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i3 3220 for Windows 10?

I

iowa_doug

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
281
I built a couple of low-cost PCs in early 2013 (both have Intel Pentium G860 CPU, Asrock B75M-DGS MoBo, 2x2GB G.Skill 1333 MHz RAM, 500GB HDD), and both were loaded with Windows 7. The OS was upgraded to Windows 10 on both machines, and the latest 1803 software update is applied to each.

There does seem to be a bit of lag when trying to do "normal" tasks (surf web, email, etc.). Since the MoBo does support both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors, I'm half tempted to upgrade the CPU to an i3-3220 to improve performance.

Before I do so, would anybody have any feedback whether or not a 2-core Ivy Bridge i3 would be up to the challenge of running Windows 10 in an acceptable manner (i.e. no lag for web surfing and email)? Or should I be looking at a 4-core Ivy Bridge i5? I would like to extend the usable life of both computers for a few more years rather than do a full replacement, which is why I'm looking to a CPU upgrade.

Also, from a practical standpoint, is 4GB RAM acceptable with Windows 10, or should this be upgraded to 8GB? Keep in mind that these computers are not used for gaming or any number-crunching applications; their main use is web surfing and email.
 
Changing the CPU is silly. If you want a meaningful upgrade, get an SSD.

As for RAM, it's hard to say. 4GB is definitely on the low side, but it might be enough.
 
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My parents ran a dual core pentium on the same platform with a 60GB SSD and 4GB of RAM. I upgraded to a friends used i5 3570 and it was a great overall improvement, but really only helped stopped tiny micro-stutters here and there. I doubt an i3 would have the same result.

As Luke said, SSD would be your best bet. They've come down in price a lot, so you could grab maybe just a couple 60-120gb ssds for each as a boot drive, keep the 500gb as storage, and you'll find they should be adequate.

I guess it also depends on what's causing the 'lag'. Check your performance monitor and see if the CPU is being pegged at 100% doing those tasks, the HDD, etc.

4GB of RAM is enough for basic web browsing/emails as long as you don't go nuts with tabbed browsing.
 
I would recommend at least a 120GB SSD, and upping to 8GB Ram if you can.
It will work with 4GB, it just depends on how many tabs, and windows are going to be opened at the same time.
The SSD though is one of the biggest changes for PC's in the last decade.
It will speed up the PC by a large amount, but get at least 120GB. 60GB will be too small, and you will be juggling the update and Windows files to get it all to fit.
With 120Gb, you will at least have some headroom :)

I used an i3 as a desktop machine for a good while, with Windows 7, so the 4GB wasn't too much of an issue.

edit : The G860 is a dual core chip, that runs at 3GHz, going to an i3 probably won't make that much of a difference. SSD will, by a lot.
 
My garage PC has an i3-2120 with 4GB RAM and a 500GB spinner and I notice no problems with running Win 10 pro.
 
Yeah, you should be fine with a 3GHz Pentium for basic web browsing. Check elsewhere for your source of lag (SSD, ram).
 
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I think ram might be your issue. Are you running windows 10 32bit or 64bit?

4gb is pretty low these days and if you happened to install the 64bit version of windows 10 you may be using 2-3gb ram before you even open anything.

As others have said the pentium should be fine for browsing.
 
One more vote for a SSD. Very low power laptops use the equivelant of a atom cpu along with a SSD and have a lag free experience on Windows 10.
 
Dude, SSD no question.
Makes a huge difference even for a crappy AMD e350 (1.6 dual core is constantly pegged at 100% though since it can't keep up with the SSD lol)

Getting an SSD will help if you ever run out of RAM, paging to an SSD is waaaaaaaay faster than paging to a HDD and will help you get by with 4GB of RAM.

My thoughts on the order of upgrades for your case

1st: SSD!!! (by far)
2nd: CPU
3rd; RAM
 
Definately SSD. I have a friggin SSD in my router. Hard drives are for bulk storage now, put your OS on something fast.
 
Thank you all for your feedback, looks like I will be updating HDD to SSD on both computers.

And for what it's worth, I happened to find this on YouTube last night from JayzTwoCents (spoiler - it's about using SSDs on older hardware).
 
An SSD will be a great upgrade for sure. I was thinking that the lag is from a 2 thread cpu vs a 4 thread i3.
 
TheFlayedMan said:
An SSD will be a great upgrade for sure. I was thinking that the lag is from a 2 thread cpu vs a 4 thread i3.
Click to expand...

Could be, I do think that Windows 10 has a lot more built-in protections and automated scans that could occasionally make a dual-core feel chunky. I made sure and bought i3s for all my cheaper machines for this very reason.

I recall Windows 10 being pretty slow on a Bay Trail Atom dual-core laptop, but then we're talking about a CPU here with over twice the single-thread performance. It's a big unknown there.

I never feel any slowdown with my Core i3 2100t, and that's running at 500mhz less speed. But it has 8GB ram and an SSD. I'm just saying iowa_doug, this may be the start of an animated chase for you. But if you end-up havign to upgrade processor and ram, you might as well buy new. The latest Pentiums have 4 threads and 3.7 ghz core speeds, and they can reuse that SSD.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117875

You can get processor, 8gb ram and motherboard for a little over $200. It should be twice as fast as your current processor in HT-capable apps.
 
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defaultluser said:
I never feel any slowdown with my Core i3 2100t, and that's running at 500mhz less speed. But it has 8GB ram and an SSD. I'm just saying iowa_doug, this may be the start of an animated chase for you. But if you end-up havign to upgrade processor and ram, you might as well buy new. The latest Pentiums have 4 threads and 3.7 ghz core speeds, and they can reuse that SSD.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I have in mind, and so if the SSD is not the answer it will go toward a new build.
 
Keep in mind that after you buy the SSD, there's still ram and cpu that can be upgraded for even cheaper later. Even the slightly faster i5-2500 is almost touching the $20 shipped pricepoint. And if you have 4 memory slots, another 4gb of memory is getting quite cheap as well. The full works of ssd, cpu, and ram should be well under $100 and keep you humming along smoothly for at least another solid year. (y)
 
Quick update, I did swap drives on one of the computers and it seemed to make a bit of a difference. Out with the Seagate 7200RPM 500GB HDD, in with SanDisk SSD Plus 240GB drive. A fresh installation of 64-bit Windows 10 was executed as part of this update, along with a fresh installation of all software previously loaded onto the HDD.

The "Windows Experience Index" for disk performance jumped from 5.9 to 7.5. From a real-world standpoint, programs seemed to load a bit more quickly, and the lag that was previously there did not seem to exist anymore. I am leaving the existing CPU and RAM as-is (Intel G860 and 2x2GB G.Skill 1333 MHz, respectively). While this is definitely not the latest and greatest hardware, it should be enough to last a few more years considering that this computer is used primarily for web surfing and emails.

Thank you all for your input, especially with the recommendation of swapping HDD to SSD.
 
Glad it got snappier with the SSD. (y) Depending on budget, watch for a super-cheap deal on either an i5-2500, i7-2600, or more ram and for another $20 you should have another small boost. :)
 
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