Intel i3 3240 @3.4GHz need to upgrade to Skylake?

[tunacajun]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if I need to upgrade my box. This box is used HEAVILY (very) for programming dev works (Java, putty, etc) and secondly, for watching movies (mkv files). very rarely for games, even then, it would be "resource-not-so-heavy" games like Civilization or X-Com Enemy Within. my box spec is as follows:
CPU : Ivy Bridge i3 3240 @3.4GHz (core temp for core#1 is 34-45C and core#2 is 38-51C)
mobo : Asus P8Z77-V LX2
ram : 2 x DDR3 4GB Corsair Vengeance

My first priority is:
1. lower power consumption, since my box runs almost 17 hours everyday (including weekends)
2. cooler chips --> components last longer
3. performance gain

if I switch to skylake, how well will this achieve points above? especially point #1

 

[CTurbo]

Honestly, I would find a 3rd gen i7 like the 3770. If you're looking for low power, the 3770s is 65w, and the 3770t is 45w.

 

[tunacajun]

Honestly, I would find a 3rd gen i7 like the 3770. If you're looking for low power, the 3770s is 65w, and the 3770t is 45w.

so, skylake is not worth the money? should I wait for the at least cannonlake? people are saying that smaller shrink equals lower power consumption and lower temp? thanks

 

[Ecky]

Skylake is a little faster per clock, and slightly more power efficient, but the generational increases are so small that it's hard for me to justify a platform upgrade, when you can get 80-90% of the performance with a drop-in upgrade.

 

[tunacajun]

Skylake is a little faster per clock, and slightly more power efficient, but the generational increases are so small that it's hard for me to justify a platform upgrade, when you can get 80-90% of the performance with a drop-in upgrade.

oh, slightly? cause I read that skylake is 20-30% better than ivy bridge in terms of performance, although this is priority #3 because my current box is performant enough already for my tasks. for power efficient, you mentioned "slightly better", how much better? thanks

 

[CTurbo]

You would get a better performance upgrade by getting the i7 3770 than you would getting a Skylake i3 or lower i5.

 

[Ecky]

On average, Ivy Bridge to Haswell was worth 10%, Haswell to Broadwell was worth 5%, and Broadwell to Skylake was worth 5%. There are cases where the improvement is a lot more than 20%, but there are also cases where it's closer to zero.

Bear in mind that Skylake CPUs ship with a clockspeed advantage, but that you can also overclock an i7 3770 by 400mhz with your board, putting it slightly ahead of a 6700K in clockspeed.

This review might help:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/11

^ In their first test, Cinebench, the 6700K has a 28% advantage, but when you normalize for clockspeed (4.2ghz vs 3.9ghz), the difference is 19%.