PCI 2.0 vs 3.0 Processor

Laxmi95

Prominent
Jul 29, 2017
3
0
510
Hello everyone,
My present specs are:
i3-2120
GTX 1050Ti
DH61WW
900p 60Hz monitor
8GB DDR3 1333MHz
1+0.5TB HDDs
I wish to do a cheap upgrade to my system and i found out two processors near my vicinity,
i5-2400 for 3600/-
E3-1220 V2 for 4126/-
My doubt is i have been using a pci 2.0 processor (i3-2120) for a board and a gpu that are pci 3.0, yet i am able to play every modern title in ultra at 900p 60Hz. I plan to buy Assassin's Creed Origins so i need a quad core as my i3-2120 is usually maxed out while playing newer games.If i buy the i5-2400 it is cheap but its same pci 2.0, Will i see a major gameplay difference(less CPU utilization and low fps dips) if i buy the E3-1220V2 which is pci 3.0?
Which is best i5-2400 or E3-1220v2?
 
Solution
Nope. It's not the CPU that matters, it's the motherboard. That Xeon might be capable of working with PCIe 3.0 slots on a compatible motherboard, but that's because the motherboard has PCie 3.0 slots; putting the Xeon into a motherboard with PCIe 2.0 slots won't magically convert them to PCIe 3.0. The good news is, a lot of times (as in your case) you may not see any difference in performance between PCIe 2.0 & 3.0, because most systems just don't have enough oomph to max out a 2.0 system.

As to the question at hand: at these prices, given the choice between getting a 4C/4T Sandy Bridge (2nd-gen) i5 & a 4C/4T Ivy Bridge (3rd-gen) Xeon (essentially equivalent to the i5-3450), I'd go for the Xeon CPU. Better Turbo speeds, a...

spdragoo

Expert
Ambassador
Nope. It's not the CPU that matters, it's the motherboard. That Xeon might be capable of working with PCIe 3.0 slots on a compatible motherboard, but that's because the motherboard has PCie 3.0 slots; putting the Xeon into a motherboard with PCIe 2.0 slots won't magically convert them to PCIe 3.0. The good news is, a lot of times (as in your case) you may not see any difference in performance between PCIe 2.0 & 3.0, because most systems just don't have enough oomph to max out a 2.0 system.

As to the question at hand: at these prices, given the choice between getting a 4C/4T Sandy Bridge (2nd-gen) i5 & a 4C/4T Ivy Bridge (3rd-gen) Xeon (essentially equivalent to the i5-3450), I'd go for the Xeon CPU. Better Turbo speeds, a lower TDP (which means it has a better chance of reaching those Turbo speeds), & more L3 cache gives it a slight edge.
 
Solution