So a very long time ago now, I upgraded from my ancient AMD FX 6100 to a Ryzen 5 1600, and now I am on my 3rd CPU with an Intel i3 12100f.
Why did I go with an i3 and not the i5? Simple, I was on a budget and I couldn't justify spending more than $250 CAD for this upgrade. I could've squeezed in the 12400 if it was in stock, but it wasn't.
Why didn't I just get a new AMD CPU and slot it in? Well I tried, but my Gigabyte motherboard (even with updates) refused to play nice with the 5500 I tried to upgrade too. If I was keeping with AMD I'd need to buy a new Motherboard and if I was buying a new Motherboard for this I might as well get the best bang for my Buck.
So what did I get.
Motherboard: MSI PRO B760M-P since it had the IO I wanted (2x M.2 slots and a USB C Port on the back)
CPU: Intel i3 12100f
And the results are... honestly surprising. Despite loosing 2 core and 4 threads, I gained in performance everywhere, or I was GPU limited with my 3050. 2 minutes off of my 10 minute handbrake render, 50fps extra in Doom 2016, and a doubling in Geekbench single core performance which I need thanks to my work in FreeCAD. FreeCAD is still slow, but the models I am loading are demanding.
Overall I am happy with my upgrade, and the best part is, since I am buying my Motherboards at the end of a socket generation rather than the beginning, it means when I want to upgrade in a few years, it should work with intel 13th and 14th gen CPU's.
Geekbench before: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/6614622
Geekbench after: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/6616466
Ram is x2 16GB sticks, my BIOS yelled at me for not putting them in the optimum channels.
M.2 has my 2TB Linux Mint install and my 1TB Windows install. I'm not dual booting, just having the Windows install nearby just in case.
Beauty