Processors

Desktop Processors

Last Updated: December 6, 2008

Today's Best Choice for Most People

Choose a quad core processor for video editing and 3GHz dual core processor for everything else. Most software requires more gigahertz (GHz) to run faster. Only software that cost $200 or more might run faster with quad core rather than dual core.

These processors offer the best value depending on your budget.

Price	Processor	Specs
$295	Intel Core i7 920	(quad core, 2.66GHz, hyper threading)
$190	Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200	(quad core, 2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB)
$165	Intel Core 2 Duo E8400	(dual core, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB)
$120	Intel Core 2 Duo E7200	(dual core, 2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB)
$57	AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+	(dual core, 2.6GHz)

Speed and Cost

The "sweet spot" is three or four steps below the top of the line, which is in the $150 to $300 range on the table below. The processor will be fast without spending a ridiculous amount of money. I can't tell the difference between a 2GHz computer and a 3GHz computer for business applications, e-mail, and web browsing, but there's a night and day difference when it comes to creating photo albums, working with RAW photo files, and rendering video. All of these things take several minutes to finish. There comes a point of diminishing returns where $100 isn't worth the unnoticeable 0.2GHz gain in processor speed.

The table below is sorted by price. Feel free to sort it differently by highlighting it, copying and pasting it to Excel, and sorting in Excel. The speed benchmarks are estimates based on Tom's Hardware CPU Charts. The amounts are in seconds and lower is better. The exception is the game, Supreme Commander, where the higher frames per second are better.

Specs								Speed Benchmarks
Price	Company	Chip	Model	GHz	L2/L3 Cache	FSB	# Cores	Premiere Pro 2.0	AVG Anti Virus	iTunes	Photoshop CS 3	Supreme Commander (Game)
$57	AMD	Athlon 64 X2	5000+	2.6	512Kx2	2000	dual core	300	98	89	145	31
$76	AMD	Athlon 64 X2	6000+	3.1	1MB	2000	dual core	264	81	77	126	38
$120	Intel	Core 2 Duo	E7200	2.53	3MB	1066	dual core	255	78	78	117	54
$164	AMD	Phenom Black Ed.	9850	2.5	2MB	4000	quad core	151	91	95	143	48
$165	Intel	Core 2 Duo	E8400	3	6MB	1333	dual core	224	63	66	100	51
$190	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q8200	2.33	4MB	1333	quad core	157	81	84	125	49
$240	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q9300	2.5	6MB	1333	quad core	150	76	78	115	52
$270	Intel	Core 2 Duo	E8600	3.33	6MB	1333	dual core	210	57	61	85	53
$295	Intel	Core i7	920	2.66	8MB		quad core	135	71	75	112	53
$320	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q9550	2.83	12MB	1333	quad core	137	68	70	103	55
$550	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q9650	3	12MB	1333	quad core	128	62	66	99	62
$1030	Intel	Core i7 Extreme	965	3.2	8MB		quad core	108	57	58	88	63

Twice as many cores doesn't mean twice the speed for these 3GHz processors.

Price	Company	Chip	Model	GHz	L2/L3 Cache	FSB	# Cores	Premiere Pro 2.0	AVG Anti Virus	iTunes	Photoshop CS 3	Supreme Commander (Game)
$165	Intel	Core 2 Duo	E8400	3	6MB	1333	dual core	224	63	66	100	51
$550	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q9650	3	12MB	1333	quad core	128	62	66	99	62
								42.9%	1.6%	0.0%	1.0%	21.6%

Intel's 2.5GHz quad core processor is faster than AMD's. There is a 46% difference on price and 0%-20% in performance.

Price	Company	Chip	Model	GHz	L2/L3 Cache	FSB	# Cores	Premiere Pro 2.0	AVG Anti Virus	iTunes	Photoshop CS 3	Supreme Commander (Game)
$164	AMD	Phenom Black Ed.	9850	2.5	2MB	4000	quad core	151	91	95	143	48
$240	Intel	Core 2 Quad	Q9300	2.5	6MB	1333	quad core	150	76	78	115	52
								0.7%	16.5%	17.9%	19.6%	8.3%

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