Going from I7-3770K to Pentium G3420. Will I notice any decrease in web browsing?

[TeknoBug]

lol I wouldn't even consider an AMD APU anymore, the new line of Pentiums and even i3's just beat the snot out of those things for a little less cost and are much more energy efficient. I got rid of my A10 6800K and 7850K. And besides you can use the onboard Intel HD graphics, you don't need a discrete GPU.

You won't see that much of a choke going from an i7 down to a Pentium even just for surfing the web, granted there are fewer and fewer sites using Flash these days (most switching to HTML5 or Silverlight), but there are some sites that will hog the lower end CPU (like mmorpg.com)- personally I use a adblock/flashblock plugin in the browser.

PS- use an LGA1150 i5 or i7's stock cooler on the Pentium if you get it, the Pentium's cooler sucks (has no copper head).

 

[hoorah]

I gave away my desktop to a family member when I felt I was spending too much time playing games and went with just a laptop. That lasted for about a year, then I built a desktop because my laptop was too slow and I didn't want to buy a more expensive laptop. So I kind of feel where you're coming from.

My advice would be to ditch the gaming graphics card but keep the I7. I never had the patience to wait for someone to pay market price for my components if I sold them, so I would suggest just keeping the Z77 and the I7 rather than selling and buying again. You won't get as much cash out of the transaction as you'd expect.

Uninstall steam/origin/whatever, maybe reformat your drive so you're getting a fresh start.

That i7 is worth more than just gaming. If you ever start getting into Plex or transcoding videos, or 4K, you're going to wish you kept it.

 

[TeknoBug]

That i7 is worth more than just gaming. If you ever start getting into Plex or transcoding videos, or 4K, you're going to wish you kept it.

I use Plex on my 1.5GHz A4 5000 laptop, does it really need a lot of processing power?

 

[hoorah]

I use Plex on my 1.5GHz A4 5000 laptop, does it really need a lot of processing power?

Playing or serving? I haven't used plex but its next on my project list. My server in my sig hosts mediabrowser 3 though, which is very similar to plex. The server side, when transcoding, will max out any CPU if you if you have enough users transcoding at once.

Plenty of people can give you data points on plex, here's mine. 1 user transcoding a 1080P file to 720P or so will use up 40-60% of my E8500 in the server.

If I have a few users on at once with tablets/laptops they will have to cut the output res down to 480P.

Point is when I built my server out of an old PC I never expected that I would need a lot of CPU power, it was for just hosting files/backups, then it expanded as it always does.

 

[TeknoBug]

Serving.

Haven't had any performance issues yet.

 

[tracerit]

I do use plex! But only as a server for me. I looked around and it seems the i7-3770k is the most energy efficient of everything else. So I'll keep it. Besides I just remembered when I bought it the sales person only charged me $160ish for it haha.

Now I'm just going to look into if I should stick with atx or go to an itx case.

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone!

 

[Kristijonas]

The number of people who think that 2 core processor and 8gb ram is not enough for everyday mundane tasks is too damn high!
My gaming PC is 2 core cpu +8gb RAM. Sure, it's slower than other PCs for gaming, but for browsing etc, there is no difference. If the OP is 100% sure he won't be playing at all ever again, he should probably just sell his whole PC and buy a cheap new one. Will probably save him several hundred usd's.

 

[mrpiggy]

lol I wouldn't even consider an AMD APU anymore, the new line of Pentiums and even i3's just beat the snot out of those things for a little less cost and are much more energy efficient. I got rid of my A10 6800K and 7850K. And besides you can use the onboard Intel HD graphics, you don't need a discrete GPU.

The OP will need a separate video card for dual-link DVI output for 2560x1440 resolution (which he wants). None of the Intel supported MB DVI outputs are dual-link that I am aware of and "barely" support 1440p (like at 30hz only) through display port.

 

[TeknoBug]

The OP will need a separate video card for dual-link DVI output for 2560x1440 resolution (which he wants). None of the Intel supported MB DVI outputs are dual-link that I am aware of and "barely" support 1440p (like at 30hz only) through display port.

Oh right, the 1440p situation.

 

[escrow4]

The OP will need a separate video card for dual-link DVI output for 2560x1440 resolution (which he wants). None of the Intel supported MB DVI outputs are dual-link that I am aware of and "barely" support 1440p (like at 30hz only) through display port.

Eh? I have this board:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4488#sp

Z87X-UD4H, 1600p for HDMI/Displayport is 60Hz, 4K is 24Hz.

DVI I'd agree, its 1200p at 60Hz max.

 

[el etro]

You will note decreases when in heavier loads(Many tabs) in browsing.

 

[tracerit]

Eh? I have this board:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4488#sp

Z87X-UD4H, 1600p for HDMI/Displayport is 60Hz, 4K is 24Hz.

DVI I'd agree, its 1200p at 60Hz max.

I'll be going with an ITX board though.

So I busted out my old laptop (P8400 Core 2 Duo) and 6GB of RAM. I tried browsing Chrome with the +10 tabs open and it's noticeably slower.

 

[Vesku]

I'll be going with an ITX board though.

So I busted out my old laptop (P8400 Core 2 Duo) and 6GB of RAM. I tried browsing Chrome with the +10 tabs open and it's noticeably slower.

Is it using integrated graphics? Intel integrated was terrible before Nehalem, somewhat tolerable with Nehalem, and alright with Sandy Bridge onward.

 

[mrpiggy]

Eh? I have this board:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4488#sp

Z87X-UD4H, 1600p for HDMI/Displayport is 60Hz, 4K is 24Hz.

DVI I'd agree, its 1200p at 60Hz max.

Oh, you're right, I forgot to qualify the DVI, HDMI and DP limitations with Intel Z77 or below chipset MB's. Since he's talking "downgrading" I assumed earlier chipsets were also part of the equation.