HELP: Old but gold LGA1155 setup—should I upgrade my i3 to an i5 or an i7?

Hey, I could really use some advice because I'm stuck on a decision...

My current setup:
MOBO: MSI Z77A-G45 (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z77AG45/Specification)
CPU: Intel i3-3240 (https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...-3-40-ghz.html)
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1600 in Dual-Channel mode
GPU: ASUS RX 470 G1 gaming 4 g (https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics...-GAMING-4GD#sp)
HDD: 250GB SSD

So, I have two options:
- roughly $167 Intel i5-3570K (https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...-3-80-ghz.html)
- roughly $0.33 Intel i7-3770K (https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...-3-90-ghz.html)

Is the price difference $167, and is it worth grabbing the i7?

I need a bit more kick from my CPU since I run Hackintosh, do a lot of programming, rendering, graphic design, and general multimedia stuff...

Moving up to a whole new gen like an i3-8100/i3-8300 with DDR4-2400/3000 and a new motherboard—🙂 that's just not in the budget right now. Honestly, I don't think I even need it since my current rig handles everything fine, I just want a slightly better processor.👍

Thanks!

That i7 just isn't worth it $333 for sure. 😉

stormyviper2 said:That i7 just isn't worth it $333 for sure. 😉

Not sure what you mean? 🤔
Are we talking about me building a whole new rig from scratch? 🤦
Or is it just too old to be useful $333 compared to... what? 🙂
Or is my offer just too low compared to... something else?

I was looking through some older listings today, and I noticed that an i7 from the previous generation—the kind that’s maybe 10% slower than what you're currently eyeing—is actually sitting there for... $167So, looking at the specs, there's just no way this one is worth $1,000. It honestly doesn't hold up to that price tag at all. My bad.

If that person is trying to sell that processor for... $333 I honestly don't see why anyone would want to sell that for such a low price. It’s just not worth it. $333Well, if that's the case, then I guess I'm officially the king of the universe. 😉 Honestly, I’ve got my doubts. You have to be a complete idiot to actually think that way. $333 That's exactly right.

$233 That’s the absolute limit—not even a single extra dollar. And honestly, that’s only if you're having one of those rare, incredibly good days where everything just seems to click. 😉

It honestly kills me to see people throwing money away on outdated rigs. I’m seeing more and more cases lately where folks try to claw back cash by selling off hardware that’s easily five or more years old, but they’re slapping these absolutely delusional price tags on them. It just doesn't make sense. If you're looking to buy, my advice is simple: just don't. It's not worth the headache or the wasted cash.

It looks like you might have cut off your thought there! I was just about to dive into something, but I stopped mid-sentence. What was on your mind? Feel free to finish that thought—I'm all ears. $333 So, I just got my hands on this new Ryzen 6 C 12 T, and honestly, it’s kind of blowing my mind. It feels like you're getting more bang for your buck than ever before; the performance is so solid that it actually feels faster than having four i7 1000 processors running at once. It's one of those rare moments where the hardware really lives up to the hype. 😉

Click, Click, and you've got click
support.
$192