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How much better is i3 than Core 2 Duo?

Ninja Monkey said:
+1

If you can afford it go with an i5. Here is a solid setup from Newegg.

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM

Newegg.com - MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

I'm assuming you can use your current case, HD, and DVD drive. I put a PSU in there because you really want to make sure you have a solid PSU or will have soooooo many headaches. Never skimp on the PSU! I really like Corsair. I've also used G.Skill RAM in many of my overclocked rigs with great results. Gigabyte makes great motherboards in my opinion.

All of this would cost $696 delivered to my door. If you need a case and a 1TB HD you are probably looking at another $175-$200. So about $900 total.

Hope this helps the OP! :cool:
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I literally gave him the same exact set up a few days ago that you just posted with exception to the gfx card since I'm a Nvidia fanboy :)

I have that psu as well. Lots of connections but creates a wee bit of clutter inside Mid-ATX cases.
 
jamor said:
So I was reading this:

Core i5 vs. Core i7: Differences Between Intel's i5 and i7 Processors

and it said this:

"Some Core i5 products have this feature, but some do not. Currently, the Core i5 750 does not have hyper-threading, but it does have four physical cores. The dual-core Core i5 products, on the other hand, do have hyper-threading."

Why wouldn't they give the Core i5 hyper-threading? Does this really matter for most users.
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Intel is going the more stabilized thread count, where as AMD is going for more cores.
 
NYCHitman1 said:
I literally gave him the same exact set up a few days ago that you just posted with exception to the gfx card since I'm a Nvidia fanboy :)

I have that psu as well. Lots of connections but creates a wee bit of clutter inside Mid-ATX cases.
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Hahaha. You have good taste sir!
You can't go wrong with either video card. So many good options out there.
 
Personally after much research before building my pc i decided upon an AMD processor. It is true they don't hold up to Intels i7 top models, but for the price of the proc, you CANNOT go wrong. Another factor to look into is with intel each Proc has a specific socket.. that socket must match up to the MOBO... AMD got smart.. the current Processors have the AM3 socket. Most recent motherboards Have either an AM3 socket, or an AM2/2+ AM3 socket which support older CPU's too. What AMD allows is the ability to upgrade your CPU without having to (basically) build a whole new setup. Use the same MOBO, but buy a new CPU. My current build is using an AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE. That Proc has a stock clock speed of 3.2 GHZ. In a quad core for $150 which can be easily OC'd i'd say that's pretty good. They also now have a hexacore PROC for about 250$(don't quote me on the price), or if you want to go more budget friendly you can get the Athlon II x4 cpu for under $100, which is lacking L3 cache, but is still a quad core PROC...
What all of this means is that The Top of the line hexacore proc, the High end Phenom II x4, and the Budget friendly Athlon II x4 will All fit in the same socket, along with any new CPU's released by AMD within the next few years....


Just my $0.02
 
CodeMonkey said:
I can thoroughly recommend the i5's..

My department at work (Software Development) has just upgraded our machines to Core i5s with 8gb RAM running Win7 64bit.

To give you a real world comparison, we were running Core2Duo 2.26 ghz + 3gb RAM with Win XP SP3 32bit. To start up (ie boot to desktop) one of my windows development virtual machines used to take 20 minutes.

With the new machine, the same vm takes 75 seconds to boot to desktop. :D
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You must have had them configured wrong!!! WOW! Running ESX on an older XENON P3 server with 4gb ram at my work with multiple VM's runing including server2008 running Project server on it; server 2003, and rarely a version os SUSE or redhat linux, Not one took over 5 minutes to load.
 
Yeah my laptop would fire up Server 08 and Window's 7 in VMware in just a couple minutes. That's running on a Windows 7 64 bit machine with 2 ghz proc and 4 gb ram. (this was for a class which is why i was running win 7 in vmware)
 
pattielipp said:
You must have had them configured wrong!!! WOW! Running ESX on an older XENON P3 server with 4gb ram at my work with multiple VM's runing including server2008 running Project server on it; server 2003, and rarely a version os SUSE or redhat linux, Not one took over 5 minutes to load.
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Nope, 'fraid not - we tried numerous configurations and the new workstation's VMWare is configured in the same manner. ESX is a different beast to the Workstation product.

Either way the i5's a substantial upgrade over a Core 2 Duo.
 
As top notch as i7 is, there are hardly any programs aside from top rank dev tools that use multiple threads as much as i7 has. Most programs on average use only 1-2 cores. A lot of games are starting to lift that limit, only to show that the thread count per core doesn't make too much of a difference. Compression and decompression tests and synthetic benchmarks may show i7 is faster, but most of the time in everyday computing you don't need what i7 has. That's where AMD has stepped in. Did you know that AMD has quad cores with l3 cache starting at $76? Now granted that's the original Phenom line that's bugged to all hell, but the Athlon II X4 starts at $90, Phenom II X4 starts at $140, and Phenom II x6 starts at $200. AMD also sells Tricore cpus. The Phenom x3 starts at $50. Athlon II X3 starts at $77. Phenom II x3 starts at $100. Dual core even starts at $50 for AMD. Intel does have fast cpus, but AMD has the budget game down.
 
SoulTerror said:
I have yet to find a program I can't install on Win 7 Pro 64-bit.
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i like lightweight photo editing software
it loads quick and has some advanced features
however my old versions of paint shop pro do not load on win7 x64
i had to upgrade to newer corel version
lots of new features...load time however...fail
this is my biggest disappointment with x64 win7

symantec endpoint protection x64 version does not have a fully configurable firewall like the x86 version
i've gone with netlimiter 3 beta for a firewall
i'm really liking it

fssdev casper backup software did not run on win7 x64
i had to upgrade to the newest version
this actually forced me back to x86 for over a month until i could buy the new software

i spent days/weeks finding a way to run VFD virtual floppy drive on x64
ultimately i found a x64 .sys file for the application...which was nice
i have software that depends on floppy drives with software keys to install

astroscan astrology software doesn't run on win7 x64
it ran in xp mode but fullscreen mode did not work despite screen resolution changes in hope to fix this issue
i now use astrolog software...but its not as easy to use
ultimately a disappointment

these were my 5 stumbling blocks when i installed win7 x64
 
Good stuff guys. This has been very helpful.

On a GPU note, the main differences I see in the graphics card from Monkey and Hitman is:

GeForce GTX 260 vs Hawk Radeon HD 5770:

896 MB vs 1 GB
448 bit vs 128 bit
GDRR3 vs GDRR5

Not really sure what spec out of the 3 matters most but I'm sure either one would do me just fine.
 
Yea that's what I figured. It's just that one has more BITS and the other has more GDRR. Not sure which one tips the canoe.

Only $20 diff. Guess I'll read the reviews.
 
jamor said:
Good stuff guys. This has been very helpful.

On a GPU note, the main differences I see in the graphics card from Monkey and Hitman is:

GeForce GTX 260 vs Hawk Radeon HD 5770:

896 MB vs 1 GB
448 bit vs 128 bit
GDRR3 vs GDRR5

Not really sure what spec out of the 3 matters most but I'm sure either one would do me just fine.
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Spend a tad more(like at the most $30 more) and get the GTX 460.
 
NYCHitman1 said:
It's gonna come down to preference and pricing, imo. Either way you pick, it wouldn't be a bad choice.
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Yep.

vbetts said:
Spend a tad more(like at the most $30 more) and get the GTX 460.
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Also a good choice.

There are SOOOOO many good cards for around $200. That's the range I usually stay around. I don't like to pay for bleeding edge tech. That's why I wouldn't get the i7 either.

No matter what way you go you will have a great system for under $1,000. Screw you Dell! :eek: :D
 
Ninja Monkey said:
Yep.



Also a good choice.

There are SOOOOO many good cards for around $200. That's the range I usually stay around. I don't like to pay for bleeding edge tech. That's why I wouldn't get the i7 either.

No matter what way you go you will have a great system for under $1,000. Screw you Dell! :eek: :D
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Can I get a hell yes?!
 
Yes core i3 is much faster, better than core2Duo. The reasons are explained below. Also check out the source link to see how both the processor performed in performance tests.

The Intel codename for core i3 architecture is Clarkdale. They are based on the Westmere architecture with 32 nm fabrication and a direct media interface (DMI) bus. The socket type used for core i3 processors is LGA 1156 and the RAM type is DDR3. They support mother boards with the following types of chipsets- H55, P55, H57 and Q57.
 
Is Core i3-3217U (3M cache 1.8 ghz with UMA) equivalent or better than Core2Duo P8700 2.54 Ghz? I have the core2duo which has been troubling me off and on for the past 4 years. Now Dell is sending a replacement laptop with the above mentioned Corei3 1.8 ghz processor. Both with 4GB RAM but mine has 6 cell battery and the Corei3 has 4 cell battery. Please advise ASAP.
 
ujai said:
Is Core i3-3217U (3M cache 1.8 ghz with UMA) equivalent or better than Core2Duo P8700 2.54 Ghz? I have the core2duo which has been troubling me off and on for the past 4 years. Now Dell is sending a replacement laptop with the above mentioned Corei3 1.8 ghz processor. Both with 4GB RAM but mine has 6 cell battery and the Corei3 has 4 cell battery. Please advise ASAP.
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It's certainly newer. The Core2Duo is getting on a bit now. Something to bare in mind, the Core i3 at 1.8GHz is very much for budget machines. Don't know how the Core i3's performance compares against the Core2Duo CPU you've got, you'll have to checkout some benchmarks for that. It may well be slower, as this is a budget CPU. Also the other thing, it's how fast the RAM is, GPU, HDD, etc, all factor into how fast a PC is. The i3 is supposed to be much more power efficient than the Core2 processors and chip-sets. So you probably will get much better battery life, depending on the actual Ah capacity of the batteries, it's not just the number of cells.
 
Now I asked Dell to provide me a credit note, which they are with a 15% depreciation on my original purchase price as my system is 4 years old. Now I have finalized a vostro laptop with the below specs, and the dell sales rep says that I would be able to run adobe premier pro/ avid video editor on this:

Processor 3rd Generation Intel
 
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