[GTALUG] classes of x86 performance

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

This is oriented to gamers but I think that it is interesting.  It helps 
one answer the question: will an upgrade be worth the bother?

<http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html>

[wandering elsewhere in the topic of upgrades]

My last desktop upgrade (a couple of years ago) was from class 6 (Core 2 
Quad Q6600) to class 1 (i7-4770).

RAM capacity might also matter. In theory, my old desktop could have 8G of 
RAM but in fact it could not, so I installed 6G.  My newer desktop should 
handle 32G but I only have 24G installed.

SSD is so much zippier than HDD that it might be the first upgrade to 
consider.  It seems to make a lot of difference with "modern" desktops 
like Gnome 3, Unity and Windows 8.x and 10.  Make sure that you do 
backups.