Moving from Sandy Bridge I3-2100

xaeniac

Golden Member
Feb 4, 2005
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Started to game again and feel like it may be time to upgrade with the CPU advances. Would you agree with the statement? My feelings are it is getting long in the tooth and think I have a Radeon 8950. Looking to upgrade and wanting to know what CPU would I get a significant update and interested in bang for the dollar, but will have a decent lifecycle as I do like to keep my systems for a while as you can see. Thanks.
 

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
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Tentative budget? Screen resolution you intend to use? Anything other than gaming you plan to use PC for?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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Get an Ryzen 5 1600X rig, if you game. If you do primarily content creation, then wait for ThreadRipper to debut.

And yeah, budget?
 
Aug 11, 2008
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For gaming, 1600X is good on a budget. You can get it for around 250.00. If you can afford another hundred dollars, I would move up to a 7700K. You might also want to consider upgrading your gpu at some point as well. An RX 580 or GTX 1060 would be faster and use less power. Newer midrange AMD cards are in very short supply now though, due to high demand for crypto currency mining.
 

xaeniac

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Feb 4, 2005
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Thinking about $300-350 tops for budget for proc. Don't need a high resolution. Other uses are general usage. Every now and then I encode a video file. Primary is general use and gaming.
 

Reinvented

Senior member
Oct 5, 2005
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For gaming, 1600X is good on a budget. You can get it for around 250.00. If you can afford another hundred dollars, I would move up to a 7700K. You might also want to consider upgrading your gpu at some point as well. An RX 580 or GTX 1060 would be faster and use less power. Newer midrange AMD cards are in very short supply now though, due to high demand for crypto currency mining.

Can't even find an RX580 or 480 in stock. 1060 is your best bet.
 

Killrose

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 1999
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Started to game again and feel like it may be time to upgrade with the CPU advances. Would you agree with the statement? My feelings are it is getting long in the tooth and think I have a Radeon 8950. Looking to upgrade and wanting to know what CPU would I get a significant update and interested in bang for the dollar, but will have a decent lifecycle as I do like to keep my systems for a while as you can see. Thanks.
Plop in an i5-2500 or a i7-2600 as a cheap upgrade? Depends on what games you play and resolution, but unless you want to go thru a whole system upgrade you could just upgrade some components and then decide on a whole upgrade later?
 

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
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Thinking about $300-350 tops for budget for proc. Don't need a high resolution. Other uses are general usage. Every now and then I encode a video file. Primary is general use and gaming.

I agree with Killrose.. Your current cpu is a 65 watt dual core. For $100 you can drop in a 4 core, 8 thread CPU with decent clock speeds.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...107611?hash=item283765c25b:g:ZdwAAOSwdjNZDx96

Add a decent video card & it will do all of what you want, and still be under budget. ;)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...4500405&cm_re=gtx_1060-_-14-500-405-_-Product

Sell your old parts and buy an SSD, & you're still good for awhile..
 
Last edited:

bbhaag

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Jul 2, 2011
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Plop in an i5-2500 or a i7-2600 as a cheap upgrade? Depends on what games you play and resolution, but unless you want to go thru a whole system upgrade you could just upgrade some components and then decide on a whole upgrade later?
This suggestion is worth looking at. A quick search on Ebay suggests an i7-2600 goes for around $100 to 120 shipped. Drop one in and a gpu upgrade would get you nice general use/gaming machine.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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I disagree. Why spend good money after bad.

Get a decent B350 or X370 mobo, and at the least, a Ryzen 5 1600 CPU. That's what I did.

Why spend $120 on a 2600K, when you could have Ryzen 5 1600 for $211 right now.
 
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bbhaag

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Jul 2, 2011
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Won't that approach require an investment in a new main board and ram. Whats the cost of a nice DDR4 kit going for? I paid $90 for 16gb of 3000 back in October. Whats a decent b350 board go for? What about the cost of the OS?
The OP hasn't been very specific. General usage, gaming but not at a high resolution. What does that even mean? 1920x1080 or 1366x788? Then he plans on encoding the occasion vid but again with no specifics.
 
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vissarix

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Jun 12, 2015
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I disagree. Why spend good money after bad.

Get a decent B350 or X370 mobo, and at the least, a Ryzen 5 1600 CPU. That's what I did.

Why spend $120 on a 2600K, when you could have Ryzen 5 1600 for $211 right now.
Because Spending 5 times more to build a new Amd build and get less performance in gaming is not smart?

The i7 2600k 4.7ghz Is faster then Ryzen flagship overclocked to 4 ghz...

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2867-intel-i7-2600k-2017-benchmark-vs-7700k-1700-more?showall=1

I would recommend the OP to just upgrade to an i7 2600k and then eventually upgrade to a new Intel build since they are way better for gaming...
 
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SPBHM

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Sep 12, 2012
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"Radeon 8950."

are you sure? 6950? 7950? if it's a 6950 I think it's more important to upgrade the VGA first for newer titles.

the i3 2100 struggles with some current games, but as mentioned 1155 motherboard can take some very decent CPUs like the 2600 and 3770.
 
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whm1974

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Jul 24, 2016
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"Radeon 8950."

are you sure? 6950? 7950? if it's a 6950 I think it's more important to upgrade the VGA first for newer titles.

the i3 2100 struggles with some current games, but as mentioned 1155 motherboard can take some very decent CPUs like the 2600 and 3770.
Yeah a 2600 or 3770 CPU and a GPU upgrade would be worth doing on the cheap if the OP doesn't want to build another system or doesn't have or want to spend the money to do so.
 

xaeniac

Golden Member
Feb 4, 2005
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Ok thinking of going with the i-7. think i need another cooler as well? Would you point me in the correct direction?

Also, I do have a HD6900 ATi card. Would I upgrade this? Think this needs to be upgraded as well. Would someone recommend a bang for the dollar?
 

nathanddrews

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@xaeniac is your current computer an OEM system (Dell, HP, etc.) or is it something that you have built? I only ask because I had a couple i3-2100 OEM machines that would not allow me to upgrade to Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i7 CPUs and no BIOS updates were available to expand compatibility. They should have been drop-in upgrades or at most require a new BIOS, but no. Best I could do was i5-3450, it wouldn't even post with a 3570K. Just something to keep in mind - ensure motherboard support for the desired CPU before buying.

Ok thinking of going with the i-7. think i need another cooler as well? Would you point me in the correct direction? Also, I do have a HD6900 ATi card. Would I upgrade this? Think this needs to be upgraded as well. Would someone recommend a bang for the dollar?
The stock Intel cooler should perform fine unless you're going to push heavy overclocks. Otherwise if you have space for it, the 212 coolers have always been my go-to HSF setup.

It's hard to beat the AMD RX560 or 1050Ti on sale/rebate for absolute value, but a used RX 470 or new 570 is probably the most bang for the buck from a performance perspective. I have seen some cheaper 6GB 1060 cards, too.
 

whm1974

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Jul 24, 2016
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@xaeniac is your current computer an OEM system (Dell, HP, etc.) or is it something that you have built? I only ask because I had a couple i3-2100 OEM machines that would not allow me to upgrade to Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i7 CPUs and no BIOS updates were available to expand compatibility. They should have been drop-in upgrades or at most require a new BIOS, but no. Best I could do was i5-3450, it wouldn't even post with a 3570K. Just something to keep in mind - ensure motherboard support for the desired CPU before buying.
This is one of the reasons I build my own systems, and apply BIOS/UEFI updates every so often. A lot of times OEMs especially the big box ones tend to cripple upgradablity to force owners to buy new computers instead.
 

nathanddrews

Graphics Cards, CPU Moderator
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This is one of the reasons I build my own systems, and apply BIOS/UEFI updates every so often. A lot of times OEMs especially the big box ones tend to cripple upgradablity to force owners to buy new computers instead.
I have a bad habit of picking up OEM and SFF systems off of Craigslist and auctions. Usually I just clean them up, toss in a cheap GPU, and sell/give them to people looking for a cheap gaming PC for their kids. Most of them will allow upgrades to the top CPU of their given generation, but I've encountered exactly two (IIRC) that did not. Honestly, I think the OEM was just scraping the barrel for motherboard parts and skimped on power delivery, so they couldn't validate anything beyond mid-range i5 CPUs.
 
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whm1974

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I have a bad habit of picking up OEM and SFF systems off of Craigslist and auctions. Usually I just clean them up, toss in a cheap GPU, and sell/give them to people looking for a cheap gaming PC for their kids. Most of them will allow upgrades to the top CPU of their given generation, but I've encountered exactly two (IIRC) that did not. Honestly, I think the OEM was just scraping the barrel for motherboard parts and skimped on power delivery, so they couldn't validate anything beyond mid-range i5 CPUs.
Yeah for a while there were refurbished and even new in box Haswell i5 systems w/ 8GB of ram and 1TB HDDs for sale at dirt cheap prices going around. Throw in a 1050 Ti and you will have a cheap gaming system.
 

Jan Olšan

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Jan 12, 2017
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Motherboards in OEM boxes also usually have just few VRM phases without any heatsinks, so that must also be taken into account.

Example: https://www.cbo-do.de/images/product_images/popup_images/44621_0.JPG

i7-2600 might throttle in full load due to the VRM overheating/overloading. I recently I installed i7-2600K in https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H61M-P31W8.html and it would start to throttle in Handbrake in a few minutes. In that case, installing a radial stock heatsink helped (no idea if it is a good solution long-term though, those mosFETs are probably still getting too hot, those chips aren't 95W TDP for nothing), but it gives you an idea.

The i7 2600k 4.7ghz Is faster then Ryzen flagship overclocked to 4 ghz...
Yeah, but you need a good cooling and Z67/Z77 motherboard. If the current CPU is i3-2100...
 

xaeniac

Golden Member
Feb 4, 2005
1,641
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@xaeniac is your current computer an OEM system (Dell, HP, etc.) or is it something that you have built? I only ask because I had a couple i3-2100 OEM machines that would not allow me to upgrade to Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i7 CPUs and no BIOS updates were available to expand compatibility. They should have been drop-in upgrades or at most require a new BIOS, but no. Best I could do was i5-3450, it wouldn't even post with a 3570K. Just something to keep in mind - ensure motherboard support for the desired CPU before buying.


The stock Intel cooler should perform fine unless you're going to push heavy overclocks. Otherwise if you have space for it, the 212 coolers have always been my go-to HSF setup.

It's hard to beat the AMD RX560 or 1050Ti on sale/rebate for absolute value, but a used RX 470 or new 570 is probably the most bang for the buck from a performance perspective. I have seen some cheaper 6GB 1060 cards, too.

I built it and have a biostar motherboard. Pretty sure it is a Biostar TH67+.
 

astrosfan315

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2002
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I moved from i5-750 HD5850 I built Xmas of 2009 to Ryzen 1600 and GTX1060 build a few weeks ago. Spent $900 and happy for it!