i3-2100 sandy bridge vs. C2D E7500

[Compman55]

Got two desktops that I can pick for my parents. Idle power consumption is important. Explain which CPU is all around better.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Clearly the i3. Has faster clockspeed, hyperthreading, and better ipc. anand bench .
Not sure about power consumption, but expect they would be very close.

 

[NTMBK]

Pretty sure that Sandy Bridge would have better idle power- it has an integrated northbridge and GPU.

 

[PliotronX]

I'll take i3 for 400, Alex! This is not even a comparison. The Wolfdale is a solid workhorse in its own right but if power consumption is any consideration, the i3 gets you that and a boatload of added performance to boot.

 

[Compman55]

I have a kill-o-watt meter and it shows the idle power at 54 watts with this i3-2100

I find this a bit high with the CPU cores at idle. It is a dell OptiPlex 790, 4gb ram,no add on video card, and a Samsung 830 ssd.

Why so many idle watts? My G2020 server idles at 19 watts and can go up high with p95 tests.

 

[Blue_Max]

There's no question whatsoever. The i3 utterly decimates the C2D in all aspects. They likely won't need a faster computer for a decade!

Combine that with a Seagate SSHD hybrid drive, they'll have speedy boot + app load times without running out of space like a small SSD might.

Oh, and the better video included on the i3 means you won't have to get them a video card either.

 

[sm625]

I have a kill-o-watt meter and it shows the idle power at 54 watts with this i3-2100

I find this a bit high with the CPU cores at idle. It is a dell OptiPlex 790, 4gb ram,no add on video card, and a Samsung 830 ssd.

Why so many idle watts? My G2020 server idles at 19 watts and can go up high with p95 tests.

I think there might be something wrong with it. Check bios settings. Maybe there is a newer bios. Maybe play around with the settings to see if you can get that number lower. It should be able to go at least 20 watts lower. Ideally it should go from about 20 watts idle to about 70 under prime95.

 

[bononos]

I have a kill-o-watt meter and it shows the idle power at 54 watts with this i3-2100

I find this a bit high with the CPU cores at idle. It is a dell OptiPlex 790, 4gb ram,no add on video card, and a Samsung 830 ssd.

Why so many idle watts? My G2020 server idles at 19 watts and can go up high with p95 tests.

Its normal with the older Sandy Bridge systems. The mb can make a big difference.

 

[Sheep221]

He has speed step disabled and is running cheap PSU, or has not detected well enough that cores are idle for sure. Open CPU Z and see if frequency is 1600 Mhz when you are doing nothing - that is resting frequency.

 

[escrow4]

I'd build them a 6600 non K system which will likely outlast them. The Core 2 is a hunk of junk and the SB i3 is tired compared to modern CPUs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd build them a 6600 non K system which will likely outlast them. The Core 2 is a hunk of junk and the SB i3 is tired compared to modern CPUs.

While all of that is true, the OP hasn't given us a budget.

Given the age of the PCs mentioned, it would surprise me if the cost of the whole i3 PC was significantly more than just the i5-6600 CPU by itself.

 

[Compman55]

UPDATE:

The i3 sandy bridge runs like a champ now since I reinstalled W10 fresh. I was testing it on a W10 install not set up for that computer. It booted, updated the hardware , deactivated its digital entitlement, and worked perfect other than use too much power. New install uses 24watt idle, 46watts loaded to the gills on p95.

The C2D E7500 approached 78watts in p95, and I anticipate some was from the stone age OEM NVidia 9400 video card.

 

[DTN107]

I had to overclock my e8400 to 4.0GHz to stay on par with my stock i3-2120.