1st of all i know i am a total pesant, but i am interested in learning. If this is the wrong forum or the wrong part of it for that just tell me.
So i have basic understanding of PCs and CPUs, but I am confused by intels generations. I understand diference betwean models (pentium,i3,i5,i7..), but other than change in power usage, is there any other benefits for gen5 over gen4? Also gen3, should i consider it? I know it is oldish, but i have seen 6 core i7 of gen3 and as far as i know the only difference is in the shape of power plug.
Each successive generation of cpu is more efficient and usually has better IPC (i.e. a 5th gen quad core i5 at 3 ghz will be faster than a 2ng gen quad core i5 at 3 ghz). The biggest improvements come every other generation (which is considered a tock for intel on a tick tock schedule. A 6 core gen3 i7 is still a fast cpu, even by today's standards.
There is a small IPC (instructions per clock) improvement every generation, as well as small power reductions with die shrinks.
Intel currently follows a tick-tock process. Ticks are die shrinks, decreasing the size of the transistors, thus allowing more in the same area. Tocks are architectural changes.
The current 4th gen core, code named Haswell, parts are a tock. The previous 3rd gen architecture, Ivy Bridge, was a tick. It used the same architecture as the 2nd gen, Sandy Bridge, parts.
The 5th gen parts are a die shrink of the current Haswell parts. There will be a small improvement. Most people wouldn't regard it as enough of an improvement to consider upgrading to the same tiered Broadwell part, but it could be worth it if you're doing a new build and you wanted to put off upgrading for a little while longer than you would.
Its ok, its a valid point, but no i am not upgrading, i am starting from 0
Dont even have a pc, i am on phone right now.
Also i am not shore i can lift the price of a new gen and due to where i live i probably would not be able to take an advantage of pricedrop. Also it could be 3 months or more before intel drops skyline and i am not shore i want to wait that long.
Consider each generation to be a 5% increase over the last, just as a starting benchmark. Start at Sandy-Bridge (2nd Gen) and add up to today to figure out the difference. There were some generations that added more or less to the performance gain, but 5% is a good round number to go on.
If you are anxious to get a PC and don't have the money needed to build that dream-machine, go for used. Used 3rd Gen (Ivy-Bridge) quad cores are more than capable today. Sure they are a bit slower than Haswell or Broadwell, but they can be acquired for significantly less money while still providing decent performance.
TL;DR Ivy-Bridge is a good price to performance point to start from (for a build). To calculate general performance increase, add 5% from Sandy-Bridge for subsequent generations.
I am kind of scared about buying used, since i am building for first time and used parts in my mind present more ways something might go wrong. Also i hope to insure that pc and used parts might be a problem there.
CPUs have a locked multiplier or unlocked (marked by the K in the model name and C for upcoming generations) .
If you consider buying used, it's a safe bet to go with locked CPUs, since they've usually been used under factory settings, so no overheating (if kept reasonably clean) or over-volting. Some ivy bridge models can be manually locked to their turbo speed, but that isn't anything extreme.
That being said, the only parts I would confidently buy used are the CPU, RAM and maybe the case, because these rarely fail over time under normal conditions.
A good deal to me would be a new 1155 motherboard (any chipset from H61 / H77 / Z77) and a used Ivy i5 (3rd gen, socket 1155). After some research, you could probably get that for the price of a brand new Haswell i5.
Older generation motherboards are slowly going out of stock at retailers, so finding any depends on your location.