WEBVTT 00:00:00.359 --> 00:00:05.419 I got a GPU but what did it cost 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:13.799 it's a story that's all too common which is why instead of buying a fancy new 00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:18.900 Intel 12th Gen processor you're watching this video where we're gonna figure out 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:20.880 the absolute best way to save a buck on 00:00:18.900 --> 00:00:25.800 your CPU you see there's a lot of secondhand chips out there that might 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:28.320 look like a great deal like this twenty 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:33.360 dollar overclockable Xeon but as we've seen there can be hidden costs that are 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:35.160 driving the prices so low I think the 00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:41.040 answer is going to surprise you but what won't surprise you is our sponsor 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:42.780 Corsair their new h150i Elite LCD is a 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:47.100 Premium All-In-One CPU Cooler that combines powerful low noise cooling with 00:00:44.879 --> 00:00:50.760 vibrant RGB lighting and a personalized LCD display that you can put custom 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:56.000 graphics on to Accent your system's Aesthetics and to track real-time 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:56.000 performance at a glance 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:10.740 to best reveal our CPU bottlenecks we're going to be using a current gen GPU for 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.020 our benchmarks the RTX 3060 TI and we 00:01:10.740 --> 00:01:18.060 used the Corsair xenion monitor for all of our testing since a it's gorgeous and 00:01:15.780 --> 00:01:22.860 B While most of our benchmarks are going to be at 1080p to really separate the 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:26.820 wheat from the chaff we think 1440p gaming is really the modern sweet spot 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:32.220 and at the end we're going to want a game on this setup to see if our best 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:35.759 value combo can keep up with 1440p high 00:01:32.220 --> 00:01:39.659 refresh rate gaming at just 23.45 the 00:01:35.759 --> 00:01:41.640 Xeon w3670 gives you a lot of CPU per 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:46.799 dollar and looked like the obvious choice at least on paper I mean sure it 00:01:44.460 --> 00:01:51.780 was back in 2010 but in its prime this thing was a 600 top of the line Beast 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:56.700 with six cores and a turbo frequency of 3.5 gigahertz at least until you 00:01:54.540 --> 00:02:00.360 overclock it that's right intelligent quite locked down Xeon overclocking yet 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:05.219 and we were able to take this little guy up to four gigahertz on all cores 00:02:02.820 --> 00:02:10.140 yielding a cinebench R23 score of over 5000 points that's respectable even by 00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:15.599 modern standards and we got performance and everything else that ranged from 00:02:12.020 --> 00:02:18.720 terrible to worse 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:21.239 in games it spoiler alert managed less 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:25.440 than half the FPS of the other CPUs we tested and making matters worse getting 00:02:23.459 --> 00:02:30.720 it to play nice with Windows 10 was a bit of a pain in the butt hello legacy 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:35.040 mode running Windows 7 is an easy enough work around but know that Microsoft no 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:39.239 longer supports the OS and you're going to lose out on some small games you've 00:02:37.260 --> 00:02:43.980 probably never heard of like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo infinite 00:02:41.940 --> 00:02:48.300 ouch oh and we also ran into this cool little bug where sleep doesn't work and 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:52.739 the system needs a full reboot every time your mileage may vary so you're 00:02:50.940 --> 00:02:57.239 dealing with significant quality of life issues on a CPU that gets a quarter of 00:02:54.959 --> 00:03:01.500 its speed from a ratchet static voltage overclock on a 10 year old motherboard 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:05.640 not something that I can straight faced recommend and it gets worse but first 00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:11.220 let's take a look at our second Contender the Intel Core i5 2500k is a 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:15.540 four core Beauty from 2011 that you can pick up for about 50 bucks these days 00:03:13.140 --> 00:03:21.000 getting it to work with Windows 10 was much easier than the Xeon but while the 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:26.340 I5 is noticeably quicker than the Xeon that doesn't prevent you from feeling 00:03:22.739 --> 00:03:28.680 its age normal tasks feel a bit sluggish 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:32.580 compared to a modern platform though In fairness we were able to remedy that a 00:03:30.420 --> 00:03:36.720 fair bit with a moderate overclock this is our second CPU now that topped out at 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:41.879 4 gigahertz all core netting us a 10 Improvement in single threaded workloads 00:03:38.760 --> 00:03:44.400 and 20 in multi-threaded workloads where 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:50.340 frankly it needs all the help it can get with a cinebench R23 score of 29.92 our 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:55.260 second gen core was by far the slowest CPU we tested in multi-threaded loads 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:59.519 due in part to the 2500k's lack of simultaneous multi-threading for gaming 00:03:57.659 --> 00:04:03.180 it was more of a mixed bag though in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and CS Go 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:09.180 performance was excellent and it even ended up beating some much newer CPUs 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:11.700 but in Forza Horizon 4 and F1 2021 the 00:04:09.180 --> 00:04:16.320 results were brutal if you plan on playing mainly older games the 2500k 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:21.239 might be fine then but every time you boot up a new game you are rolling the 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:27.120 dice and the inconsistent performance isn't even the biggest problem buying 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:29.699 all the old supporting components is for 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:33.720 both the 2500k and the Xeon you can expect to pay around sixty dollars for a 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:39.720 motherboard including shipping plus another 45 dollars for DDR3 RAM both of 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:44.220 which are well past their best before date and get this while we were 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:50.220 configuring the overclock for our 2500k our first motherboard straight up died 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:52.979 completely destroying any chance of that setup being price competitive with newer 00:04:51.960 --> 00:04:57.840 Hardware thing is though even if that hadn't 00:04:55.139 --> 00:05:03.720 happened these 10 year old motherboards and 16 gigs of DDR3 RAM are coming in at 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:08.880 only about five dollars less expensive than a modern b450 board and ddr4 RAM 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:13.380 both of which could be carried forward to a future upgrade to a modern 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:19.020 processor so why are these old components so expensive allow me to 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:21.120 introduce the bathtub curve this is a 00:05:19.020 --> 00:05:25.620 simple visual that shows the odds of a device failing over its lifetime off of 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:29.400 the production line You'll usually get a bunch of failures right away usually due 00:05:27.419 --> 00:05:33.780 to manufacturing defects these are going to be either caught in QC or burn-in or 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:37.919 they're going to fail quickly out in the field hopefully covered by warranty 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:42.419 after that the chances of the device failing at least a well-designed one get 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:46.860 pretty low for a long period of time then towards the end of their expected 00:05:44.880 --> 00:05:51.960 life the components start to wear down and failures begin to increase again for 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:56.220 motherboards anecdotally at least this seems to happen around the six year mark 00:05:53.940 --> 00:06:01.800 So as more and more motherboards begin to fail you eventually wind up in a dumb 00:05:58.919 --> 00:06:05.520 situation like x99 motherboards from 2014 that'll go for as much as 300 00:06:04.380 --> 00:06:10.620 dollars which raises the question why are people 00:06:07.979 --> 00:06:16.919 willing to pay so much for these things well here's the thing CPUs tend to have 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:22.380 much much lower failure rates compared to motherboards so you end up with this 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:24.900 surplus of working CPUs compared to a 00:06:22.380 --> 00:06:30.000 dwindling number of compatible working motherboards that exist to put them in 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:35.580 the Surplus drives down the cost of the older CPUs but it's deceptive because 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.819 maybe your CPU is only 20 bucks but you're going to spend a fortune actually 00:06:37.139 --> 00:06:42.539 getting the thing running the bottom line then is that it is hard 00:06:40.919 --> 00:06:46.620 to justify investing in Old Hardware when you're confronted with both these 00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:49.860 problems and the complete lack of any upgrade path the only old Hardware you 00:06:48.539 --> 00:06:53.819 should really be investing in is the old Hardware we've printed on t-shirts from 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:59.340 lttstore.com nothing illustrates this point better than our next processor the 00:06:55.860 --> 00:07:00.840 legendary Intel Core i7 4770k I was 00:06:59.340 --> 00:07:06.120 honestly shocked when I realized that this CPU is now 8 years old because it 00:07:04.020 --> 00:07:10.020 sure doesn't feel like it in Windows I mean if you wanted Windows to feel any 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:15.419 snap here you would need a brand spanking new machine with a fast NVMe 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:18.240 SSD and in gaming Mr Haswell here was 00:07:15.419 --> 00:07:21.840 the fastest CPU we tested across the board so if you're currently rocking one 00:07:20.099 --> 00:07:26.460 of these in your system you can safely upgrade to an RTX 3060 TI and sleep 00:07:24.780 --> 00:07:30.300 soundly knowing that there is no reason to upgrade until your motherboard gives 00:07:28.020 --> 00:07:36.539 up the ghost what you shouldn't do though is go out and buy a 4770k for a 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:42.539 whole new computer because all in the 4770k was the most expensive of CPU we 00:07:39.900 --> 00:07:47.160 tested the good news though is that although we were able to overclock it to 00:07:44.520 --> 00:07:52.500 4.4 gigahertz all core our gaming performance barely increased that tells 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:57.900 us that the 4770k is performance enough to keep up with our 3060 TI right out of 00:07:55.440 --> 00:08:01.740 the box and I say this is a good thing because it means that you don't have to 00:07:59.940 --> 00:08:08.819 be super concerned about getting a k-series SKU a regular i-74770 or I5 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:11.880 4550 is going to be more than fine and if you're lucky you might be able to 00:08:10.020 --> 00:08:15.479 find one of those for cheap in an old pre-build these are the kinds of deals 00:08:13.919 --> 00:08:18.960 that you don't find by going on eBay though so keep your eye on your local 00:08:17.099 --> 00:08:23.400 Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for an Old Dell or think station desktop 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:29.160 that's just a GPU away from gaming greatness at 110 dollars for a 4770k 00:08:26.940 --> 00:08:36.060 standalone though I think it's a bad buy this is also why the 4770k is the last 00:08:32.640 --> 00:08:41.159 Intel CPU on our list because you can 00:08:36.060 --> 00:08:44.219 buy a 6700k or an i5 8400 but it's very 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:46.440 hard to justify a semi-modern Intel CPU 00:08:44.219 --> 00:08:52.380 because they cost the same if not more than a ryzen 3300x or an i5 10 400 which 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:55.260 you can buy brand new today both of which are going to have similar 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:59.339 performance without the hassle of screwing around with a used motherboard 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:03.240 that has no meaningful upgrade path if you're feeling lucky you could get an 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:07.500 8700k and a motherboard with bent pins but in general the price of an Intel 00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:13.019 motherboard especially one that can overclock makes it really hard for their 00:09:10.260 --> 00:09:17.459 old platforms to compete with AMD which means the smarter play is to pick up an 00:09:14.880 --> 00:09:23.040 affordable b450 board that can run any AMD CPU from ryzen 1000 all the way up 00:09:20.760 --> 00:09:28.920 to ryzen 5000 assuming you've got the right BIOS on it on that note let's talk 00:09:25.260 --> 00:09:31.260 about the AMD ryzen 5 1500x you can get 00:09:28.920 --> 00:09:34.620 one of these for around 85 dollars and although historically that isn't a 00:09:32.880 --> 00:09:39.720 game-changing deal like back when the 2600 AF was a thing performance across 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:43.740 the board is acceptable which really drives home how much much of a lead 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:51.000 Intel squandered in the last few years 1500x ends up losing to the 4770k across 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:53.519 the board despite being five years newer 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:58.440 but it benefits from an extremely low total cost of Entry a hundred and ninety 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:02.339 dollars gets you the core bits and since you're getting a b450 board when you 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:06.420 have a bit more cash you can upgrade to something that will absolutely slay and 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:11.640 this is the main reason that I'd recommend the 1500x over the core i5 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:17.279 6400 their price and performance are comparable but Intel has 50 fewer cores 00:10:14.640 --> 00:10:21.540 and no meaningful upgrade path oh one thing to note though is that if 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:26.459 you are buying a new b450 board off the shelf see if you can find one that does 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:30.420 not have the ryzen 5000 desktop ready badge on the front due to limited 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:36.779 storage on the BIOS chip you can't actually have support for both 1000 and 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:38.820 5000 series CPUs at the same time so you 00:10:36.779 --> 00:10:42.420 might need to use a CPU free flashback feature or go to your local computer 00:10:40.800 --> 00:10:46.200 shop and have them install a special BIOS so you can get first gen ryzen 00:10:44.579 --> 00:10:49.920 support one interesting part of our tests is that it demonstrates even more 00:10:48.060 --> 00:10:55.380 clearly than our recent video how more gigahertz does not equal more 00:10:52.980 --> 00:11:03.060 performance when overclocked the ryzen 5 1500x Xeon w3670 and i7 2500k are all 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:08.339 switching at four gigahertz but the results are dramatically different due 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:12.899 to IPC or instructions per clock improvements the more modern ryzen is 00:11:10.380 --> 00:11:17.279 able to do a lot more with its 4 billion switches than the older intels something 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:22.320 that is very important to keep in mind when you're shopping for older CPUs that 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:26.820 on paper might look really fast our final processor for today is a 00:11:24.660 --> 00:11:32.220 budget build classic the AMD ryzen 5 2600 and 2600x they're both selling for 00:11:30.839 --> 00:11:35.820 about a hundred and twenty dollars making them very compelling performance 00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:41.339 and price wise they land right between the 1500x and the 4770k but without the 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:45.540 expensive motherboard woes of the core i7 if you plan on doing any 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:49.680 multi-threaded work the 2600 absolutely destroys anything else that we looked at 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:54.540 for bang for the buck now let's kick things up a notch and see how our best 00:11:51.779 --> 00:12:00.240 value setup here handles 1440 gaming on our Corsair Xenon monitor my poor team 00:11:57.839 --> 00:12:04.260 waiting for me to load this map let's see am I going to end up with a team of 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:06.720 people that know how to stay together so that 00:12:05.160 --> 00:12:11.100 you know we can we can live is there a pair of 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:16.100 headphones nearby monitor looks great so that's cool I want this overshield 00:12:12.839 --> 00:12:19.320 though okay other than very occasional 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:21.600 hitches that we've seen it's 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:28.500 pretty good like what are we looking at 100 FPS average 99 lows that are 60 at 00:12:26.640 --> 00:12:34.279 65 like not bad like absolutely no excuse 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:41.220 for not winning on this thing no no 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:43.440 oh damn no can you still game on first 00:12:41.220 --> 00:12:46.079 gen ryzen the answer is yes as long as your teammates will wait for you to load 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:52.740 the map so what's our final verdict I think it's pretty easy to say that if you're going 00:12:49.380 --> 00:12:54.360 used go for the ryzen 5 1500x or if 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:59.160 you've got a few more dollars to spend any second gen ryzen at or around a 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:03.180 hundred dollars it won't give you the best performance per dollar but you will 00:13:01.620 --> 00:13:07.260 definitely save money in the long run with ddr4 memory and a motherboard that 00:13:05.579 --> 00:13:12.120 you can carry forward to a more powerful setup once your nft investment pays off 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:16.800 if you guys are looking for another video to watch why don't you go check 00:13:13.920 --> 00:13:23.120 out why CPU gigahertz doesn't matter it's a good little rundown on buy these 00:13:19.019 --> 00:13:23.120 performance differences for so wide