Which CPUs for different applications?

[suedseefrucht]

Hi guys,

I would like to know how low you can go without noticing a difference.
Just to get something like an overview.

And I am thinking about power consumption. So if there is no difference, you can use a less energy consuming CPU for like an HTPC.

 

I know benchmarks and advertising show us how good i7, i9, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 can be but I was wondering, when you even notice if you have a better CPU.

 

Browsing, Netflix, Youtube:

Is there a noticable difference between i7 and i3 or even Pentium? Or between R7 and R3 or even Athlon?

Personally I just know browsing can be a little laggy on an old raspberry pi.

 

Office:

Again i7 vs i3/Pentium or R7 vs R3/Athlon.

Will an i5 be a noticable upgrade when working with Excel?

 

Gaming:

I saw some budget builds with i3 or R3 so I guess it would work fine for some games.

I also there is a noticable difference when playing CPU heavy games.

 

Photoshop / Video editing:

I think a better CPU can safe a lot of time here.

 

How are your experiences? I would like to know what CPU to pick when I build an office or HTPC without noticing lags or waiting compared to better CPUs.

 

[minibois]

4 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Browsing, Netflix, Youtube:

Is there a noticable difference between i7 and i3 or even Pentium? Or between R7 and R3 or even Athlon?

Personally I just know browsing can be a little laggy on an old raspberry pi.

If you have 8GB+ of relatively fast memory, are not multitasking a lot and aren't playing 4K videos, a recent R3/i3-class CPU is fine

4 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Office:

Again i7 vs i3/Pentium or R7 vs R3/Athlon.

Will an i5 be a noticable upgrade when working with Excel?

Same story as above.

With Excel it depends on the size of the file, or rather the amount of formulas included. At a certain point, a faster CPU will be noticeable.

5 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Gaming:

I saw some budget builds with i3 or R3 so I guess it would work fine for some games.

I also there is a noticable difference when playing CPU heavy games.

i3/R3 CPU's would work fine in some games, but it also depends on the videocard paired and games played.

This one is the most easy to find through benchmarks

9 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Photoshop / Video editing:

I think a better CPU can safe a lot of time here.

For sure, but the videocard and memory helps a lot too.

But in a lot of video editing programs where you can CPU render, you will see a direct benefit of more cores and such too.