is I9 overkill would I7 be more for the average person ?

[NORD]

I'm conflicted in purchasing a newer PC so I was looking into any i7 core pc's that have been over looked and are cheap..
If not I will go with i5 core as they are with in under a hundred dollars. my limit is 200 max for a pc. because wife said so lol!
All i would be using it for is to surf the web and retro gaming. But I want nothing less than i5 core.

 

[kc1di]

Hi @NORD,
From what you say about your use pattern and I5 or I7 should serve you well. I have an I5 lappy here that just keeps going and working great with whatever Linux I put on it. Good luck and let us know what you finally choose.

 

[NORD]

My last i5 saw the true death by 2002 dodge Dakota tail gate.
Since then I have noticed that older computers have regained value given the changes in 2022 life styles.
Just want to have the most stable computer I can find.
the cheapest i.7 i can find i wi l be good for like 10 years.

 

[kc1di]

My last i5 saw the true death by 2002 dodge Dakota tail gate.
Since then I have noticed that older computers have regained value given the changes in 2022 life styles.
Just want to have the most stable computer I can find.
the cheapest i.7 i can find i wi l be good for like 10 years.

Certainly the i7 would be newer and perhaps longer lasting but who know today. All I can vouch for is the i5 since all my machines here run them. My son has a couple i7's in his machines but then he's still stuck on windows because of his work.
He has had no problems with them other than normal windows related things. Before the i5 I had and AMD but that was a few years back and Can't even remember what the model was now.

 

[NORD]

well I have no intentions on running windows so that is out of my equation.

 

[NORD]

Not that windows sofware is bad it's just mainstreamed and giving the info to 3rd party comercial people.no need for that.

 

[kc1di]

I'm not advocating anyone running windows. Just my son has too because of the company he works for they insist upon it.
I've have not run a windows machine since 1999. Linux /BSD all the way.

 

[MikeWalsh]

A lot depends on what your use-case is going to be. What distro do you want to run? What kind of things do you envisage doing with it? Etc, etc.

Until early 2020, I made do with an elderly Compaq desktop PC, circa 2005-vintage, that had a dual-core Athlon64 X2 in it. Running Puppy Linux as I have for many years, it was quite happy, and even sprightly.

The Compaq's mobo eventually succumbed to dried-out caps, even though Compaq (this was one of the last original Compaqs, pre- the HP buyout) used to specify top-quality components. I don't think anyone could sneeze at getting 15 years + out of any mobo.

I bought my first-ever brand-new box to replace it; an HP Pavilion mid-tower desktop. This has an 8th-gen, 'Coffee Lake' dual-core Pentium G5400 'Gold' with HT. Doesn't sound like much to many folks, but this CPU is more powerful with an ultra-lightweight distro like Puppy than many folks manage running Windoze from a 12- or 16-core i9, i10 or later.

Everything is relative. This, running Puppy along with 32GB DDR4 and SSDs will handle any task I can throw at it with aplomb. I do a lot of video-editing, using Openshot and Lightworks, and for my use-case it's more than sufficient.


Mike.

 

[Brickwizard]

@NORD Without getting too technical, this may help you choose. https://www.avg.com/en/signal/intel-i5-vs-i7

 

[f33dm3bits]

Just buy the max you can afford that way your system will go good for a while and prepared for the future.

 

[Brickwizard]

Oh . don't discount an AMD A10 system, they usually outperform the equivalent Intel I5

 

[forester]

Just for example, I am running a Dell Latitude E6540 and like to run Slackware 15 or PCLOS Openbox edition
Less than 2 C-notes got me two -- one for parts and the runner with these specs

localhost ~]$ inxi -b
System:
  Host: localhost.localdomain Kernel: 5.19.4-pclos1 x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Openbox 3.6.1 Distro: PCLinuxOS 2022
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6540 v: 00
  serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: N/A serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell v: A27
  date: 06/13/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 85.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 85.9/99.9 Wh (85.9%)
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core Intel Core i7-4600M [MT MCP] speed: 898 MHz
  min/max: 800/3600 MHz
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics driver: i915
  v: kernel
  Device-2: AMD Mars XTX [Radeon HD 8790M] driver: N/A
  Display: server: PCLinuxOS 1.21.1.4 driver: loaded: intel,v4l
  unloaded: amdgpu resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 14.0.5 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 22.1.7
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I217-LM driver: e1000e
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k

Memory:
  RAM: total: 7.68 GiB used: 1.04 GiB (13.6%)

 

[bob466]

Since when have CPUs been cheap...I paid $A250 for an i5 3.6GHz intel CPU back in 2013 and I'm an average computer user but it's better to have more speed than less.

Now I see they have i9 5.2GHz CPUs.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-intel-processors/

 

[lomszz]

Since when have CPUs been cheap...I paid $A250 for an i5 3.6GHz intel CPU back in 2013 and I'm an average computer user but it's better to have more speed than less.

Now I see they have i9 5.2GHz CPUs.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-intel-processors/

I paid almost same price now only for cpu, Ryzen 5 5600X 230€

 

[forester]

What happened to @Bartman?

@MikeWalsh -- you're the Puppy man. Puppy users see you more ofter on Bleepingcomputer.

Are you here, now, or do you prefer to address Puppy Linux issues on BC?

In any case, it's good to see you elsewhere than just BC!

 

[forester]

In short, OP, you don't need an I9 and can get by cheap with GNU/Linux!

 

[MikeWalsh]

What happened to @Bartman?

@MikeWalsh -- you're the Puppy man. Puppy users see you more ofter on Bleepingcomputer.

Are you here, now, or do you prefer to address Puppy Linux issues on BC?

In any case, it's good to see you elsewhere than just BC!

@forester :-

I have no preferences either way. I'll answer questions about Puppy anywhere, to the best of my abilities - meagre as they are!

I've opened an a/c here 'cos one of my other habitats - TechSupportGuy - has recently been bought out by a media company with a reputation for taking over on-line fora.....then running them into the ground. I've no interest in getting caught up in such shenanigans, and I never spent very much time there anyway.

I moderate at BC and on the Puppy Forums, so they're my two main venues.....but expect to see a fair bit of me here from now on.


Mike.

 

[forester]

Good news -- look forward to it!

 

[Deleted member 137406]

What happened to @Bartman?

Bartman doesn't see very well old age just turned 71 and dosen't pay attention to what he clicks on sometimes and unintentionally deletes stuff.

I really need to go to the eye doctor and get some glasses so I can see what the hell I'm doing.

I really do not like going to doctors offices.

 

[Deleted member 137406]

In short, OP, you don't need an I9 and can get by cheap with GNU/Linux!

I paid a $1.50 for this computer at a junk shop had to scrounge a HDD and had one in my spare parts box.

With the right Linux distro you can use most any old computer with a dual core processor and 4.0GB of memory and integrated graphics.

This PC is blazing fast with SparkyLinux LXQT and blows most Linux distros right out of the playing field OOTB.

Spoiler

sparkylinux@sparkylinux:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-17-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 Desktop: LXQt 0.16.1 
           Distro: SparkyLinux 6.4 (Po-Tolo) base: Debian bullseye/sid 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 380 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 0HN7XN v: A01 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A02 date: 08/27/2010 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo E7500 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn rev: A 
           L2 cache: 3 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 11704 
           Speed: 1596 MHz min/max: 1600/2933 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1596 2: 1596 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1024x768~75Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G41 (ELK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-17-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe vendor: Dell driver: tg3 
           v: kernel port: ece0 bus ID: 02:00.0 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>                           
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 37.25 GiB used: 6.99 GiB (18.8%)                                   
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD400BD-75JMA0 size: 37.25 GiB             
Partition: ID-1: / size: 36.37 GiB used: 6.99 GiB (19.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1                   
Swap:      ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile                 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0 C mobo: N/A                                               
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A                                                                    
Info:      Processes: 139 Uptime: 23h 36m Memory: 3.74 GiB used: 1.07 GiB (28.6%) Init: systemd     
           runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1798 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.01      
sparkylinux@sparkylinux:~$