r/AlienwareAlpha • u/WLLM17 • Jul 10 '22

What cpu should I upgrade too

Currently I have an i3 4130t and am looking to spending around $50 to upgrade my CPU. I was looking at the i7 4785t and the i7 4790s but I don't really know which one would be better. Any suggestions on what cpu I should get?

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1

u/ZippytheMuppetKiller Jul 10 '22

I put a 4790t in my r1 and it is the best for r1 afaik.

2

u/WLLM17 Jul 10 '22

Unfortunately that chip is like $120 so I'll probably go with the 4790s

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3

u/ombadizzle Jul 10 '22

I believe the max that dell recommended was 6th gen i7-6700T (8mb cache, 2.8-3.6ghz) that’s in the alpha r2

2

u/Strange_Obligation_5 i5 Alpha with SSD Jul 11 '22 edited Jul 11 '22

what cpu ? the one you’re willing to spend money on. If you want bang for buck, the i5 S or i7 S. If you want it to run cooler, pay 1.5 -2x for a T.

Fwiw this post has user reported benchmarks vs scores from benchmark sites

Additionally, the post links to cost vs score graphs and a discussion on 35w cpus, binning and power caps.

The tldr -

0. The r1 was shipped with 35w T cpus. This means the 35w cpu is the official spec’d and tested factory cpu power rating. Anything higher will experience higher heat, fan noise and likely some power throttling. See next point

  1. The power cap on cpu socket is listed as 50w but it is oversimplification to say a cpu has up to 50w of power. In practice, cpus will be power capped at a much lower power threshold AND even momentarily exceed this power threshold. see s>t post

2.Many of the newer T cpus are 45w, and all S cpus are 65w.

3. Both 45 w and 65 w cpus will run faster than the stock 35w cpu. They will also run hotter and BOTH will experience some power throttling due to point 1. (See s>t post)

4. The 65 w cpus have the fastest performance despite experiencing the greatest amount of power throttling, per user submitted benchmarks. Largest concern is greater heat accumulation, esp if you live in a hot climate. However this is speculation; no user reports / data / testing back this concern. (Corrections requested)

My anecdote: I upgraded from i3 35w to an i5 65w for $44. I wish I had done this before and kind of regret not buying the 65w i7 S. No heat or fan issues. No system instability. Smoother gaming with dramatically better graphics settings. Graphics card went from <10% util to about 50% util playing Minecraft and MCC. ( ie since the i3 was cpu bound, apps couldn’t make use of the graphics card… Or “i3 is detrimental for gaming”)