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Putting together a rig for my brother. I bought a Asus P8P67 (REV 3.1) mobo. There are several CPU options. What are the differences between these:

Intel Pentium G series
i7
i5
i3

He plans to do light gaming such as TF2 etc. I was leaning toward an i3 type due to costs (cheaper). Here is the link to the supported cpu list:

http://www.service.asus.com/#!downloads/c1wax

The OS will be win7 with 8 gigs of DDR3 1600.

All would do fine in TF2, but here's the major differences:

i3 = Dual Core & 3mb cache with Hyper-Threading (Virtual 4 cores, good, but not as good as 4 real cores)
i5 = Quad Core & 6mb cache with Turboboost (can temporarily boost clock speed when there's high demand)
i7 = Quad Core & 8mb cache with Hyper-Threading (Virtual 8 cores) & Turboboost

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the i7, but it looks like several at Anand's site that are for sale won't work with this mobo like the i7 920. They were around $100.

If you're building on the cheap, I'd go with an I3:

Intel Core i3-3240 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz LGA 115

$119.99 = an extra $13 off with promo code. Make sure that board supports Ivy Bridge. I think all or most of the p67's will with a bios update.

I recommend not using the stock cooler. For air cooling, go with a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103099 ($29.99) or one of the closed loop systems. I can't recommend one as I've never used it. The main thing is to make sure the radiator will clear the motherboard once installed in the case.

Good Luck!

Thanks. According to the CPU support list, it will work.

Core i3-2100 (3.1G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2100T (2.5G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2105 (3.1G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.D2)
Core i3-2120 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2120T (2.6G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-2125 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-2130 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-3210 (3.2G,L3:3M,iGPU,GT1,55W,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.E1)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.N0)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3220T (2.8G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3220T (2.8G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3225 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3240T (2.9G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240T (2.9G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3245 (3.4G,2C,HT,L3:3M,55W,GT1,rev.L1)
Core i3-3250 (3.5G,2C,HT,L3:3M,55W,GT1,rev.P0)
Core i3-3250T (3.0G,2C,HT,L3:3M,35W,GT1,rev.P0)

What does this mean??? Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 2500

You'd get the most bang for your buck with an i5, but an i7 is decent on its own. Though it depends on applications, some can't take advantage of it very well, and others it is just a hinderance. The extra cache size and additional cores does provide for a decent performance benefit. Ofcourse only if an application can make use of it.

The Intel HD Graphics 2500 is the GPU onboard the CPU. That one in particular is associated with the lower end Core i3s and i5s. The Intel HD 2500 is inferior to the Intel HD 4000, but that much doesn't really matter. No one in their right mind would game with them, and for basic desktop usage, it wouldn't really matter.

So in other words, it doesn't really matter in this case.

Anything from this light should work:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... generation

They are all Ivy Bridge based.
Anything from this list should work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... agesize=50

The one linked is a pretty decent price atm. Though part of me wonders if there might be a better deal for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. Hard to really bet on that one though.

Executioner wrote:Thanks. According to the CPU support list, it will work.

Core i3-2100 (3.1G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2100T (2.5G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2105 (3.1G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.D2)
Core i3-2120 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.Q0)
Core i3-2120T (2.6G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-2125 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-2130 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C)
Core i3-3210 (3.2G,L3:3M,iGPU,GT1,55W,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.E1)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.N0)
Core i3-3220 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3220T (2.8G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3220T (2.8G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3225 (3.3G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240 (3.4G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3240T (2.9G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.L1)
Core i3-3240T (2.9G,L3:3M,iGPU,2C,rev.P0)
Core i3-3245 (3.4G,2C,HT,L3:3M,55W,GT1,rev.L1)
Core i3-3250 (3.5G,2C,HT,L3:3M,55W,GT1,rev.P0)
Core i3-3250T (3.0G,2C,HT,L3:3M,35W,GT1,rev.P0)

What does this mean??? Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 2500

Most of the "I" series Intel's have integrated graphics built on the chip. The processors that don't have a "P" on the end. In order to use the onboard graphics, you need a chipset that supports it. the H67 series and I think the Z series all support it. You'll see either an HDMI or DV-I connector on the motherboard. I'd only use it if you're planning on building an HTPC and in that case I'd probably take a look at AMD's processors. Intel's onboard graphics have been terrible for as long as I can remember. I've never understood why they didn't buy ATI before AMD or partner with NVidia.

You will want a dedicated GPU for TF2. An NVidia 650 or AMD 7790 ought be be enough for TF2 at mid settings.

http://www.pcper.com/hwlb

You can also look at the low end system on PCPer's hardware leader board. At least you'll have a list of matching hardware.