Is the I3 a worth while upgrade?

[DrMrLordX]

I think we had someone necro a thread from 2002 the other day. It's what happens when AT runs forum software that doesn't archive threads automatically.

 

[CluelessOne]

Well, at least they know how to search

 

[mopardude87]

Lol, a useful necro 😀

Yup especially given i am using a i3 2100 in my secondary computer. For my usage on W10 its holding up just fine but without a ssd you really wish you had one in here. It's no 8700 but for a single tab or few open in chrome which is where i am at 95% of the time usage wise absolutely no issues.

Got myself a small form factor Dell Optiplex 790 which a bunch of people drop in i5 2400/2500 chips and gtx 1050ti low profile cards and have a ball with them. I might go 1030gt fanless for that ultimate htpc experience MAYBE.

 

[Golgatha]

The best deal is getting a $1500+ Xeon for under $25 today. Of course finding a working X58 board may be difficult.

Let's keep this useful. What's a good Xeon upgrade for an eVGA X58 SLI3 motherboard these days? Currently running an i7 920 in my Dad's computer.

https://www.evga.com/support/motherboard/legacy/

 

[scannall]

Let's keep this useful. What's a good Xeon upgrade for an eVGA X58 SLI3 motherboard these days? Currently running an i7 920 in my Dad's computer.

https://www.evga.com/support/motherboard/legacy/

The X5670 is in the $20 range on eBay at the moment.

 

[Shmee]

Yes, X5660 or X5670 used to be $1000 plus, they have come way down in price as of today. Around $20 as mentioned. You will likely need a BIOS update though.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Y'all want a necro? Here's a necro from 2002:

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...g-about-this-zen-cooler.824048/#post-39900816

 

[ElFenix]

I think we had someone necro a thread from 2002 the other day. It's what happens when AT runs forum software that doesn't archive threads automatically.

I'm certain XF has that, but there is such a thing as a useful necro, as demonstrated. So we don't turn it on.

 

[Thunder 57]

I'm certain XF has that, but there is such a thing as a useful necro, as demonstrated. So we don't turn it on.

"XF"? That said, yes, sometime necros are fun or informative.

 

[ElFenix]

"XF"? That said, yes, sometime necros are fun or informative.

XenForo

 

[DrMrLordX]

Y'all want a necro? Here's a necro from 2002:

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...g-about-this-zen-cooler.824048/#post-39900816

Zombies everywhere approve such necromancy.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, the reason that I resurrect this thread, was the premise of that comment and how things turned out, 10 years later (or so).

It was a debate between the i3 and the 2500(K).

Well, we know today, that the 2500K, is only just now reaching the end of it's reign as a viable gaming CPU, with AAA games now requiring (effectively) 6 cores or more. (AC: Oddysee, Tomb Raider, some basketball game (or was it one of the more recent FIFA games)).

The i3 isn't even discussed any more, except as a mobile / laptop CPU, for the most part.

Given that, I thought that, although early, I thought that I would crown the 3900X as AMD's current "2500K equivalent". Plenty of threads, plenty of cache, good boost clock, altogether a great CPU. (Granted, it is $499.)

The Ryzen R5 3600 @ $200, is this generation's i3 CPU. Well, sort of. Maybe I'm mixing tiers a bit, and the APUs could be considered akin to Intel's i3 CPUs, and the R5 3600 akin to an i5-2400, and a 3600X akin to an i5-2500K.

But now, it has been announced (officially?) three new platforms for ThreadRipper, with the possibility of using 8-channel DDR4 on the high end. So, while "mainstream" AM4 Ryzen 3000-series CPUs get more cores (16C/32T with 3950X) and starts to eclipse 1st-gen ThreadRipper / HEDT, AMD is planning on totally eclipsing current-gen ThreadRipper with 3rd-Gen TR. It should be a sight to behind, maybe they'll even have a consumer HEDT 32C/64T CPU, or even 48C or 64C. Glorious! (For those of us that can put the cores to good use.)

 

[DrMrLordX]

The Ryzen R5 3600 @ $200, is this generation's i3 CPU.

The Picasso-based APUs and older R3 chips are closer to an i3 from that generation. R5 3600 will last awhile. We aren't quite at the point where a 6c/12t is a true bottleneck in games. There are a few where 8c/16t chips are hitting higher minfps in certain settings. That's pretty uncommon though. Maybe five years from now, yeah, you'll need an 8c chip.

 

[misuspita]

Yeah, I would put 3700x as what was 2500x. 8c/16t should be enough for 5-8 years I would think. Not much more parallelism can be extracted for usual PC stuff so I dont think that core race can be fought much more. Yeah, server is ok, but desktop? Maybe another doubling and that's it. I don'k know where would things go to get better performance since the freq race is effectively halted. 5GHz seems to be about the limit. Let's stratch imagination for a bit and say they can get to 6GHz, but that's it.