If all you want is cost effective buy a console they cost less than your current computer and perform better. I for one don't hate APU's they are awesome for what they are but they pale in comparison to what most consider a true gaming rig (i.e. an i5 and a 760/r9 270x on the average).
I can afford it so I will get a Core i7. My cuurent rig needs an upgrade anyways; This rig has no USB 3.0 and just SATA 2 not SATA 3. it's four years old and has served me well but it's time for a new rig. Why would I settle for Core i5 when I can afford Core i7? It's not about need it's about want. It want the best and I can get the best so I will get the best. And not to brag but when I say I can afford this I dont mean I can afford more debt. I literally have the money. This is not going on a credit card. Peace out.
Lol I have to justify my purchases to you. This is an enthusiast forum. Most of us have i5 or i7 and systems to match.
and the pc in my sig cost me around 1100$. that was almost 3 years ago. the first game that i couldn't play on ultra was hitman absolution, i was running between 20 and 40 fps, so since i wanted around 60 fps i played it on high. the pc in your sig will never ever hold absolution on high. i will most likely not upgrade my cpu until MAYBE skylake. just because something is cheap it doesn't mean it's cost-effective in the long run. my next upgrade would be a videocard, a 760 should be about 250$. but you know what? i won't get a 760. i will simply find another gtx 560 and sli them, i should pay around 150$ for one and the performance will be about the same as a 760. buying 'overpriced' motherboards is an investment aswell. ease of upgrade. and i7s are never overkill. certain people like me also have a hobby in 3d modeling. and i assure you that an i7 is a step up in terms of raw performance compared to an i5. not to again mention the fact that i will probably not upgrade my cpu for the next maybe 3 years. that's 6 years of life time. you would probably need to switch your cpu around 3 times during this time. i paid ~300$ for mine. do the math. if i'm not mistaken, your cpu is around 120$. le: oh, i'm gonna say 1 more thing. 4.8 ghz. i don't think i need to continue. just be smart and consider the upgradability you get from a high-end pc. as sykozis said, it's extremely common to skip sockets on high-end because this segment is relatively stagnant. we're most probably not gonna have a leap in performance like the switch from pentium 4 to core 2 duo anytime soon.
No most of us realize this however intel HD graphics are in no way comparable to what AMD offers with their APU's. Plus intel has never really pushed their iGPU as a discreet GPU alternative AMD has. That being said this is still an impressive little CPU for what it is.
In another light, AMD's APUs are more GPU than CPU. Intel is the opposite. You can't technically call AMD's products GPUs because you can't boot a computer off a GPU. Intel's IGPs are simply meant to give you a working display and offload some tasks like video decoding from the CPU. Otherwise, I don't think Intel really thinks their GPUs are good enough to change their product names to APUs. APU was really just a marketing thing (one that is somewhat confusing to noobs) and Intel already has a knack for confusing even enthusiasts. Besides, at this point, all of Intel's products (to my knowledge) involve IGPs. Maybe their Xeons or hex cores don't, I'm not really sure.
This is one of the most terribly written reviews I've ever encountered. In my experience, I've come to expect a certain level of professionalism in Guru3d reviews, but a complete lack of proper punctuation and grammar ruins this review. Next time you write a professional review for such a renowned website, use proper grammar, punctuation and complete words (your usage of "btw" quite literally made me cringe) and I will take you more seriously.
Dude, you could speak with a little more respect. English isn't Hilbert's first language and some of his reviews are put out in very quick time. This is a very respected website and his work is acclaimed.
You come here to study poetry or to learn about new hardware from expert? Such an arrogant and ignorant poster you are. Back to topic: Nice review for the members who know how to read it.
So, he has an issue with Hilbert's review? I find that funny. I come here for exactly how Hilbert writes his reviews. They're obviously written by a professional reviewer and not some idiot columnist with a thesaurus and dictionary in hand. Hilbert writes his reviews like he's "one of the guys"....which I find to be quite refreshing. Of course, this isn't a US based site therefore I don't expect perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation at any time, whether it's a review or a forum post. If anyone has an issue with the spelling, grammar or punctuation of Hilbert's reviews, they're the ones with the issue.
Hey, for someone who's first language probably isn't English I think Hilbert does good enough job. Granted, his fluidity isn't perfect and he does make the occasional spelling error but it's better than some of the things I've see written in an lot of other web sites that are based in English-speaking countries. I suppose he could benefit from having an assistant who could polish Hilbert's posts for him, but I'm thinking that he has neither the time nor the money to be doing that sort of thing. The level of attention to detail that Hibert puts into his work can be found in only a handful of other sites, none of which quite have Hilbert's style. I'd rather put up with his quirks than go somewhere else. He's an artist of the test-bench and I don't care that his English isn't perfect.