How to choose the right CPU - V-Squared/v2-How-to-DIY-Mini-PC GitHub Wiki

Table of Contents

Introduction
    The problem this article solves
    How this Article solves the problem
    Is there an easier way
How this Article works
CPU Classes
    Side by side comparison
    Assign CPUs to Use Cases
    Advice
CPU Comparison
    CPU Comparison Table
    Advice for choosing a CPU
    CPU Features explained
About Intel CPU Sockets
Where to find more Information

Introduction

The problem this article solves

There are a huge number of CPUs out there. They all have different performance and cost. You need to know what performance you need for your application. And to complicate matters, nowadays CPUs are not only about CPU performance, they also can integrate the GPU and the RAID controller. Next you need to pick the right motherboard that matches the capabilities of the CPU.

How this Article solves the problem

This Article is part of three community projects, all designed to simplify building DIY PCs

  • ViCase: Indiegogo Project. A DIY Mini and All-IN-One Computer Case System
  • V²Configurator: GitHub Project. The Configurator assists you when configuration your PC
  • This Article Series: In depth Know How. In case you want to tune Ready Made Configurations of the V² Configurator

Is there an easier way

Yes! Learning how to choose components for a DIY computer is time consuming. This is why we created a shortcut for you. Go to the V²Configurator and open the Wizard. Pick your Field of Application, say e.g. Photography and then pick the Main Use and the Configurator will custom build a complete computer for you, optimized for your Use Case and Performance class.

How this Article works

CPU Classes

This Article is providing choices of CPUs divided into three performance classes:

  1. Entry Level: Total cost of Computer: $200+
  2. Mid Range: Total cost of Computer: $500+
  3. High End: Total cost of Computer: $1000+

Side by side comparison

We have selected 5 CPUs covering the range from lowest cost to most powerful. We put them into one table for easy side by side comparison. All features are explained in another table.

Assign CPUs to Use Cases

To make picking a CPU easier the V²Configurator simply asks you about your Field of Application and Main Use Case and then picks the right CPU for you.

Advice

Short advice which CPU to choose for which purpose

CPU Comparison

CPU Comparison Table

CPU Feature Entry CPU Value Entry CPU Performance Mid CPU Value Mid CPU Performance High CPU Value High CPU Performance
Model►Name Sempron 2650 Athlon 5350 i3-4160 i5-4570S i5-6500 i7-6700K
Model►Brand AMD AMD Intel Intel Intel Intel
Model►Series Sempron Athlon Core i3 Core i5 Core i5 Core i7
Model►Core Name Kabini Kabini Haswell Haswell Skylake Skylake
Model►# of Cores Dual-Core Quad-Core Dual-Core Quad-Core Quad-Core Quad-Core
Perf►Clock 1.4 GHz 2.05 GHz 3.6 GHz 2.9 GHz 3.2 GHz 4.0 GHz
Perf►L2 Cache 1MB 2MB 2 x 256KB 4 x 256KB 4 x 256KB 4 x 256KB
Perf►L3 Cache None None 3MB 3MB 6MB shared 8MB shared
Perf►CPU Bench 900 2589 5041 6621 7050 11000
Perf►GPU Bench 280 361 546 1128 1128
Perf►Quick Video - - Yes Yes Yes Yes
Perf►Max Resolution 2560 x 1600 2560 x 1600 4096 x 2304 4096 x 2304 4096 x 2304 4096 x 2304
Perf►Overclocking Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Misc►Socket AM1 AM1 LGA 1150 LGA 1150 LGA1151 LGA1151
Misc►Power TDP 25W 25W 54W 65W 65W 91W
Misc►Boxed Cooler Included Included Included Included Included Not included
Mem►Max Size 32 GB 32 GB 32 GB 32 GB 64 GB 64 GB
Mem►Type DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR4 DDR4
Mem►Speed 1333 1600 1600 1600 2133 2133
Disk►SSD Cache - - - - Yes Yes
Disk►RAID5 - - - - Yes Yes

CPU Features explained

CPU Feature Feature explained
Model►Name Model Name of the CPU. It is easy to find exactly this CPU in any online shop searching the Model Name
Model►Brand Brand of CPU. Make sure the Motherboard you choose is for the same brand
Model►Series Series of CPU
Model►Core Name Name of the Core. Useful if you want to search for similar CPUs in your favorite online shop
Model►# of Cores More cores of the same Model will be faster, but also use more power
Perf►Clock Maximum clock speed by factory settings
Perf►L2 Cache Extremely fast memory. More of it is better
Perf►L3 Cache Slower than L2 cache, but faster than DDR memory. More is better
Perf►CPU Bench Rating in www.cpubenchmark.net
Perf►GPU Bench Rating in http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/
Perf►Quick Video Acceleration for conversion of video for online sharing video editing
Perf►Max Resolution Max Resolution of Display connected to Motherboard
Perf►Overclocking Does the vendor allow overclocking? (Yes
Misc►Socket Name of Socket. Make sure to use a Motherboard with same socket
Misc►Power TDP Maximum Thermal Design Power aka TDP. Make sure to use a CPU cooler that can handle the power
Misc►Boxed Cooler Is a cooler included when buying a CPU. When building a value PC, this cooler will be OK. If you want to build a high end or very silent PC, check out ViCase-Cooler options
Mem►Max Size Max Size of Memory
Mem►Type DDR3 or DDR4
Mem►Speed Max Clock Speed Speed of Memory in MHz
Disk►Hybrid Disk Speed up HDD by caching data on the SSD. Makes your HDD faster
Disk►RAID5 Requires at least 3 Disks. Makes your HDD significantly faster and the same time makes your data more safe. Even when one disk can fails you will still have all data.

List of CPUs (with Tag Lines)

  • Sempron-2650 $31US - AMD - Entry Level
  • Athlon 5350 $50 - AMD - Fast Entry Level
  • [Pentium-G3250] $57 - Intel - Mid Range
  • [i3-4160] $125 - Intel - Fast Mid Range
  • [i5-6500] $205 - Intel - High End
  • [i7-6700K] $360 - Intel - Extreme

CPU Benchmarks

CPU Name Benchmark
Sempron-2650 900
Athlon 5350 2600
Pentium-G3250 3341
i3-4160 5041
i5-6500 7050
i7-6700K 11000

Advice for choosing a CPU

Sempron-2650

Choose this CPU if you are looking for the lowest cost or for the lowest power consumption. You can even turn off one of the two cores and the whole system will use 6W only at full load. Ideal for a general purpose low cost PC or for a presentation PC, such as a large size 28" picture frame to replace an A2 printer or presentation displays in meeting rooms, lobby, hotels, etc. The very low power consumption allows the use of a passive cooler, which makes this PC completely maintenance free and literally silent when paired with an SSD. Performance will feel like a decent tablet. Recommended OS Ubuntu. It also may serve as a streaming PC for Gaming or Video. Be aware that in some countries an Intel Celeron CPU is lower cost and at the same time faster.

Athlon 5350

This is the speed upgrade for the Entry Level System. It is 3 x faster than the Sempron-2650 and almost as fast as the Pentium-G3250. This CPU will give you a very snappy Office / General Purpose PC. The power budget is still very small with 25W in total, which leads to additional savings in power supply and CPU cooler. Bear in mind that this is the fastest CPU that you can plug into the Entry Motherboard. If you plan on growing the performance of your PC, then you will be better served with the Mid Range Motherboard. But if you are looking for lowest cost, low power consumption HTPC / Office PC, this is the best value — with quite a margin.

i3-4160

The i3 is about twice the speed than the Athlon 5350. Also GPU performance is another mark up. Now you can play games such as Minecraft or work with more demanding Apps. E.g. most Video Editing up to 1080p will be fine. E.g. we edited our Indiegogo Pitch Video on this CPU w/o GPU. This CPU uses the same LGA 1150 socket. This means you can replace this CPU at a later time even with an i5 or i7 Quad Core. Enough room to grow. Pairing the i3 with the GTX-750 will be your entry ticket to the world of high end gaming.

i5-4570S

This is another mark up. Besides faster CPU score via Quad Core also get Hyper-V, ideal if you plan to run virtual machines. This CPU is also powerful enough to drive bigger GPU cards that GTX 750, such as the GTX 970.

i5-6500

This is the latest generation of Quad Core CPU. Choose this CPU for High End Gaming, Video Editing, Audio Editing, Photo Editing, 3D Design or other very demanding applications. Instead of going all the way to an i7 Quad Core you often get higher performance for your money by investing into a PCIe Add In Card of the type corresponding to your application. The i5-6500 CPU comes with the newly released LGA 1151 socket with the key benefit to support DDR4. DDR4 memory clock starts today at 2133 MHz, versus 1600 MHz of DDR3. Yet you will not see today faster memory transfer rates in real life. This is because the CAS timing is more relaxed as with DDR3 memory. Surely this will change in the future. However, there is one benefit that you can enjoy instantly. DDR4 will allow in an ITX motherboard 32 GB, whereas DDR3 will max out at 16 GB!

i7-6700K

Choose this CPU if you are looking for the Ultimate in CPU performance.

About Intel CPU Sockets

Overview

Feature LGA 1156 LGA 1155 LGA 1150 LGA 1151
Pin Number 1156 1155 1150 1151
Introduced 2009 2011 2013 2015
USB USB 2 USB 2 USB 3 USB 3
PCIe PCIe 2 PCIe 2 PCIe 3 PCIe 3
Mem DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR4
SATA SATA 2 SATA 3 SATA 3 SATA 3

When to choose 1150 and when 1151

At time of this writing (November 2015) the choice is made by availability: Only i5 and i7 Quad Core CPUs are available with the new socket 1151.

i7 4790K vs i7 6700K

Our conclusion of benefits of i7-6700

  • The new CPU is a little faster, in average 5 ... 10% in real world applications'
  • DDR4 memory is significantly lower cost than fast DDR3 memory of same clock speed
  • A little lower CPU temperature
  • No dramatic improvement, but considering the small improvement and this is a new socket (more future proof) it makes more sense to invest into a i7-6700 now versus an i7-4790.
  • more solid UHD / 4K Display support
  • 40% more bandwidth

Reference on Intel CPU Sockets

Where to find more Information

Newegg CPU Section

This is a great way to start: Power Search: Processors - Desktops

CPU Benchmarks

GPU Benchmarks

CPU Data Sheet

  • Search in Google for "Data Sheet" + CPU Model
  • Pick the link based on: http://ark.intel.com/products/
  • Example: [Data Sheet Intel® Core™ i7-6700K Processor](Intel® Core™ i7-6700K Processor )