Upgrade my CPU processor a bit

jjaggers said:

I have an old HP desktop and would like to upgrade the CPU processor,
but I'm not sure if there is a rule for what will fit.

I'm thinking about going from i5 to an i7 since cost is an issue,
and probably buying used off eBay unless there's a better way.

My budget is around $100.
Anybody got some advice for me?

jjaggers said:

I do no real gaming that requires a big punch.
It is used mostly for internet surfing and Perl/Python script development.

It works fairly well as is, but a little more horsepower would be nice.
It has Windows 10 on it, and I’m not sure what 11 has that I can benefit from.

This is why I thought the next generation up from i5 would work for me.
Maybe I should consider scrapping this idea and getting a different box,
but now we're talking about a bigger budget than $100.

I think with the context you have supplied here your best route would be to max the ram cap to 32gb which i think will be least 1600mhz for this machine. Which would fit into your budget of $100 well at least should. If you can get the i7 in for that price then why not because you will get an extra 4 threads with that upgrade.

You asked about the S but the K variant would not be ideal for this machine because its OEM and K variants are meant for top end enthusiasts boards so it will be a waste in a machine like this. The S would actually be ideal because its a SFF chassis where you won't be overclocking unless you really want to software OC.

Still a good computer for your intended purpose and you can code on much less of a system. The only area it would feel the most sluggish would be the igpu depending on what you do with it.

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Sorry assuming SFF build here going by what the others have said and this does sound like an Elite series we are talking about which SFF was the most common we at least over here they where the more common factor.

If you can improve performance by just replacing the CPU, then why upgrade to a new CPU+motherboard+RAM? Do that first and then add more RAM. From 8GB to 16GB there is some difference, anything higher you will hardly use it so is a waste of money.

Depends doing some real basic programing won't require much ram but many IDE now days benefit from more ram and coding is also about multitasking so the more resources you have available the better.

Take something like visual studio it can be a pig sometimes and the more resources you have the better.

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New does not always mean better its akin to buying a Ferrari but only driving it 40km/h. Since 1st gen and hyper threading all these generations are still very capable that is why we still see people asking about 10 year old computers and that they serve their required purpose.

Realistically it also took us 10+ years to get to 5ghz base and it took us much of that time to break into 4ghz like we really only been 4ghz+ base since 6th gen so around 2017. You are missing some newer instruction sets but that is not going to hold you back and the rest of the stuff is trivial mostly aimed towards gamers or creators. Speed is also a factor but DDR3 is still fast enough for a browser machine and some coding.

I think people also get caught on old is slow and on paper yes this is the case but these measurements are in the milli seconds, of course if you bench a PC like this one against a newer computer it will get smoked on paper but these are very minute scales we are reading when benching.

There is a difference between requiring bleeding edge and keeping a perfectly good computer that serves its purpose. I mean if you want to stay on the bleeding edge path that is fine but if you don't really require that then its kind of dead weight.

I think unless you are going to be doing any heavy rendering or AI learning considering you mentioned python then yes upgrade otherwise if $100 is your budget and you are not going to be doing advanced coding then its not an issue 3rd gen is still very capable.

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I think if these older PC were really that bad then we would not see stuff like where they are still hanging on they are like in the old folks home but they still work. Go back one family over to 775 and games like this would not be possible. Yes games as an example because that is an easy way to know what a computer is capable of in its capability.

My test laptop is a Vista era (2009) Intel dual core CPU with originally 1GB DDR2 RAM. After maxing RAM to 4GB and replacing the mechanical hard disk with an SSD, it can do must casual stuff smoothly like surfing the internet, Office work, downloading, even running an ERP application for selling stuff. It can even play Netflix albeit at standard definition only. I have installed Windows 11 as a test and it is actually faster (3.5GB RAM usable) than when running Windows 10 32-bit (2.93G RAM usable). So the first question when upgrading or buying a PC is "what you will using it for?" For casual computing a good refurbished PC or laptop should be fine. No need to invest on new current parts unless you are a gamer or need the extra performance for your work.

I had a problem with my TenForums UID and was using jjaggers.
ejaggers is actually correct (and fixed) so I'm still watching this thread.

Malneb is correct about this box serving my purpose,
so I don't really need a gaming-level machine.

If I went the new route, I'd go well over my $100 budget because I keep things until they die.
I'd probably get the latest and greatest out there,
and we will be having this conversation again 10 years from now.

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Malneb said:

You asked about the S but the K variant would not be ideal for this machine because its OEM and K variants are meant for top end enthusiasts boards so it will be a waste in a machine like this.
The S would actually be ideal because its a SFF chassis where you won't be overclocking unless you really want to software OC.

Are you saying that K should be eliminated because it's the wrong part, or are you talking about price?
Used on eBay, they are about the same price as the rest depending on the seller.

I don't know what this statement means: "because its a SFF chassis where you won't be overclocking unless you really want to software OC."
But if S is definitely what I need, then that's what I'll get if I go the U/G path.

The S variant uses less power but is slower, no thanks! I could use the extra performance. The K variant is unlocked but if you are not going to overclocking it it is not worth the extra cost. You can still overclock the plain 3770 by increasing the FSB. The multiplier is locked.

ejaggers said:

I had a problem with my TenForums UID and was using jjaggers.
ejaggers is actually correct (and fixed) so I'm still watching this thread.

Malneb is correct about this box serving my purpose,
so I don't really need a gaming-level machine.

If I went the new route, I'd go well over my $100 budget because I keep things until they die.
I'd probably get the latest and greatest out there,
and we will be having this conversation again 10 years from now.

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Are you saying that K should be eliminated because it's the wrong part, or are you talking about price?
Used on eBay, they are about the same price as the rest depending on the seller.

I don't know what this statement means: "because its a SFF chassis where you won't be overclocking unless you really want to software OC."
But if S is definitely what I need, then that's what I'll get if I go the U/G path.

No because its OEM system meaning you won't be able to fully utilize a K CPU properly.