[compnovo]

My son's Core2 Duo system is getting a little long in the tooth for his taste so he's planning on upgrading the processor, motherboard, and RAM (the rest of the components are reusable). I'm behind the times with Intel procs so I thought I'd ask the community's advise on which i5 or i7 is delivering the best bang for the buck these days. His budget won't accommodate the high-end stuff.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions!

[LiveBrianD]

What's his budget? For a gaming processor, the i5 3570K is great (it's not really worth getting an i7).

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 11 January 2013 - 12:51 PM, said:

What's his budget? For a gaming processor, the i5 3570K is great (it's not really worth getting an i7).

Thanks LiveB,
I don't have an actual figure but think mid-range. Your suggestion looks good, and I'm going to run all suggestions by him.

[LiveBrianD]

By the way, what graphics card does he already have?

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 11 January 2013 - 02:16 PM, said:

By the way, what graphics card does he already have?

Doesn't matter, he won't be upgrading it.

[LiveBrianD]

I was just curious, as at some point the GPU is a major bottleneck in games.

[compnovo]

I'm guessing he will go with an i5 due to his budget, but from what I can see on Newegg they are all LGA 1155 and it appears the newer standard is LGA 2011. Do the 1155s still have some legs to them?

(I told you I was out of touch with Intel procs .)

[LiveBrianD]

Lol... The 1155s are Sandy Bridge (older) and Ivy Bridge (newer, and the 3570K is one of these) - this is the mainstream line, and hasn't been replaced yet. 2011 is for REALLY high-end, expensive, i7s (and Sandy Bridge ones at that). I think that would be out of his budget!

You may want to get a board with a Z77 chipset as well.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 12 January 2013 - 08:46 AM

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 12 January 2013 - 08:45 AM, said:

Lol... The 1155s are Sandy Bridge (older) and Ivy Bridge (newer, and the 3570K is one of these) - this is the mainstream line, and hasn't been replaced yet. 2011 is for REALLY high-end, expensive, i7s (and Sandy Bridge ones at that). I think that would be out of his budget!

You may want to get a board with a Z77 chipset as well.

Thanks, good info.

[coastie65]

You could do prettyu well with a second gen. Sandybridge such as the i5 2500k or i7 2600k. The prices have come down pretty well and they are still a viable performance option. I would go with a Z77 MOBO though.

[compnovo]

coastie65, on 12 January 2013 - 04:35 PM, said:

You could do prettyu well with a second gen. Sandybridge such as the i5 2500k or i7 2600k. The prices have come down pretty well and they are still a viable performance option. I would go with a Z77 MOBO though.

Thanks coastie!

[LiveBrianD]

The 2500K is only $10 cheaper than the 3570K. Granted, there's nothing wrong with it, and the 3570K is barely faster, but the latter also uses less power. It's the same with the 2600K and 3770K. (though you gain little going to an i7 over an i5 anyway)

[waldojim]

You know... this may just be me, but we are only a couple months from Hasswell (at least, it is supposed to be just a couple months). Hasswell is supposed to bring some massive changes, and might just be worth the wait.

[compnovo]

waldojim, on 13 January 2013 - 02:00 PM, said:

You know... this may just be me, but we are only a couple months from Hasswell (at least, it is supposed to be just a couple months). Hasswell is supposed to bring some massive changes, and might just be worth the wait.

I don't know how much of a hurry he's in to upgrade but I'll pass this along to my son.

[LiveBrianD]

I was just reading this (http://www.tomshardw...sung,20486.html) and noticed the Sandy Bridge i5 part - $225 CPU in a $500 machine. I have to wonder - maybe they're in such a hurry to get rid of the Sandy Bridge stock because of Haswell being around the corner?