old vs new CPU

[beerman684]

So after reading many a thread on i5 vs i7 I am still confused as most people say oh get an i7 if you have got the money etc. But i do not find anything stating that perhaps an an older gen i7 (possibley cheaper) than the i5 4th gen will be the better option.

I am not sure if this question is a bit confusing, what I am trying to figure out is, we all like new stuff but surely some times it is more beneficial buying an old i7 rather than the latest i5 so from a price comparison/ performance is it better going old ?

 

[RazerZ]

Which architecture are you talking about? Performance wise there's barely a gain going from Sandy Bridge to Haswell.

 

[chenw]

The answer to that question heavily depends on what kind of build you have as well.

The general verdict is that, if comparing similar tier CPU from one gen to another, and comparing the CPU alone, then yes, there hasn't any major improvements in performance for the last couple of gens.

However, the situation is slightly more complicated if you are talking about building a system based on different CPU generations.

Bottomline is, if you are going for a completely new build, I don't see much point in using an older gen chipset/CPU, unless the discount is large enough to warrant it. However, that being said, CPU performance alone isn't a big enough reason to justify an upgrade if you already have a CPU from say SandyBridge onwards, unless of course you are going from a low end to a mid/high end.

 

[beerman684]

Sorry I have already built my pc, should of said so. The reason I am asking the question is purely do to the amount of people that want the latest kit and perhaps people looking for new builds.

Which architecture are you talking about? Performance wise there's barely a gain going from Sandy Bridge to Haswell.

So if the performance is roughly on par with each other will it be better to get an x gen i7 rather than the latest i5 ? Obviously if the i7 is cheaper.

Which architecture are you talking about? Performance wise there's barely a gain going from Sandy Bridge to Haswell.

The answer to that question heavily depends on what kind of build you have as well.

The general verdict is that, if comparing similar tier CPU from one gen to another, and comparing the CPU alone, then yes, there hasn't any major improvements in performance for the last couple of gens.

However, the situation is slightly more complicated if you are talking about building a system based on different CPU generations.

Bottomline is, if you are going for a completely new build, I don't see much point in using an older gen chipset/CPU, unless the discount is large enough to warrant it. However, that being said, CPU performance alone isn't a big enough reason to justify an upgrade if you already have a CPU from say SandyBridge onwards, unless of course you are going from a low end to a mid/high end.

I suppose looking at socket sets etc. it makes more sense to build with newer spec parts, I should of thought about it. I fail at life (._.)

 

[RazerZ]

Unless you're buying used, the newest Haswells are usually the cheapest out of the three (sandy bridge, ivy bridge, haswell).

 

[chenw]

^ concur, retail CPU prices generally do not fall just because a new gen CPU is available.

Also, I wouldn't call it a very big mistake if you bought an older CPU/Chipset, especially less so if you run a single GPU setups, the differences between the chipsets for such setups are rarely groundbreaking. Even if you got a SB it would be fine (PCI 3.0 vs 2.0 on single GPU is nearly completely unnoticeable).

I prefer newer chipsets purely because newer chipset mobos have a greater chance of being physically 'new', rather than one that has been sitting on the shelf. Generally that doesn't happen very often, but it's my own little paranoia (this is partly the reason why I never buy computer parts online, I have no way of checking its manufacturing date).

 

[beerman684]

thank you so much for the replies guys, much appreciated. In theory all the posts are the best solutions lol

 

[RazerZ]

Glad to help.

 

[chenw]

Anytime 😀