Should I buy this i7?

[TP]

I haven't upgraded in ages (still on core 2 duo) and am about to finally take a step up.

I have all my components for an LGA1156 build except the CPU. I am waiting for a friend to send me a new Core i3-550 that I traded with him for some web design work.

In the mean time I came across a seemingly great deal on a used i7-870... $175 when they sell new for $325 on Amazon.

So the i3 is 32nm+2cores+3.2ghz while the i7 is 45nm+4cores+2.9ghz. (i7 also has turbo boost)

My main intensive use of computer these days is image editing (16-bit raw files etc) and the next most is video editing... I have 16gigs of Crucial DDR3 ready to go with this build.

Is the i7 worth the extra expense for my purposes?

Edit: Maybe I should have posted this is general hardware.. sorry

 

[Sleepingforest]

Well, how much is your time worth to you? The i7 will do image and video editing much faster, but are you willing to pay that to cut your renders in, say, half?

 

[Zap]

I moved this thread to General Hardware.

Let me get this straight. You are "upgrading" to socket 1156? Do you already have the motherboard? If not and you were considering spending $175 on a CPU, do yourself a favor and go socket 1155.

Which Core 2 Duo? If a faster one, a socket 1156 Core i3 may not seem a huge upgrade depending on your software, but probably won't be any slower. If you already have motherboard, then just wait for the Core i3 and use that. I don't see a point in going Core i7 on such an old socket unless the price was lower.

DDR3 is used on socket 1155 as well as 1156, so you can keep your RAM.

 

[Cerb]

If you have everything but the CPU, $175 is a good price. You could do better with newer stuff, but it would likely cost you over $300 to get a comparable 1155 CPU+mobo. For most uses, a new system would be faster, but also cost a good bit more.

An 1156 i3 might not be much faster than your C2D, depending on model.

If you have no plans to upgrade any time soon, once this 1156 machine is in use, then the $175 i7 is a good deal. If you may get another main computer within the next year or two, then just go with the free i3. You can get more for your money w/ new hardware, making $175 for it a bit much, but it would make for a better machine to wait out future hardware advances with than the i3.

 

[mfenn]

It's really hard to beat that free i3.

$175 buys you a brand new Ivy Bridge quad, so if it were me, I would take the free i3 and save up another $50 to get an 1155 board. Then get an Ivy Bridge quad w/ mobo.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

It's really hard to beat that free i3.

$175 buys you a brand new Ivy Bridge quad, so if it were me, I would take the free i3 and save up another $50 to get an 1155 board. Then get an Ivy Bridge quad w/ mobo.

yes phree trumps speed in this case. i wouldnt spend 175 on an old i7, save yur benjamins for a real upgrade later

 

[TP]

I got into this situation by trading a bit of web design time for some hardware with a friend. He initially gave me an AMD setup that didn't work (either bad cpu or mobo not sure which one), so then he offered me the i3 if I bought a socket 1156 board and memory for it. Without really considering my options I went ahead and did that for $150 of my own money (I still have to try to sell off some of the working parts he gave me that I can't use if I can somehow figure out what works and what doesn't). My Core 2 Duo is a slower one... The only thing that has gotten me this far is that I am at least running SSD OS drive..

Thanks guys I think I'll just hold off and use the i3 and see how I fair with that...

 

[TP]

thanks