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CPU Shopping Tips as Fast As Possible

2014-05-07
first up of course is to figure out which you prefer between AMD or Intel right wrong we do not shop by brand we shop by what delivers us the best performance features and quality for the money we're spending and just to make this crystal clear AMD and Intel both make extremely high quality micro processors so let's move on to that other stuff step one if you already have your PC and you're upgrading is to make sure you're shopping for CPUs that actually fit in the frakking motherboard that you're planning to use don't feel bad about needing to look it up Intel for example maintains current generation products across two different physical sockets at any given time and often has a trailing older socket along with more complex electrical and compatibilities so go ahead ask a friend next up is to look at what delivers more bang for your buck within your target budget performance used to be simple the younger viewers may be surprised to hear that not only did AMD and Intel CPUs used to perform the same clock for clock but they even fit into the same motherboards at one point comparisons were easy whoever had the faster clock speed was faster and the megahertz war was born then everything started changing because the megahertz or gigahertz or frequency of a CPU became no longer any more meaningful than gauging the performance of a car by how many rpms the engine spins at I mean yeah it's it's a useful metric somewhat but only if we have other information at the same time so let's talk about this other information number one we need to know how much work a CPU can perform with each of those cycles how many instructions per clock it can perform its CPU a run at two gigahertz and did one instruction per cycle and CPU B ran at one gigahertz into two instructions per cycle then they actually do the exact same amount of work so the only way to measure which one is really better is by running real-world tests but just like putting a car on a dyno and measuring peak horsepower running one test or one benchmark isn't the be-all and end-all of CPU performance either modern CPUs have multiple processing cores and signed them and while some benchmarks will measure the speed of a single-core with more power redirected to it in a turbo mode other benchmarks will tell us more about how that CPU behaves with that heavier load that's spread across all the processing course a multi-threaded test and other tests will tell us you know if the CPU has enough cash to keep up with a particular workload in a perfect world you want to find websites that test the exact applications you're using most frequently so you know exactly what you're getting and that's the only way to figure it out but let's continue the car analogy for some people it isn't just about how fast you go what about creature comforts like air conditioning and cruise control CPU reviews from reputable sites like tech report hardware Cox and PC perspective we'll give you a rundown of other important information like power consumption heat output security features maximum supported memory expected overclocking limits for tweakers and so much more and once you've got all of that information you are ready to make a non fanboy tastic decision about what gives you the best value for your money before plunking down your hard earned cash ola but if all that sounded like way too much working at this point you're just kind of sitting here going oh I can't believe I'm watching this not to worry head over to Linus tech tips comm and post asking for a recommendation in the CPU section I personally guarantee you'll get the help you need we've got an awesome community over there speaking of awesome communities audible.com is tech quickies longest-running sponsor and without our community members heading over to audible.com slash tech quickie when they get a hankering for an audio book well I bet they wouldn't want to do that anymore an audible membership is worth checking out for a few reasons guys number one is that by signing up for the monthly service you get their great listen guarantee for hassle-free exchanges in case you pick up my life as a white trash zombie by Dianne Roland and you meant to get Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen don't worry you can exchange it and the other big one for me is that aside from the one audio book included per month you get a discount on additional ones as part of your membership what week there's more hold on the first one is free with the new membership so head over to audible.com slash tech quickie and check it out today you'll love it and if you don't you can cancel the membership with no hassle anyway that's yet another benefits I threw in that other benefit so what have you got to lose except that disgusting growth on your forehead Joe don't have one that's what I thought then I guess there's no excuse guys thank you for checking out this episode of fast as possible like and share it if you liked it dislike it if you put it just totally suck and leave a comment suggesting future episodes of fast as possible and don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss the episodes as fast as possible that you suggest now I'm going to just move fast wildly for a little bit to wreak havoc on my editors who are trying to green-screen this ha I think we're done here
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