Upgrading from E8400 to what ?

[steveinspain]

My E8400 lives in an Asus P5 Pro mobo and does all I want, but it may be time to upgrade things a little - I am also wondering about going to something smaller, possibly miniITX so a new mobo is on the cards whatever.

I know nothing of the newer chips so can anyone explain what the main real world differences would be for me between say an i3, i5 and i7 with the usual basic usage plus some photo editing and a tiny bit of music editing - no gaming at all !

 

[SaTrOx]

Could u tell us whats your budget ?

 

[steveinspain]

Budget is tight but open - I rarely upgrade but like to get things right !
I guess that at this stage I just want to know what the benefits of each chip would be over what I already have..

 

[yasen78]

If you can get yourself an Intel 2500K (2nd hand to save some money) you will be alright. easy to overclock, great performance, good TPD. Has all the benefits of the current generation Intel CPU, but it is easier to cool down and is cheaper.

An AMD 6/8-core CPU will serve you very well too if you preffer them.

Both of the suggestions will last you for a long time (more than 3 years definitely).

 

[Devrij]

As above. If you're going new, then a 3570K would offer slightly better performance at the same price as a 2500K.

Real-world benefits: photo and music editing will be dramatically improved when using heavy filters, encode times reduced significantly.

For everyday use, it'll help a bit with general responsiveness, but really a solid state drive would serve you better.

 

[steveinspain]

but really a solid state drive would serve you better.

Ha - thats what has started this whole thing off !
I have just fitted a Crucial M4 256gb SSD and am getting the bug to upgrade again..

From what yasen78 says, a 2500K runs cooler, and therefor the pc can be quieter, which is important to me.
I am keen to re-use anything I can from my current build to keep costs down/allow me to spend more on new bits, so hope my Noctua NH-U12 can be kept (LGA1155) as well as my Corsair TX650.

Any thoughts on a mobo just in case I go for something smaller like a mini ITX, as that Prodigy case looks good to me..

Finally, thanks for the help so far !

 

[eddyr]

The sandy i5 2500k is ony cooler as you push the overclock. Seeing as your's is going to be a itx build, overclocking may not be relevant to you, so at stock clocks an ivy i5 will use less power and produce less heat than sandy (but a chunk of change more than a second hand 2500k).

 

[steveinspain]

eddyr - I have never overclocked anything and don't know how but it might be nice to try a little bit even if it is hardly worth it for my uses.
I'll keep an eye on the MM to see if a used one comes up as I am in no rush but new there is only a tenner difference in price which for a cooler running system has to be worth it !

 

[yasen78]

You should decide are you going to overclock ot not? That will define your choice of CPU a lot? But keep in mind that not overclocking a unlocked CPU is a "crime"

 

[steveinspain]

Oh ooh - I don't want to be committing any crimes despite being a hitman.. !
My use for a pc means it isn't necessary to overclock and I don't even know if I would notice any speed increase but if it could be easily done with no big increase in heat or unreliability then I would try I suppose.
Not sure that answers your question though !
I imagine that being the impulsive person I am I will end up getting a new Ivybridge going on what eddyr says about heat and power unless something turns up in the MM over the next few days.
Man, I like to live dangerously !

 

[Devrij]

You could very easily overclock a 3570K to 4.2GHz at close to stock voltages (so very little heat increase), and your cooler would be plenty for that.

In terms of what board to get, I don't have much experience with mITX boards, so I can't offer much advice there. The small form factor subforum is full of chaps who would be more than happy to advise you there though.