【1】Ancient i5 can be upgraded to Xeon E3 for free

Currently, the recycling price for 2nd and 3rd generation i5 processors ranges from 35 to 70 yuan, while the 4th generation i5 recycling price is between 50 yuan and over a hundred yuan. At present, if you go to Taobao to buy an E3-1230 V1 (equivalent to the 2nd generation), it costs about 50 yuan, and E3-1230 V2 (equivalent to the 3rd generation) is about 75 yuan (the actual performance of V1 and V2 is similar), but E3-1230 V3 (equivalent to the 4th generation) is only 70 yuan. If your original machine is equipped with a dedicated graphics card, you can completely sell your i5 and replace it with E3-1230 V1 or V3, and the performance can be increased by 25% to 40%. Before upgrading and replacing, it is recommended to first upgrade the motherboard BIOS to the latest to avoid the new processor not being recognized.

【2】6th-7th generation i7 is equivalent to the 12th generation i3

As long as you are willing, those friends who are still using 6th-7th generation i7 processors can "freely" upgrade their CPUs to the 12th generation i3-12100F! Now, the disassembled chips of i3-12100F on Taobao are less than 400 yuan, and the performance improvement compared to these old i7s can reach 30%-40%, and the power consumption is significantly reduced. This kind of replacement still makes sense.

Although this involves changing the motherboard, the board you originally have can also be sold at a low price on Xianyu, and it is expected to sell for 150 yuan (such as H110) to 400 yuan (such as Z170). Then, add a little 100-200 yuan to buy a low-end H610, and the CPU cooler can be a 19 yuan Super Frequency Three Blue Bird, which is completely sufficient. In this way, the cost of "renewing" your platform is really very low, and you can still upgrade to other 12-15 generation LGA1700 interface processors later (this platform is expected to be updated to 2025), so why not?

Similar products also include the 9th generation i5-9400/9500 and i5-9600K, and their value is also around 400 yuan, but the performance improvement of replacing the 12th generation i3 is only 15%-25%, which is no longer so obvious. If you are not willing to trouble, there is no problem with not replacing or upgrading, otherwise, spending a little money to upgrade to the latest platform also feels good.

【3】8th generation i7 is equivalent to the 12th generation i5

(The original text ends here, so the translation for the third point is not provided as there is no content to translate.)Currently, the 8th generation i7-8700 can almost be equivalently replaced by the 12th generation i5-12400F, with a performance increase of 25% to 40%. In fact, the former is essentially the same as the later i5-10500 (the i5-10400 can also be considered), and they are almost identical in design. Therefore, the main improvement from upgrading to the 12th generation comes from the significant gains generated by the architectural leaps in generations 11 and 12 (of course, there was also a slight improvement between the 8th and 10th generations).

Considering that the i7-9700K, despite having 8 cores and 8 threads (the only generation of i7 without hyper-threading in history), performs worse than the i5-12400F, and the i9-9900K is roughly on par with the i5-12500, those who own 9th generation i7/i9 processors can definitely sell them and switch to more advanced models. Especially now, the 9th generation i9 still holds some value, with the i9-9900 (which is the 10th generation i7-10700) still worth 1900, and the i9-9900K (which is the 10th generation i7-10700K) still worth 1500. Both can be directly exchanged for i7-12700F+B760 and i5-12600KF+B760 kit solutions, with a direct performance boost, and all the necessary components like the motherboard are included, effectively a completely free upgrade.

Taking advantage of the fact that the 10th and 11th generations still hold value, it's worth considering selling them and upgrading to a new platform. For instance, the i7-10700F is currently directly equivalent to an i5-12600KF (which is noticeably stronger than the i9-10900K), with the latter offering a performance increase of over 40%. In terms of the motherboard, pairing it with an H610 or B760 is feasible. When you factor in the discount on the old motherboard and the new cooling solution (you could opt for a 70 USD tower-style four-heat-pipe cooler), you essentially only need to add 300 USD to move to a new platform and achieve a significant performance boost. The upgrade cost for a few other i7 models is even lower.

As for the i9, it's even better; not only can you upgrade to a new board and CPU kit for free, but the price of the i9-10900K is surprisingly high, and it can even be exchanged for a 13th generation i5-13600KF kit (with the discount on the old motherboard, you can easily move up to a 13th generation i7 kit). The performance of the i9-11900K is actually inferior to that of the i9-10900K. Although the 11th generation significantly improved performance at the same frequency, the number of cores was reduced from 10 to 8.【6】Free upgrade from i9-12900K/KF to i9-12900KS

The recycling price for the i9-12900K is approximately 2070 yuan, while the brand-new i9-12900KS (with integrated UHD770), which can be found everywhere on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace), is priced at only 1900 yuan. The latter offers better performance, higher prestige, and is even cheaper. The price for a second-hand, dismantled i9-12900KS is about 1800 yuan, which is almost equal to the recycling quote for the i9-12900KF. It's as if these two lower-tier i9 processors can be upgraded to a higher configuration for free on the spot. It has to be said that Intel is really a "philanthropist," but those who initially purchased the KS at a high price have suffered significant losses.