6th gen Intel to 7th gen Intel...is it worth the investment?
6th gen Intel to 7th gen Intel...is it worth the investment?
I possess sufficient spare components to assemble another setup (this happens when I get bored) using an i5-6500 on an H110 MSI card. The board can handle the 7th generation Intel chips with the i7-7700 priced near $80 on eBay, or the i5-7500 for about $30. I usually donate these to those in need, but I aim to keep the current configuration as it is. The remaining parts include a 1TB M.2 nVME drive, a 4TB HDD, 16GB DDR4 RAM (2400Mhz), and either an AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 or GTX 1050 Ti—decision pending. Would spending $30 on the i5-7500 provide any clear benefits, or should I opt for a different CPU? Or should I stick with the i5-6500?
I believe the key focus should be on whether Windows 11 compatibility is important to you or the person using it. Gen6 isn't supported, but Gen7 is, according to what I know.
I share your view, though modern hardware offers minor advantages. My main concern is support for Windows 10, as the EOL is approaching for commercial releases.
The i5-7500 runs without extra threads (4 cores, 4 threads) and isn’t worth the price compared to a 4-core/4-thread i5-6500. A switch to an i7-7700 on an AM4 Ryzen board is affordable right now. You’ll just need a new motherboard, which is easy to find.
Previous versions of any Intel 6th/7th generation model are already outdated.