Is the I3 a worth while upgrade?

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DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
23,142
13,236
136
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.
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
3,348
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Lol, a useful necro :D

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.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
8,313
3,177
146
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.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,405
8,585
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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.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
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

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
23,142
13,236
136
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

Senior member
Jul 15, 2006
748
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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.