i3 or i5 for a Non-Gaming PC

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Karan85

Broken In
My usage will be pretty basic.
Office, Watching/streaming a lot of HD videos.. And most importantly, running hundreds of chrome tabs.. I am a tab-hoarder. I often end up with 4-5 windows, each with ~30 tabs with various youtube links/pics/articles open... I might have a problem :oops:
Anyway. That is basically what I will be using it for. Don't expect the usage to increase dramatically anytime soon. Just need something to handle all that at the same time comfortably.

My current PC, which is over 5 years old, is starting to show its age. It gets slow, shuts down when I am streaming some matches have other things running in the background.
Looking to get a new one..

Was thinking of getting a new PC..
Can afford the i5, but don't want to spend 6-7k more if that is not going to be a bottleneck.

Will the i3-4150 with plenty of ram be able to handle it easily, or should I spend the extra money and get an i5-4460?

Current pc specs.
AMD x4 635 + Biostar TA880 G3-HD
4gb ram (2x2gb 1333MHz ddr3)
Gigabyte 460W PSU
500 GB Seagate hdd
Dell IN2020
CM Elite 310

Any other suggestions would be welcome. Will start a thread in the Configuration forum for fine tuning when I get a clearer picture of what I need.
Thanks
 
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isaac12345

Journeyman
1) If your computer shuts down, then its a problem with your hardware that might be repairable for much cheaper than spending on a new system considering your usage. Do make sure its not overheating. CoreTemp is a good software to check for that.

2) Simply upgrading to more ram might take you a long way for cheap. Considering how many tabs and windows you have open, its highly likely to be swapping a lot from the hard disk. To judge this, check how much memory are chrome and your other software using. If its more than 4 gigs, then a ram upgrade would be much more useful than a CPU.

3) Chrome is absolutely terrible at conserving memory. If you do open so many tabs and windows, Firefox's 'Group Tabs' is your friend. You can also try Opera.

4) If you dont absolutely need windows, try linux mint. The OS itself uses less memory and is much faster on older hardware as compared to windows. If you do need windows, do a re-format. Windows collects a lot of junk over time,especially if you use it to browse the internet and hence slows down a lot. Unfortunately, there's no decent way to clean it up properly without a re-format.
 
D

DK_WD

WD Official
Hi Karan85,

Based on your requirement, I think no need to go with I5 series. The normal CPU will fulfill your requirements.
For the motherboard, I’d suggest you to go with the latest MOBO because It helps you to upgrade the system anytime.
Example:
In the future you want to add the GPU, RAM or other card in system, If you have the latest MOBO that means in the future, you can add-on a second GPU card or RAM for performance, instead of buying a new MOBO.

Hope this information helps
 
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