> You've got a bit of an edge case... Haswell is the last machine I'd consider modern. Go back one generation and Ivy Bridge is missing AVX2 and loses performan

> You've got a bit of an edge case... Haswell is the last machine I'd consider modern. Go back one generation and Ivy Bridge is missing AVX2 and loses performance in a number of applications. (acknowledging that this website is for a particular subset of computer users) I think this comment misses the point of the original comment. I use a desktop I built in 2011 (i5 2500k) as my main driver - I upgraded to an SSD and a RX580 recently, and it performs fantasticly. It has USB 3, which is iomportant to me for bulk file transfers to removable media. It plays any game I have thrown at it yet. I may upgrade the CPU/ram/mobo at some point, but haven't felt the need yet. I'm sure my computer would be pretty terrible compared to a new i7 at the particular CPU-intensive tasks you mentioned (encoding, rendering, compiling...), but for everyday use and gaming it can't be faulted in the slightest. Very impressive for an 8-year-old CPU. Even 3 years ago, an 8-year-old computer would've been trash (core2 duo, ew)