Performance sweet spot VS Price on i5

[SanDiegoPC]

I need to do another build this wk. It does not need to be anywhere near as powerful as the i7 OC machine that I currently use for myself (see my sig below). For this user it will be strictly email apps and Microsoft Office programs for running a Non-Profit. Lots of still pictures in a library but no video.

I'm almost certainly going to use an i5 and an Asus board, probably a 500G or 640G Western Digital Black hard drive.

Where's the sweet spot for price & performance on the i5 series? New Egg best place to buy?

Thanks in advance

 

[RussianSensation]

If he is not going to be overclocking, Core i5-2400 or Core i5-2500 should be more than enough. In fact, for the tasks you described the Athlon II X4 640 is more than plenty.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

Thanks for the feedback. Correct, this will be a stock-configuration build, no overclocking. I'm strictly an Intel guy so it would be one of the i5's in the build.

 

[Wizlem]

Sure is smart to strictly buy the wrong tool for the job. Invest the money in a fast hard drive cause everything else is going to be more than fast enough no matter what modern processor you buy.

 

[genietime]

How much $$ are you looking to spend? To just surf the net, use MS Office and view pixs, really an i3 is fine. Spend the cash on a better monitor and a SSD.

Newegg has a shellshocker now with an i3-540 and an ASUS P7H55-M Pro for dirt cheap $185, with integrated graphic included. You could do that and 4 gig of DDR3 for another $40. I think Newegg is fine. There is a Fry's off Areo drive, and one in San Marcos, and a Microcenter in Tustin if memory serves from when I lived there. Both were ok if you want to go brick and mortar.

It's not a quad-core obviously, but you didn't mention if you wanted a quad core i5. Are are you talking Sandy Bridge or Clarkdale or Lynnfield? All are i5s. If you are referring to Sandy Bridge an i5-2400 or i5-2500 is more than enough.

If you are more specific I think you'll probably get better advice.

 

[Dadofamunky]

i3s are obsolete. Don't bother with something that is obsolete before you open the box. Get an i5 2400 or i5 2500. It will run rings around anything else in the previous generation for very little more and hold up longer performance wise.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

One of the machines here is an i3 on an Intel board that I tossed together in a pinch last year. It's no faster I don't think, than the old Dell Pentium 4 machine that I am going to replace this week with the i5.

I am not after the latest & greatest on this build, just snappy performance. And it's going to be an XP Pro machine as they don't want to invest in Windows7. I'll be using the XP Pro license from the phased out computer and recycling it's parts.

I think any i5 will run circles around the old Pentium 4. I was just asking for a recommendation on which model gives the bang for buck that I need for this particular build. That's about it. It will be on a high-speed network 24/7/365 but won't have any real fancy software on it, or any 3D gaming for instance.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Core i3 2100 would be enough to do all of that.

 

[Dadofamunky]

I suspect the i5 2400 is a good fit. Newegg, however, is overpriced. Try to get to Micro Center, their prices are the best and they have those in stock.

 

[ydnas7]

Core i3 2100 would be enough to do all of that.

i agree, for the duty your'e describing, any of the sandybridge i3, i5 will suffice, i don't know if sandybridge core i3 are in stock yet

although its quite a different beast, sandybridge i3 dual core 2c/4t is approximate to lynnfield i5 quadcore 4c/4t (for office and photoshop)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=109

 

[richierich1212]

snappy you say? Any processor + SSD + Samsung F1 for data.