{"video_id":"toZ_t88bPBU","title":"What CPU Should I Buy? - Intel Edition 2016","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2017-05-06T14:53:29Z","duration_s":770,"segments":[{"start_s":0.32,"end_s":6.08,"text":"Intel's desktop CPU lineup contains at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":3.52,"end_s":11.92,"text":"least, depending how you divide them up, six distinct segments with a total of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.2,"end_s":17.359,"text":"nearly three dozen processors ranging all the way from under 50 bucks to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.16,"end_s":19.359,"text":"around $1,700.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.359,"end_s":24.96,"text":"And while this is admittedly a huge improvement over the last generation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":21.68,"end_s":29.199,"text":"4000 series, which had twice as many in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":24.96,"end_s":32.48,"text":"the desktop range and over 250 total,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.199,"end_s":34.96,"text":"it's still super confusing. So, I fired","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.48,"end_s":39.6,"text":"up ARC, Intel's handydandy product database, extracted the most pertinent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.52,"end_s":44.8,"text":"information, and put it in a spreadsheet that you can download below. That should","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":41.6,"end_s":47.28,"text":"make choosing the right CPU much, much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.8,"end_s":54.84,"text":"easier. And give me a kickback if you buy using the included Amazon","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.719,"end_s":63.039,"text":"links. Tunnel Bear is the simple VPN app","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.8,"end_s":67.2,"text":"that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet. To try","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.439,"end_s":72.6,"text":"Tunnel Bear for free, check out the link in the video description. TLDDR. If","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":70.72,"end_s":78.08,"text":"you're building on the cheap, a Pentium G4400 dual core at around 60 bucks is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":75.68,"end_s":83.84,"text":"your best bet. Because if you were willing to spend $92 for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.92,"end_s":90.36,"text":"G4520's marginal speed improvement, the Core i36100 is worth the extra 25 more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.68,"end_s":95.04,"text":"thanks to its higher clock speed and hyperthreading. From there, if you're a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.72,"end_s":101.28,"text":"heavier multitasker or a light content creator, the whole nont Core i5 lineup","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.36,"end_s":108.159,"text":"makes a fair amount of sense with the Core i56500 coming in strongest in my mind","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.439,"end_s":115.159,"text":"thanks to its 19% base clock advantage over the 6400 for only a 10% price","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.88,"end_s":117.92,"text":"premium. If I was going to spring for an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":115.159,"end_s":122.719,"text":"i56600, personally, I'd pay the extra 20 or so for the K variant. It's got a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.88,"end_s":126.88,"text":"higher TDP, that means more power consumption. But with an extra","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.399,"end_s":131.599,"text":"investment in a Z series motherboard, it supports overclocking, which can either","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.2,"end_s":136.239,"text":"give you a bit of extra oomph near the end of your computer's usable lifespan","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.599,"end_s":142.48,"text":"or improve resale value when the time comes to sell it and start from scratch.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.2,"end_s":145.599,"text":"This is basically as high as I'd go for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.48,"end_s":147.92,"text":"a pure gaming machine. For aspiring","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.599,"end_s":152.64,"text":"content creators, let's say gamers who also stream or edit together their game","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.4,"end_s":157.04,"text":"plays for later upload to YouTube, the Core i7","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":154.2,"end_s":164.239,"text":"6700K takes everything that's good about the 6600 K and adds hyperthreading, more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.8,"end_s":166.72,"text":"cache, and the highest base and boost","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.239,"end_s":171.12,"text":"clocks across Intel's entire current generation lineup. And you can find","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":168.64,"end_s":176.959,"text":"links to all of these processors in the video description. Okay, so the TLDDR is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.319,"end_s":182.8,"text":"over, kids. Let's see how we got there. I'm going to start with the easy way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":179.76,"end_s":186.319,"text":"Weed out products that have zero","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.8,"end_s":189.2,"text":"customer reviews. A given skew can have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.319,"end_s":193.84,"text":"more reviews for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because the people who","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":191.28,"end_s":198.08,"text":"buy them have invested very heavily and feel compelled to shout from the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":196.0,"end_s":202.48,"text":"treetops, especially to each other, about how justified they were in doing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.92,"end_s":207.36,"text":"so. Though the psychology of consumer behavior is far beyond the scope of this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.4,"end_s":211.68,"text":"video, but the most common reason is that someone else out there has already","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":209.84,"end_s":217.0,"text":"done the grunt work research to determine that, for example, the Core","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.84,"end_s":224.56,"text":"i36100 at $117 makes more sense than the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":220.12,"end_s":227.879,"text":"i36300 at $138 with its barely higher","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":224.56,"end_s":230.76,"text":"clock speed, extra 1 meg of cache,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.879,"end_s":236.799,"text":"and marginally faster onboard board graphics. There are exceptions to this,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.599,"end_s":241.28,"text":"but some solid indicators aside from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":236.799,"end_s":244.36,"text":"reviews are adequate stock and properly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":241.28,"end_s":246.879,"text":"filled out product information pages and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.36,"end_s":253.599,"text":"photos. Not to mention the availability of a box version directly from Intel.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.72,"end_s":258.959,"text":"Though for a specialty, let's say a super low power consumption build, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.16,"end_s":268.0,"text":"might not be able to avoid nonbox, that is to say tray or OEM parts. The Core","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":263.639,"end_s":269.96,"text":"i56400T from the T low power series is a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.0,"end_s":277.6,"text":"standout here as a 35W true quad core at 2.2 to 2.8 GHz for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":275.199,"end_s":282.56,"text":"170 bucks. Though we can see that the comparison here is somewhat unfair","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":280.24,"end_s":287.68,"text":"because realworld pricing of similar chips like the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":284.199,"end_s":291.12,"text":"6500T is way off of Intel's suggested","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.68,"end_s":293.44,"text":"price on ARC. This is pretty normal on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.12,"end_s":298.4,"text":"these niche SKs though and yet another reason to gravitate towards the higher","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.0,"end_s":303.919,"text":"volume chips that every retailer in their dog is competing hard to sell so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.199,"end_s":308.24,"text":"that they not only sell the CPU but also all the other accessories that go with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":305.759,"end_s":313.52,"text":"it. In fact, for these high volume items, it's not uncommon to see them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.24,"end_s":316.16,"text":"going for even less than Intel's MSRP on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":313.52,"end_s":320.56,"text":"sale. Now, let's go deeper. You've probably noticed Xeon processors","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":318.639,"end_s":324.16,"text":"sprinkled in with the core branded consumer ones. I included those in my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":322.88,"end_s":329.919,"text":"spreadsheet for the sake of completeness, but in a nutshell, Xeons","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.88,"end_s":333.84,"text":"at the same specs in the same socket","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.919,"end_s":337.199,"text":"perform identically to desktop chips and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.84,"end_s":339.44,"text":"differ from consumer CPUs primarily in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.199,"end_s":344.56,"text":"their ability to use ECC error correcting memory, which you can learn","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.199,"end_s":346.96,"text":"more about here. Most 1000 series Xeons","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":344.56,"end_s":352.479,"text":"can even actually run unofficially though in the same consumer LG1 1151","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":350.479,"end_s":357.199,"text":"motherboards as everything else that I've talked about so far. So if you find","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":354.72,"end_s":361.919,"text":"one you like, you can do that. Though, please note that ECC memory support","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":359.52,"end_s":366.88,"text":"depends on the motherboard chipset, too. So, you'd lose some of the benefit that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.16,"end_s":372.72,"text":"you're usually paying extra for in that case. Moving up higher than the 6700 K","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":371.039,"end_s":378.4,"text":"means we're getting into two different territories here. Both of which require","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":375.44,"end_s":382.8,"text":"moving up to the big boy pants socket LGA","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":379.88,"end_s":387.12,"text":"20113. Proumer and professional use where dramatically reducing project","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":384.88,"end_s":393.28,"text":"times with more processing cores will improve productivity and therefore","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":389.039,"end_s":394.96,"text":"profit. or because I can land where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.28,"end_s":399.28,"text":"often knowing what they're doing, enthusiast consumers will drop obscene","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":397.28,"end_s":404.16,"text":"amounts of money knowing that they aren't getting a good value. Let's try","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":401.44,"end_s":410.479,"text":"to cover both of them. All 2011 3 processors require a $50 to $100 more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.68,"end_s":416.0,"text":"expensive motherboard, but they support more PCI Express lanes and quad channel","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":413.759,"end_s":421.52,"text":"versus dual channel memory. Though this is of dubious value to the typical gamer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":418.639,"end_s":428.24,"text":"with core branded products and 1000 series Xeon EPS limited to one CPU on a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":425.44,"end_s":432.72,"text":"motherboard, 2000 series Xeon EPS, bumping that up to two CPUs on a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.16,"end_s":436.96,"text":"motherboard, and EXClass Zeons capable of running four CPUs on a single","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.44,"end_s":441.56,"text":"motherboard, though you'll pay a significant premium for that feature. In","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":440.0,"end_s":448.4,"text":"the core range, the i76800 K stands out to me. It comes with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":444.639,"end_s":451.199,"text":"28 PCIe lanes, so two-way SLI, the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":448.4,"end_s":457.08,"text":"highest we recommend, is all good. You get 94% of the clock speed at 73% of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":455.36,"end_s":463.12,"text":"price compared to the 6850K, which also boasts 40 PCIe lanes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":460.639,"end_s":469.84,"text":"if you're an expansion fiend. And like the rest of the HEDT or high-end desktop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":466.8,"end_s":472.8,"text":"Core i7s, it supports overclocking,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":469.84,"end_s":478.639,"text":"meaning that the clock and architectural disadvantage versus the 6700 K that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.759,"end_s":483.84,"text":"comes with being based on the slower updated server workstation platform are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":481.599,"end_s":490.24,"text":"a little more palatable given the reasonable $100 premium for 50% more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":487.44,"end_s":496.24,"text":"processing cores. It's got six of them. The rest of the 20113 Core i7s seem to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.44,"end_s":502.639,"text":"be priced more like high clock speed, high power consumption Xeon SKs. The","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":499.16,"end_s":505.639,"text":"6850K and the 6t900 K hold their own","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":502.639,"end_s":507.639,"text":"pretty well against the very similar","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":505.639,"end_s":514.36,"text":"E51650 and E51660 if you want to trade ECC support","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":510.96,"end_s":518.08,"text":"for overclocking. But as for the 10 core","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.36,"end_s":520.399,"text":"6950X extreme edition, while it enjoys a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.08,"end_s":524.8,"text":"significant max turbo boost clock speed advantage over the entire Xeon range,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":522.719,"end_s":528.959,"text":"with a couple exceptions, including this weird quad core that I wouldn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.32,"end_s":536.16,"text":"recommend over a lowerriced LG 1151 model, it doesn't make as much sense to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":531.6,"end_s":538.72,"text":"me as the similarly priced E52680 V4. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.16,"end_s":544.32,"text":"mean, if you need 10 cores, wouldn't you also benefit from 14 and probably ECC?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":542.48,"end_s":549.92,"text":"Because that's the basic process for choosing a Xeon. In theory, clock speed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":547.519,"end_s":553.04,"text":"times the physical cores and total logical cores provided by hyperthreading","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":551.92,"end_s":558.0,"text":"technology, which you can learn more about here, where applicable for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":555.6,"end_s":562.48,"text":"multi-threaded workloads like CPUbased video encoding or 3D modeling and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":560.48,"end_s":566.64,"text":"scientific number crunching, will give you total","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":563.88,"end_s":571.48,"text":"performance sort of. And you'll need to weigh that then against your sensitivity","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":568.8,"end_s":577.279,"text":"to high power consumption and high price. Though again, it isn't quite that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":574.32,"end_s":582.0,"text":"simple. The base clock is not necessarily representative of the speed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":579.519,"end_s":586.64,"text":"at which the chip will actually operate and neither is the boost for that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.44,"end_s":588.959,"text":"matter. This handy chart that I found","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":586.64,"end_s":596.56,"text":"for current generation Xeon EP processors reveals that in heavy AVX","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":591.839,"end_s":601.12,"text":"loads, the 14 core 2690 V4 costs 20%","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":596.56,"end_s":603.92,"text":"more than a 14 core 2680 V4 and appears","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":601.12,"end_s":610.48,"text":"to enjoy a 10% clock speed advantage. but in actuality only runs 7% faster","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":608.0,"end_s":617.48,"text":"with up to six cores boosted and only three and a half% faster with all 14.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":614.519,"end_s":621.04,"text":"Furthermore, for workstation use, uh, virtualization, that technology that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.36,"end_s":626.48,"text":"allowed me to have 10 gamers running off of a single computer here, or bursty,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":624.48,"end_s":632.56,"text":"uh, singlethreaded application use, games love high performance cores. High","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":629.2,"end_s":635.76,"text":"boost clocks can be as important as many","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":632.56,"end_s":638.8,"text":"cores, if not more so, as our comparison","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":635.76,"end_s":643.12,"text":"between the 6700 K quad core, which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":638.8,"end_s":646.399,"text":"costs 350 bucks, and the 6T50X10 core,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":643.12,"end_s":649.76,"text":"which costs 1,700 demonstrated with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":646.399,"end_s":652.72,"text":"6700 K being a clearly superior gaming","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":649.76,"end_s":659.44,"text":"chip due to its higher peak clock speed. I'll have that chart linked below as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":655.32,"end_s":661.76,"text":"well. Which leads us to two more things.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":659.44,"end_s":666.32,"text":"I haven't touched on some specialized features like trusted execution","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":663.959,"end_s":670.0,"text":"technology. If you need that, your decision is pretty simple. Buy one of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":667.92,"end_s":675.68,"text":"the few SKs that supports it. And finally, it almost never makes sense to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":672.399,"end_s":677.839,"text":"buy a last generation CPU brand new.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":675.68,"end_s":681.92,"text":"Clearance deals do happen, but they're rare because Intel usually carefully","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":680.24,"end_s":685.68,"text":"manages supply in their distribution channels. So, basically nothing is left","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":684.16,"end_s":689.76,"text":"by the time the new ones start hitting shelves, usually at the same price for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":688.16,"end_s":694.56,"text":"something slightly better than the old one. Secondhand chips, on the other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":691.92,"end_s":698.959,"text":"hand, can be a steal. I'd take this aging six core for 200 bucks at the time","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":697.04,"end_s":703.44,"text":"of writing and overclock the stuffing out of it over our current generation","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":700.56,"end_s":708.959,"text":"quad for certain workloads. But watch out, CPUs, especially older ones,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":706.72,"end_s":714.079,"text":"generally outlast their motherboards by a considerable margin. So finding a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":711.44,"end_s":718.24,"text":"compatible board at all, let alone one at a reasonable price with a somewhat","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":716.32,"end_s":723.44,"text":"up-to-date feature set, can make this approach less","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":720.279,"end_s":726.079,"text":"feasible. So then, have you made it this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":723.44,"end_s":729.12,"text":"far and still feel lost? I'll have some references. I talked about some of them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":727.519,"end_s":733.6,"text":"linked in the video description, but worst case scenario, join the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":730.839,"end_s":736.8,"text":"linesttips.com forum and ask for help. Our community is awesome and someone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":735.279,"end_s":741.36,"text":"would be happy to help you find the right CPU for your new machine. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":739.76,"end_s":746.24,"text":"thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked or it was too long, you know what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":743.44,"end_s":750.24,"text":"to do. But if it was awesome, share it, get subscribed, hit that like button, or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":748.639,"end_s":754.56,"text":"check out the link to where to buy the stuff we talked about at Amazon in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":752.48,"end_s":757.44,"text":"video description. Also linked in the description is our merch store, which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":755.76,"end_s":761.44,"text":"has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which I already mentioned, and you should totally join.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":760.399,"end_s":765.519,"text":"Now that you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click that little button","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":764.0,"end_s":770.56,"text":"in the top right corner to check out our latest video over on Channel Super Fun.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Intel's desktop CPU lineup contains at least, depending how you divide them up, six distinct segments with a total of nearly three dozen processors ranging all the way from under 50 bucks to around $1,700. And while this is admittedly a huge improvement over the last generation 4000 series, which had twice as many in the desktop range and over 250 total, it's still super confusing. So, I fired up ARC, Intel's handydandy product database, extracted the most pertinent information, and put it in a spreadsheet that you can download below. That should make choosing the right CPU much, much easier. And give me a kickback if you buy using the included Amazon links. Tunnel Bear is the simple VPN app that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet. To try Tunnel Bear for free, check out the link in the video description. TLDDR. If you're building on the cheap, a Pentium G4400 dual core at around 60 bucks is your best bet. Because if you were willing to spend $92 for the G4520's marginal speed improvement, the Core i36100 is worth the extra 25 more thanks to its higher clock speed and hyperthreading. From there, if you're a heavier multitasker or a light content creator, the whole nont Core i5 lineup makes a fair amount of sense with the Core i56500 coming in strongest in my mind thanks to its 19% base clock advantage over the 6400 for only a 10% price premium. If I was going to spring for an i56600, personally, I'd pay the extra 20 or so for the K variant. It's got a higher TDP, that means more power consumption. But with an extra investment in a Z series motherboard, it supports overclocking, which can either give you a bit of extra oomph near the end of your computer's usable lifespan or improve resale value when the time comes to sell it and start from scratch. This is basically as high as I'd go for a pure gaming machine. For aspiring content creators, let's say gamers who also stream or edit together their game plays for later upload to YouTube, the Core i7 6700K takes everything that's good about the 6600 K and adds hyperthreading, more cache, and the highest base and boost clocks across Intel's entire current generation lineup. And you can find links to all of these processors in the video description. Okay, so the TLDDR is over, kids. Let's see how we got there. I'm going to start with the easy way. Weed out products that have zero customer reviews. A given skew can have more reviews for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because the people who buy them have invested very heavily and feel compelled to shout from the treetops, especially to each other, about how justified they were in doing so. Though the psychology of consumer behavior is far beyond the scope of this video, but the most common reason is that someone else out there has already done the grunt work research to determine that, for example, the Core i36100 at $117 makes more sense than the i36300 at $138 with its barely higher clock speed, extra 1 meg of cache, and marginally faster onboard board graphics. There are exceptions to this, but some solid indicators aside from reviews are adequate stock and properly filled out product information pages and photos. Not to mention the availability of a box version directly from Intel. Though for a specialty, let's say a super low power consumption build, you might not be able to avoid nonbox, that is to say tray or OEM parts. The Core i56400T from the T low power series is a standout here as a 35W true quad core at 2.2 to 2.8 GHz for 170 bucks. Though we can see that the comparison here is somewhat unfair because realworld pricing of similar chips like the 6500T is way off of Intel's suggested price on ARC. This is pretty normal on these niche SKs though and yet another reason to gravitate towards the higher volume chips that every retailer in their dog is competing hard to sell so that they not only sell the CPU but also all the other accessories that go with it. In fact, for these high volume items, it's not uncommon to see them going for even less than Intel's MSRP on sale. Now, let's go deeper. You've probably noticed Xeon processors sprinkled in with the core branded consumer ones. I included those in my spreadsheet for the sake of completeness, but in a nutshell, Xeons at the same specs in the same socket perform identically to desktop chips and differ from consumer CPUs primarily in their ability to use ECC error correcting memory, which you can learn more about here. Most 1000 series Xeons can even actually run unofficially though in the same consumer LG1 1151 motherboards as everything else that I've talked about so far. So if you find one you like, you can do that. Though, please note that ECC memory support depends on the motherboard chipset, too. So, you'd lose some of the benefit that you're usually paying extra for in that case. Moving up higher than the 6700 K means we're getting into two different territories here. Both of which require moving up to the big boy pants socket LGA 20113. Proumer and professional use where dramatically reducing project times with more processing cores will improve productivity and therefore profit. or because I can land where often knowing what they're doing, enthusiast consumers will drop obscene amounts of money knowing that they aren't getting a good value. Let's try to cover both of them. All 2011 3 processors require a $50 to $100 more expensive motherboard, but they support more PCI Express lanes and quad channel versus dual channel memory. Though this is of dubious value to the typical gamer with core branded products and 1000 series Xeon EPS limited to one CPU on a motherboard, 2000 series Xeon EPS, bumping that up to two CPUs on a motherboard, and EXClass Zeons capable of running four CPUs on a single motherboard, though you'll pay a significant premium for that feature. In the core range, the i76800 K stands out to me. It comes with 28 PCIe lanes, so two-way SLI, the highest we recommend, is all good. You get 94% of the clock speed at 73% of the price compared to the 6850K, which also boasts 40 PCIe lanes if you're an expansion fiend. And like the rest of the HEDT or high-end desktop Core i7s, it supports overclocking, meaning that the clock and architectural disadvantage versus the 6700 K that comes with being based on the slower updated server workstation platform are a little more palatable given the reasonable $100 premium for 50% more processing cores. It's got six of them. The rest of the 20113 Core i7s seem to be priced more like high clock speed, high power consumption Xeon SKs. The 6850K and the 6t900 K hold their own pretty well against the very similar E51650 and E51660 if you want to trade ECC support for overclocking. But as for the 10 core 6950X extreme edition, while it enjoys a significant max turbo boost clock speed advantage over the entire Xeon range, with a couple exceptions, including this weird quad core that I wouldn't recommend over a lowerriced LG 1151 model, it doesn't make as much sense to me as the similarly priced E52680 V4. I mean, if you need 10 cores, wouldn't you also benefit from 14 and probably ECC? Because that's the basic process for choosing a Xeon. In theory, clock speed times the physical cores and total logical cores provided by hyperthreading technology, which you can learn more about here, where applicable for multi-threaded workloads like CPUbased video encoding or 3D modeling and scientific number crunching, will give you total performance sort of. And you'll need to weigh that then against your sensitivity to high power consumption and high price. Though again, it isn't quite that simple. The base clock is not necessarily representative of the speed at which the chip will actually operate and neither is the boost for that matter. This handy chart that I found for current generation Xeon EP processors reveals that in heavy AVX loads, the 14 core 2690 V4 costs 20% more than a 14 core 2680 V4 and appears to enjoy a 10% clock speed advantage. but in actuality only runs 7% faster with up to six cores boosted and only three and a half% faster with all 14. Furthermore, for workstation use, uh, virtualization, that technology that allowed me to have 10 gamers running off of a single computer here, or bursty, uh, singlethreaded application use, games love high performance cores. High boost clocks can be as important as many cores, if not more so, as our comparison between the 6700 K quad core, which costs 350 bucks, and the 6T50X10 core, which costs 1,700 demonstrated with the 6700 K being a clearly superior gaming chip due to its higher peak clock speed. I'll have that chart linked below as well. Which leads us to two more things. I haven't touched on some specialized features like trusted execution technology. If you need that, your decision is pretty simple. Buy one of the few SKs that supports it. And finally, it almost never makes sense to buy a last generation CPU brand new. Clearance deals do happen, but they're rare because Intel usually carefully manages supply in their distribution channels. So, basically nothing is left by the time the new ones start hitting shelves, usually at the same price for something slightly better than the old one. Secondhand chips, on the other hand, can be a steal. I'd take this aging six core for 200 bucks at the time of writing and overclock the stuffing out of it over our current generation quad for certain workloads. But watch out, CPUs, especially older ones, generally outlast their motherboards by a considerable margin. So finding a compatible board at all, let alone one at a reasonable price with a somewhat up-to-date feature set, can make this approach less feasible. So then, have you made it this far and still feel lost? I'll have some references. I talked about some of them linked in the video description, but worst case scenario, join the linesttips.com forum and ask for help. Our community is awesome and someone would be happy to help you find the right CPU for your new machine. So, thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked or it was too long, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, share it, get subscribed, hit that like button, or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we talked about at Amazon in the video description. Also linked in the description is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which I already mentioned, and you should totally join. Now that you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click that little button in the top right corner to check out our latest video over on Channel Super Fun."}