CPUs > 3 GHz and more CPUs > Processor upgrade > 100 GBP to 199 GBP

Advantages: Cheap, fast and cool
Disadvantages: it's not a quad core, £130 may be too much for some

It took a while for Intel to wake up and smell the prices of AMD shares recently (AMD being Intel's main competitor). After years of AMD taking bite after bite out of Intel's market share with innovative, efficient, fast and affordable processors, Intel finally did something about it and released the Core 2 processor. The dual and quad core CPU's completely blew AMD away and AMD still haven't caught up two years later. The Intel Core 2 E8400 is the ...
...advantage of quad cores and Intel has released it's next generation architecture called Nehalem, it's well worth saving your money - with the E8400 costing less than £130, it's value for money, especially if you're overclocking, is undeniable. Whether you're buying a new system with an E8400 in it or upgrading your existing system, the E8400 should be top of your list. ... Read review

Advantages: Fast, good overclocking potential; the best for games (and virtually all other applications)
Disadvantages: Runs fairly warm, but nothing terrible

As a gamer, I needed the best processor out there. Searching around, the only real debate in this price range was whether to go for the E6850, a dual core CPU, or the Q6600, a quad core at a lower clock. After looking at many different benchmarks and reviews, the answer was clear - the higher clocked part (the E6850) was a more power processor, giving better performance in games, and better performance in most ofther software applications as well. ...
...6 months ago when I bought this product; current applications do not need 4 cores to run quickly, especially games. If I was particularly interested in video editing, then I may have gone for a quad-core, but for my purposes it wasn't nescessary. Not only that, but I have used video editing software on this, and it will render incredibly quickly - I was blown away. So, the upshot is - what do you need to use your computer for? A few specialised ... Read review

Advantages: Overclocks amazingly well, very durable, runs really cool.
Disadvantages: 512MB Cache per core instead of 1GB, Wish OCed on less voltage

I purchased the Black Edition of the processor. The little thing is amazing. Its a very cool and low power processor. I was able to overclock it from 2.6 to 3.275 with almost no heat gain. It didn't come with a normal stock cooler so I had to buy one. http://www.ciao.co.uk/ArcticCoolingFreezer64ProProcessorcoole r 6478463 ^That is the one I purchased. This processor requires almost 1.5V for an overclock of 3.275. Any voltage above isn't ...
...mine were bent and it still works just fine, though it has to be pressed in some. The only con I really notice about this amazing little processor is that it only has 512MB per core, instead of a wanted 1GB per core. I recommend this to people on a budget who want to get the most out of their system. ... Read review

Advantages: Price,ease of instalation
Disadvantages: the cache, the speed

AMD have had some bad press over the years and this 4200 processor does not help them. With only a poor 1 mb cache it gets tasks dont but you wont find it doing them in record time. I also find amd products are overclockable but confusing to do. But on the value for money side you cant really go wrong because the price is a lot lower than an intel but unfortunately this is because the intel processor is that bit better. I would also say not to buy ... Read review

Advantages: Great OCing potential, Very cheap, Easy to install
Disadvantages: Higher models available at similar price

I have been using this processor since building my computer last year, the reason im still using it is because it is a superb processor, these days this processor is sold on auction sights and can be purchased either with the cooler at about a £100 or easily purchased OEM style as just the processor itself. However i managed to purchase mine for a mere 20 pounds off ebay and ive never looked back since. Since then ive ran games such as crysis on ...
...has it failed me even under the stress of crysis. Many consider its clock speed as very poor for a dual core but in my eyes this is a gem for overclocking. I managed with ease to clock this processor from a respectable 1.6ghz all the way up to 3ghz each core. Ive been using it as this speed for about a year now and it hasnt failed me yet. This processor is so overlooked and i think its beauty comes in its price and its potential for overclocking. ... Read review