# CPU upgrade from Core i3 to i7; worth it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpu-upgrade-from-core-i3-to-i7-worth-it/725377>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 17, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpu-upgrade-from-core-i3-to-i7-worth-it/725377 "2015-07-17T01:01:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpu-upgrade-from-core-i3-to-i7-worth-it/725377/1 "2015-07-17T01:01:37Z")

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I have an older HP computer running 8 mb of RAM, with an Intel Core i3 3240 processor. The documentation for the motherboard says it will support up to a Core i7 2700K processor. So the question is, would upgrading to this i7 offer any noticeable performance improvements?

I’m not a gamer, but I have some apps that are rather processor intensive, though they run okay now. Plus I visit a lot of webcam sites, sometimes I have two or three open at a time. Often the video becomes “jerky” after a while.

Yes, I also learned that this i7 processor is old, end-of-life, somewhat hard to find, etc. but assuming it would offer performance improvements, is why I ask. TIA.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpu-upgrade-from-core-i3-to-i7-worth-it/725377/2 "2015-07-17T02:05:58Z")

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The i7 is almost [twice as fas](http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/490/Intel_Core_i3_i3-3240_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-2700K.html)t with multi-threaded applications.

So, it should make a noticeable difference, but only you can decide if it’s worth the cost.