Advice on i5-2400 used or G4560 new?

[EnsisTheSlayer]

As a student that's just getting enough money for a PC through holiday money and selling old consoles, building a system with a used i5-2400 and mobo and RAM looks very appealing for $44 cheaper than a new G4560 build and performs similarly, but what concerns me is the longevity.

I read that the average CPU lifespan is 10 years, and the i5-2400 is a 6 year old CPU, and I plan on using it for years and years (like 5+ if possible), and I think it's possible since things like 4K will only decrease load on the CPU (or something like that) since it's pushing the GPU more. Can I expect a locked and used i5-2400 and used mobo and RAM to last me 5+ years, or should I spend the $44 extra on the G4560 just to be safe?

It's $44 I could spend on games, but it's not too tragic since I already have the 5 Elder Scrolls games and a few other games for PC already plus all the free ones to keep me occupied until I get more money to buy more games, but it would still kind of suck and I'd like to know if it really should be a concern of mine.

 

[MnMWizard]

Looking at this:
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-G4560-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2400/3892vs803
they are about the same. I guess I'd go for the i5, what GPU are you getting?

 

[damric]

I'd spend the extra dough on the Kaby Lake just for platform improvements such as storage and connectivity. Neither processor is a great idea for 4K gaming but the Pentium will do slightly better and at least it has a much better upgrade option if you decide you need more logical cores with an i7 down the road.

 

[k1114]

I'm thinking the i5 2400 build is overpriced. I can't get a decent g4560 build lower than $250 and that's no os yet I can get a i5 2500 pc with os for $120. That's not a $44 difference. If it's only that much more, I think the pentium is the obvious winner.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

Here's some gaming benchmarks that include an i5 2500k.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2902-intel-pentium-g4560-review-vs-i3/page-3

The 2500k is clocked roughly 10% faster than the 2400, so you can use that for comparisons. If it were me, I'd go with the 4560 as well. As Damric said, upgrade path and platform improvements (like faster RAM, USB 3) and more importantly a warranty to go along with it.

 

[rhysiam]

Don't worry about the CPU dying - that's really not a factor worth considering. While possible, it's incredibly rare for a locked CPU to fail/die.

Having said that, if you want 5+ years out of the platform you should definitely be getting the Pentium. Not because it's a better CPU but because you can throw an i5 or i7 in there down the track and have a modern and capable gaming platform. Best you can do on the 1155 socket is a locked 3770 which is already fairly dated, and for sure in 4-5 years it's going to be ancient. Pentium gives you DDR4 2400, PCIe 3, USB 3.1, as well as slightly higher clocks and a significant (though not massive) IPC bump. None of those are big deals now, but if you're aiming for longevity, it'll all help (particularly the RAM and CPU speed).