What upgrade for a Core i7 3770S ?

[DManj]

Hi there !

I have an old but still good Dell XPS 27 (2710) that is equiped by a Core i7 3770S. And now I'm thinking of an upgrade to a 4th or more Core Gen, without changing anything else but DDR3 memory, before all this stuff disappear from Earth ! What do you think and, if it's possible, what would you choose for a good value for money (around 200 €) ? I'm not searching for high performances. It's just an upgrade to increase a little more my computer lifetime, using Adobe PS, Illustrator, Indesign and After Effects (graphic designer inside), nothing more than that. If there's no need to change, I'll stay with my intention of switching from 8 to 16 GB DDR.

In any case, thanks for your help !

zam'

[n_scott_pearson]

First of all, "old but still good" is a bit of a misnomer. More recent processors will outperform this processor - especially with respect to power utilization. More recent processors will outperform this processor while expending (sometimes significantly) less power. Just saying; I am just as guilty of keeping older system alive... 😇

Motherboards that support 3rd generation Intel Core processors cannot (also) support 4th generation (or newer) processors, so there is no generational upgrade path that will not also require the replacement of your motherboard and, if you upgrade far enough, the replacement of your DDR3 DRAM with DDR4 DRAM.

A slightly better performing processor, the Core i7-3770K, could be utilized, but only at the expense of giving up VPro (AMT, VT-d and TXT) capabilities and with increased power utilization (processor goes from 66W to 77W).

While it is certainly probable that an increase in the amount of memory present will result in performance gains, these gains will be minimal and you have to think carefully about whether this is throwing good money for bad. The money you spend obtaining additional DDR3 DRAM could have been spent on DDR4 DRAM for a newer system with more-significantly improved performance (and improved power utilization).

My recommendation: Stick with the system as it is until you can upgrade the whole shootin' shebang.

Hope this helps,

...S

[VARADHARAJAN]

before upgrading , read the user manual of the desktop because Some MB requires new bios firmware or upgrading not supported , Already Mr Scott Pearson is clearly explained the other real facts

[DManj]

@n.scott.pearson​ Thank you for this detailed answer. You're right about the notion of "old but still good". It was just to say that, for my typical use, my computer is good enough and I just wanted to know if it was a good idea to spend money right now or not. And your explanation seems logical, considering what I learned from you. So I'll follow your recommandation and I'll wait and save money for the time I'll have to change (maybe for a mini PC, so I can keep the good 27'' screen of my AiO). A wiser decision, indeed.

@RAJU2529​ Thank you too ! Now that I made my decision, it will avoid some issues by making mistakes with MB, proc, BIOS, etc. Thanks to you and Scott Pearson I won't take any risk.

One last time, thank you both !🙏