[SOLVED] Haswell (LGA1150) upgrade advice

elsmandino

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Hi there.

I would be really grateful some advice.

My current desktop is as follows:

i3-2105, H67MA-E35, 2x4GB DDR3 RAM (plus 350w Gold Super flower PSU, 2xSSDs, running Windows 10).

I have just been offered the following from a friend, who no longer needs it:

G1850, B85M-E45, 2x4GD DDR3 RAM and 2x2GB RAM

A couple of questions:

1. If I do a straight switch, will I notice any real difference (other than a 50% increase in RAM)?

I have compared the two chips online and they seem pretty evenly matched except for the celeron missing hyperthreading.

2. I am thinking of perhaps switching the boards and perhaps upgrading the G1850 with something used from E-bay. What should I go for?

I am into trying to keep my energy use as low as possible, given that I am now working from home, so I want to avoid a CPU that is using lots of extra power whilst sitting at idle for most of the day:

  • How much more power would an i-5 use in comparison to an i-3?
  • Are the "T" and "S" processors actually worth it for saving energy?

Thanks very much.
 
Solution
How much more power would an i-5 use in comparison to an i-3?
usually, it's double the celeron/pentium 2c/2t or i3 at that gen without hyperthreading on in all core load (at the same core all core clock vs the compared cpu). but in idle it wont be much of a difference.

Are the "T" and "S" processors actually worth it for saving energy?
Usually they lower the clock and the power consumption is a little tad bit lower then their original counterpart.

I am thinking of perhaps switching the boards and perhaps upgrading the G1850 with something used from E-bay. What should I go for?
An i7 4770K or Xeon E3 1230/40/31/40 v3 (considering not using the igpu) would be your best upgrade, if you want to sorta make it better...
How much more power would an i-5 use in comparison to an i-3?
usually, it's double the celeron/pentium 2c/2t or i3 at that gen without hyperthreading on in all core load (at the same core all core clock vs the compared cpu). but in idle it wont be much of a difference.

Are the "T" and "S" processors actually worth it for saving energy?
Usually they lower the clock and the power consumption is a little tad bit lower then their original counterpart.

I am thinking of perhaps switching the boards and perhaps upgrading the G1850 with something used from E-bay. What should I go for?
An i7 4770K or Xeon E3 1230/40/31/40 v3 (considering not using the igpu) would be your best upgrade, if you want to sorta make it better for that platform.


If I do a straight switch, will I notice any real difference (other than a 50% increase in RAM)?
Not that much. I've tested both E3 1240 V2 and 1240 V3 (v2=ivy, v3=haswell, both 4c8t without igpu) and their performance is about almost the same, difference is between margin of error. for RAM it usually depends on the background tasks running.
 
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Solution

elsmandino

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i7 4770K Thanks so much - extemely helpful.

So ultimately, I think I should upgrade the Celeron.

Also, I should discount any "T" and "S" CPUs - seem to be a premium for little gain.

It is good to know that an i5 is not going to be using much more power when at idle, over the celeron. This was concerning me as whilst I might use the extra power, at the weekend, my PC does very little during the week - i.e. just used for remotely logging on to work for 8 hours.

A few further recommendations that have now intrigued me:

* The i7-4770k - this seems like a hugely more powerful CPU. How much more power is this going to be over the celeron?

* Xeon E3 1230/40/31/40 v3 - never occurred to me to use these (and there are quite a few on Ebay). Again, what is the actual power draw of these sorts of CPUs?

Also, as you say with the Xeons, you need a dedicated GPU. Are there any really cheap GPUs that you can recommend, that hardly use any power?

Sorry to be a bit obsessed with power usage - my electricy bill is pretty high at the moment and power costs (in the UK) are in a bit of a mess - i.e going up.
 
Are there any really cheap GPUs that you can recommend, that hardly use any power?
If you dont care about gaming, just regular usage, 710 could make the job done.

If you want to game a little, gtx 1050 or RX 460 or 560 could make a good performance without PCIe power (just search the one without pcie power).

the i7 4770K is not HUGE powerful, it's just better, 4 cores, 8 threads. the power of an i7 4770 is about double the i3 4170 at all core loads.

Xeon 4c 8t counterpart does use lower power consumption but not by much compared to an i7 4770 (my friend still use this, and i forgot his results) since it doesn't have an igpu, but from my testing on cinebench r23, it took abt 45-50watt ish of power at the heaviest load (since AVX2 is new to haswell) compared to my e3 1240 v2, which draws 58-60W max, but for daily gaming it does half of the wattage that my cpu use, around 20-30w (below 40w), while my cpu use 40-50w consistently, through YMMV, since this is my personal test.

The point is, i did pick xeon because they are cheap, perform the same aas i7 3770, and i dont need the igpu, perfectly suitable for me.

I hope this helps :D
 
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elsmandino

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Thanks Koekieezz - really appreciate your help.

Graphic cards prices are just crazy at the moment (and do not seem to be likely to change in the near future), so I think I shall have to go with a CPU with onboard graphics.

My main concern is idle power draw and since it appears that all the Haswell CPUs seem to have around the same level, I think I would just have a look at any CPU, with at least 4 cores, for the cheapest priced.
 
The G1850 is a two thread processor so I would dismiss using that out of hand.

I think your concern with power usage is a bit misplaced.
When idle, a processor will lower it's multiplier and power usage to virtually nothing.
Even when doing work, the multiplier and consequent power use will vary according to load demands.

I think your plan to upgrade the G1850 is a good one.
The 4770K is a very good jump in capability.
A 4770K which has a thermal design power or 84w running full out is not going to raise your electric bill much.
If you ran full out for 10 hours a day, that would be 1 kilowatt hour.
More likely, your active use would be much less than that.
In the US, that would be 12 cents.

Integrated graphics is the way to go unless you are a fast action gamer.
Something like a discrete GT1030 would be a 30w card