Remember when there was a valid reason to upgrade your CPU every 2 years?

[aigomorla]

every 2 yrs?

i was flipping a cpu every 2 weeks...

C2D -> C2Q (B1) -> C2Q (G0) -> C2Q (E0) -> i7 (B3) -> i7 (Do) -> i9 (when they were called i9's on CPUID later intel designated it the i7 Hex
(A0) -> i7 Hex (D0) ...

IDC knows... *sigh*

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thing is probably 98% of people buying PCs don't need anymore power than what an i3 offers. The overwhelming majority of computer users only use it to surf the net, send emails, basic office tasks, look at pics and videos and maybe play a game on occassion.

The days of needing the fastest chip on the market to do average tasks is long over, and there are very few "new things to do on a PC" that require more power.

Devoting billions to R&D of high end desktop chips probably doesn't benefit Intel's bottom dollar very well. The mass market has told them they want faster and more efficient mobile devices. Only a small percentage of professional applications and enthusiasts are clamouring for faster high end CPUs.

Some find this disappointing we are not getting 50-100% gains every 3 years. Personally I'm happy I can buy a decent PC and have it still be very capable after 4+ years instead of itching for an upgrade because something 3 times faster is available.

Yep. I'm posting this from a C-60 Netbook, which is a 1.0/1.33Ghz (turbo) Brazos-class rig. With 4GB of RAM, and an SSD, it handles basic tasks like web browsing, watching videos, and Skype, just fine.

As long as the PC has a dual-core, and at least 4GB of RAM, it's very viable for everyday tasks.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Having owned a 3930k and also my i5 2500 non k,the i5 2500 non k is more then plenty for my daily usage+gaming.

The move from a e6750 to a q6600 was a good upgrade for me,a i5 2500k at bare minimum for most users is gonna go a long ways.

 

[atpokey]

specialization is a big thing. chips are cheap enough to dedicate to most uses, so whatever you need to do there is probably a card to do it. For most day to day uses our chips are so beefy that they barely feel a scratch.

 

[Ajay]

I used to upgrade my mobo and CPU every year, then every 18 months, then every two years. Now I'm probably going to upgrade my CPU after 4 years to pickup a used hexacore CPU but not changing my motherboard (some of the things I do can easily make use of 2 extra cores and a 10% clock boost). When Haswell-E comes out, I will consider doing a full upgrade, unless for some reason I can't imagine it totally s*cks.

Times sure have changed.