I currently have an IB compatible board with the cheapest SB Pentium then available, sat in it. I needed to save money on the build and previously to the current Intel dominance I used to go entry level with the CPU, but get a nice upgradeable board and case and then drop an end-of-line, but top CPU in as that range came to a close. Intel don't seem to go in for price drops that much these days like AMD used to back in the day, but I could do with getting an i3 or i5 to maximize the potential of my system before they disappear altogether. How long do we think I can leave it?
If you want a brand new CPU, then my best guess is about half of a year, maybe one year, as Intel usually sells his current and previous generations at the same time, so now it is Haswell and Ivy Bridge. On other side, you will be able to buy second hand Sandy & Ivy Bridge CPU for years .
Depends if you want to buy new or second hand. There's no point in buying a new CPU now when it's a generation old and you can save 20%+ by going second hand. I sold my good i7-3770K which could do 4.8GHz without problems on air and at a safe voltage too for £180, which is a good 20% cheaper or so than it is new. It's definitely worth going second hand when you're buying for an old platform.
First Ivy Bridge CPU's to be killed are 3.2 GHz Core i3-3210 and 3.3 GHz i3-3225 - to be available for order up until March 28th, 2014, and will ship until September 5th, 2014.
So either way, I can definitely leave the Pentium in there for winter then? I'm coming back to Italy for the ski season and will be bringing my PC again. Was just worried Ivy Bridge might go EOL before I got back... I don't expect a lot from my machine, so once I put an i5 or whatever in there, I expect that to last several years. The second-hand thing is interesting, didn't even think about that. Thanks guys.
