Quote - Get the biggest/best i7 that will play on your MB/PS combo

Depending on the chipset on the mobo, and I7 may not be a huge improvement other than core count. It will still be stuck at whatever the thruput is on the board. Sort of hard to guess without knowing what motherboard it is. If the I5 is an LGA1150 socket, the bios may support an I7, possibly even a Xeon.

It would probably be a better route to build a twin processor Xeon system than waste the money on an I7. A top of the line I7 can be over a grand. Yes, that is a lot of money out at once either way, so It is a big decision over plugging parts into what you have.

For less than the price of a fast I7, you can buy 2 Xeons, the mobo, and the memory for it. The Quad core (8 threads) Xeons are fast, up the core count and they slow down due to the TRL (turbo ratio lock) differences between an I7 and a Xeon. With all core active, like rendering, the Xeons win hands down.

The E3-1241 V3 Xeon is faster than any quad core I7, but it is a single socket chip. For a 1/4 the price of a comparable I7.... Ironic isn't it.... Yes it uses a slower memory controller, but it makes up for it in other ways.

The E5600 Westmere Xeons are not as fast clock speed wise, but the thruput is still just as fast as an I7. And they are scalable. (multi cpu capable) Motherboards for them are not that bad pricewise either.

Lot of choices, but we need to know what you actually have now to make any type of informed decision about upgrading or replacing it..

 

---

Some things are easy to explain, other things are not........ <- Store ->   <-Freebies->