Refurbished Computer Intel 2nd or 3rd Generation CPU

[matt4x4]

i7's start at $400 (Canadian) for 2nd Gen, $450 for a 3rd Gen

i5's start at $250 for an unknown Gen, I think its 2nd Gen, could be 1st Gen. Some 1 Gen are mixed in. i5 3rd Gen 3470 $300

i3 2nd Gen $260, 3rd Gen $275

Give me the rundown. Which ones have Hyper-Threading. I think I need H.T. for all my web pages that are open. I have read its not a blanket statement, because now we are going back generations. Then I play World of Tanks multiplayer online game. I can throw in my GTX 650, EVGA 600B and SSD. Refurb units come with W7 and I find one with 64 bit.

This is my old system from 2008
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01625611

 

[why_wolf]

i7 have hyper threading, i5 do not. i3 have hyper threading

so i7 = 8 threads 4/4
i5 = 4 threads
i3 = 4 threads 2/2

 

[Calculagator]

The 2nd gen core CPUS are much better than gen 1. There isn't that much difference between gen 2 and 3 or between 3 and 4. You don't need hyperthreading for web browsing or gaming unless you go with an i3. The i7s are quad core with hyperthreading; i5s are quad core without hyperthreading; the i3s are dual core with hyperthreading. A quad core with fairly high clock speed is best for most of the sort of use you describe.
I would probably aim for one of the 3rd gen i5s unless you can get a 4th gen for similar price or a 2nd gen for quite a bit less.

Personally, I would be looking for USB 3 support, but you might not care.

 

[matt4x4]

i5 Gen Three 3470 there a handful available from $365 Canadian Dollars.
i5 Gen Four 4570 is roughly $400. Only one available.
Then 2nd Gen i7 is $400. i7 3770 $430

I will want to over clock it, just for something to do.

Yeah I got it now i5 is 4 core, 4 threads, no hyper threading - from ARK Intel website. Guess they are all the same throughout the generations.

Yeah USB 3.0 would be nice, I dont use it, but USB 2.0 is slow from my transfer days on p2p networks.

$400 seems like a lot for a used system. The saving grace is they come with an O/S. Otherwise I can build my own Skylake 1151 in a H110/G4400/DDR4 for ~$250, or B150 flavor same for $30 more. But still need an O/S. Jump into an i3 and it sky rockets, is the only dilemma. Thats why I am looking at refurbished units, cuz I think I want an i3/i5/i7 and they are DDR3.

Should I base performance on the CPU hierchy site?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
Literally I will be going up from tier 10 (4th from bottom) on my 2008 AMD 5050e system to tier 1 or 2 with a refurb unit.
4570 is tier 1

 

[martygj72]

Well the 3960X falls in the $ ballpark, be a nice predecessorprocessor (like my word molding) that will hold value for a few more years.

 

[Calculagator]

The 3930k and 3960x are both great CPUs. It's usually expensive to get compatible motherboards since there are so few available.

It doesn't look like any of the systems you mention would support overclocking. If you want to overclock, you really need a K or X model CPU (ie 3770k) and a motherboard that supports overclocking.
The hierarchy chart is useful for gaming performance, but doesn't necessarily give the whole picture.

Whether or not the prices you are looking at are reasonable depends on the quality of the rest of the components included. Do they include quality PSUs that can handle the addition of a GPU? Do they include SSDs or GPUs?

Here's a machine that is a bit more expensive, but includes a very nice GPU and SSD.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-gaming-desktop-with-a-3770k-asus-gtx-780-256gb-sdd-2tb-hdd-/162146298767?hash=item25c0ac2b8f:g:j0MAAOSwkl5XdfWO

 

[matt4x4]

I did not realize I can overclock an i3-6100 with a special mobo, that mobo however is still $200 (Canadian), i3-6100 is $165, 8GB of DDR4 is $50.
Maybe can oc any Intel cpu with those boards. I'd go for the Z board for a few extra bucks.
Is a like..... http://overclocking.guide
Got me some reading to do, maybe I can snag a regular Z170 for $150 and oc.

That refurbished i5-4570 / DDR3 system is on par with i5-6400 series. Think I will skip refurb i7 unit.

 

[Calculagator]

I did not realize I can overclock an i3-6100 with a special mobo, that mobo however is still $200 (Canadian), i3-6100 is $165, 8GB of DDR4 is $50.
Maybe can oc any Intel cpu with those boards. I'd go for the Z board for a few extra bucks.
Is a like..... http://overclocking.guide
Got me some reading to do, maybe I can snag a regular Z170 for $150 and oc.

That refurbished i5-4570 / DDR3 system is on par with i5-6400 series. Think I will skip refurb i7 unit.

Overclocking the i3 has been disabled in most of the newer motherboard bioses. If manufacturers update their bios with Intel's bug fixes it will disable overclocking. There are a few boards around that can do it with the right bios, but I wouldn't recommend planning on it.

 

[matt4x4]

Here I am going over the numbers again!
Its funny how I can buy a mobo+cpu+ram and be about equal to a refurbished unit from newegg.ca atleast in the LGA-1150 area, same goes for 1151.
But of course building my own I dont have a O/S like the refurbished units have.
Then I'd have to re-purpose my EVGA 650B PSU, Case (proprietory HP case though), SSD-HD, ATX-650 GPU, and DVD-RW
I could go back from 4th gen to 3rd gen and save $100 on a refurbished unit.
Those are the facts I realized just now.
I can buy a i5-3470 for $350 all day long, or an i3-3220 for about the same price. Of course I'd go i5!