Best Upgrade from i5 650 under $150

[xnin3]

I want to upgrade my i5 650. It's a great little chip, but I feel it's time for an upgrade. I have thought about getting the i3 3220, or the 965 BE, but I just don't know! Help me decide!

 

[rds1220]

I want to upgrade my i5 650. It's a great little chip, but I feel it's time for an upgrade. I have thought about getting the i3 3220, or the 965 BE, but I just don't know! Help me decide!

A Phenom II 965 would be a side grade at best. The Ivy Bridges I3 would be better.

 

[twelve25]

i3 is also a sideways move. You are going from a previous gen quad to a new generation dual. You give back the speed upgrade by losing 2 cores. Both of these options require a new motherboard, so it is probably more like a $225 upgrade.

I'd probably just find a second hand i7-860 or i7-870 and use your existing motherboard.

 

[xnin3]

i3 is also a sideways move. You are going from a previous gen quad to a new generation dual. You give back the speed upgrade by losing 2 cores. Both of these options require a new motherboard, so it is probably more like a $225 upgrade.

I'd probably just find a second hand i7-860 or i7-870 and use your existing motherboard.

No. The i5 650 is a FIRST gen. It only has 2 physical cores, and has hyper threading. The i3 3220 is the same way, except with newer technology, and a slightly higher clock speed.

 

[simon12]

for $150 anything that needs a new board is not worth it, either save some more or look for a i5 750/760 used on ebay. Or you could overclock.

 

[twelve25]

No. The i5 650 is a FIRST gen. It only has 2 physical cores, and has hyper threading. The i3 3220 is the same way, except with newer technology, and a slightly higher clock speed.

I knew it was first gen, but I thought it was quad. Thanks for the correction,

I still consider the i3 to be a very minor upgrade and that doesn't change my advice. Looking at all the benchmarks, it's maybe a 25-30% improvement. socket 1156 i7 is going to be more like a 80-90% improvement and could actually be done within the OP's budget.

 

[xnin3]

I knew it was first gen, but I thought it was quad. Thanks for the correction,

I still consider the i3 to be a very minor upgrade and that doesn't change my advice. Looking at all the benchmarks, it's maybe a 25-30% improvement. socket 1156 i7 is going to be more like a 80-90% improvement and could actually be done within the OP's budget.

I have considered this in the past, but I cannot for the life of me find any of the older i7s for anywhere under $150. Could you direct me to anywhere I can find this?

 

[twelve25]

Well they would have to be used, as I said earlier. eBay has quite a few and the auctions always end in the $100-130 range. Buy it now are trying to hold out for $200+ usually, so you have to be patient.

 

[xnin3]

Well they would have to be used, as I said earlier. eBay has quite a few and the auctions always end in the $100-130 range. Buy it now are trying to hold out for $200+ usually, so you have to be patient.

Okay. If I were to just skip out on all the Auctions, and the hassles, would an upgrade to the i5 3350P be justifiable, or would it just not be worth the money? I can't find any benchmarks of it on anandtech, so I really don't know how well it performs.

 

[rds1220]

It will be an upgrade but threre are a few things with that CPU. First you aren't going to be able to overclock it. You can raise the clock a few hundred MHz but that is it and really that won't give you much of a real world performance difference. Also that I5 doesn't have any integrated graphics is just the CPU cores. You will need a discrete video card. So the question is how important is overclocking and do you care that it doesn't have integrated graphics?

 

[xnin3]

It will be an upgrade but threre are a few things with that CPU. First you aren't going to be able to overclock it. You can raise the clock a few hundred MHz but that is it and really that won't give you much of a real world performance difference. Also that I5 doesn't have any integrated graphics is just the CPU cores. You will need a discrete video card. So the question is how important is overclocking and do you care that it doesn't have integrated graphics?

I think it will be fine for me, I have two backup cards just in case my current card craps out, and Overclocking really isn't my thing.

 

[twelve25]

Okay. If I were to just skip out on all the Auctions, and the hassles, would an upgrade to the i5 3350P be justifiable, or would it just not be worth the money? I can't find any benchmarks of it on anandtech, so I really don't know how well it performs.

i5-3350P is essentially a i5-3450 with no video built into the chip. If you are using a separate video card, no problem. In terms of performance, you are talking about a 100% jump. It's just a little bit faster than one of the first gen i7's I was recommending earlier.

You are aware this doesn't fit in your current motherboard, right? So be sure to factor that into the equation.