What is the general opinion of core 2 duos today ( vs i3,i5)?

I still in my opinion core 2 duo desktops with e8400+ are still good for even medium high uses. I am only comparing them them something like 1st and 2nd generation i3's and i5's and really i can only note a small difference in some tasks in terms of the i3 and i5 being better.

I still use a desktop with an e8500 ( mostly as a back up when my main goes out or have to troubleshoot) and its still great for performance even though its processor is kind of old now.

Even when it comes to playing some games at 'ok settings'' it still doesn't disappoint.

Applications that take advantage of hyper threading though well the core 2 duo models do fall short but otherwise for value and $$$ saving i think these core 2 duo models ( e8400,8500, 8600) are still pretty excellent and i have still recommend some family members to buy desktops with these if they want to save money and still have pretty decent performance.

When i3's, i5's, and i7 were not around these processors were probably superb at the time.

 

They are measurably slower.

3rd gen i3 vs core 2 duo
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8500-vs-Intel-Core-i3-3220

3rd gen i5 vs core 2 duo
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8500-vs-Intel-Core-i5-3570K

3rd gen i7 vs core 2 duo
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8500-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4770K

We are now on 4th gen i-x CPUs, but I seeing how I wasn't comparing efficiency, they probably arent much different in performance from 3rd gen.

When it comes to games, they are almost always GPU-bound unless playing low resolution, so I am not surprised it is fine for gaming.

 

I couldnt help it. i7s are all I run, and they purr...

 

Well i was mostly comparing it to 1st and 2ng generation i3's and i5's.

This i5 doesn't doesn't really beat it too much at all
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8500-vs-Intel-Core-i5-650

And this i3 rates even better than the i5 noted above when up against the e8500-http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8500-vs-Intel-Core-i3-2120


I agree with the other poster here who said that as long as the user is content with the performance it doesn't really matter. I gave a sibling of mine a desktop with an e8400 about 3 years ago , a drastic improvement from his single core sluggish amd.

Now i was thinking of giving him an i5 possibly, but then i get thinking if i don't get him a 3rd gen+ it probably isn't worth ''upgrading'' him?

He wanted to get into video editing for his website but he was going to buy more hardware to upgrade his computer i told him it would just be cheaper if he got an upgrade and he would be able to do more with it as well. Besides his desktop is still using ddr2

 

My apologies,

I was in a rush and didn't look at the name at the time.

Still regarding my topic i still see the core 2 duo cpu's i mentioned quite usable in today's era specially when i just went to a retail store and saw some desktops for $250-$280 running things like a j1900 (ACER Aspire X AXC-603G) and a motherboard with only 2 sata ports.

I think the lower range ''modern'' processors aim more in regards to energy and power consumption than actual power

 

The last two generations have been about integrated GPU power and power efficiency. Yet...nothing from AMD has matched them, even with their top CPU and definitely not C2Ds. I am not knocking the CPU, but I am telling you there is a very tangible performance difference. I am not recommending upgrading if it works well for you of course.

Whether you will notice performance difference depends on what you use the machine for. If you are using an HDD, it doesn't matter because you are IO bound, and that is your weakest link, not your CPU. If you are low on ram..yada, yada. Your machine is only as fast as your slowest component.

I compile a lot of software daily, and am very sensitive to such things (compiling software is very cpu intensive).