content for web sites and games, encode video for building DVDs, and play games. Each application mix may have different issues when it comes to determining the optimum price/performance ratio.
Take PC games, for example. The cheapest CPU available may have the best frame rate per dollar ratio. But you still need an adequate frame rate for an optimum gaming experience, and the cheapest CPU may not deliver that. On the other hand, office applications are generally not as sensitive to raw performance, and the lower cost processor may be better. It's all in what you do.
In our testing, we looked at a mix of applications, including video encoding, 3D modeling and rendering, PC gaming, office applications and web content creation. We used a mix of synthetic, applications-based and pure applications benchmarks to generate our results. The end goal is to help you determine which CPU might be the right one for your needs.
Full Article @
Extreme Tech
Linear Mode
