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point of upgrading CPU?

G

Gomar

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
315
I was hoping to upgrade from a Core i3 to i7, get 8gb, and a 1TB HD. However, when I added up the costs, plus time(my own) it appears the savings are just $100 if not even less than a new machine.
An i7 CPU by itself is $350, so it appears to be out. And a new external 4gb goes at Best Buy for $119, so I'll stay with
the i3 and 500gb, but will likely just go from 6gb of RAM to 8gb.
Dont know what % improvement I'll gain from just a RAM upgrade, but again a new machine with i7, 1TB, will come with a 8gb anyway so is it pointless as well?
Any opinions?
 
Should be helpful if you start mentioning what model of Motherboard and CPU are you using because is not the same i3 clarkdale than an i3 haswell.. so is an useful information to us...

About the ram, are you using what kind of modules? 4gb+2gb? 2gb+2gb+2gb? that's another important info.. because a single 8gb stick in single will perform worse than a couple of 4GB sticks in double channel.. so the percentage of improvement will depend on more information about your hardware.
 
are just $100 if not even less than a new machine.
Click to expand...

Be careful of the new machine. At work I see OEMs going out of the way to prevent upgrades on systems these days. I mean systems with 4 or less SATA ports when the Intel chipset has had 6 for well over a decade. Systems with nonstandard power supplies that are 180W or 230W preventing you from using a discrete GPU (unless you replace the PS and find an adapter online).. Systems with no rails provided for adding an additional hard drive.
 
If the OP it talking about an i7 running $350 I'm assuming it's Haswell or better... I can't imagine it's anything much less.

OP you need to check out used i7 CPU's. If you are indeed on Haswell I got my i7 4770k for $250 almost two years ago now.

From my own experience unless I was buying brand new hardware within just a few weeks of release I wouldn't buy brand new anymore, at least not CPU/GPU. I've had very good luck with both used going back six years now.
 
OP, you're in a highly populated area (Brooklyn, by your profile), so I'd suggest checking out craiglist for used deals. I have pretty good luck finding good deals on nice gear on craigslist. As xTrident suggests, used is often the way to go.

And besides saying what mb and CPU you currently have, what games do you play / what applications do you run? That might help with recommendations.
 
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I'm not assuming you aren't tech savvy but in the event you aren't, you should check to see what socket you have, if you are running an Ivy Bridge you won't be able to upgrade to a 4770 or 4790(k), same with the 6770(k), they all use different sockets.

I say this going off of the vague details, you listed an i3 with 500gb and 6gb of ram, which was common with 1156/1155 OEM computers.
 
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