For most users, an Intel i5 is more than adequate for handling everyday tasks, and even handles moderate gaming. In recent years, i5 chips have been topped out with six cores on desktops and four cores on mobiles, and clock speeds have been exceeding 5GHz.
If you regularly complain about your PC being slow, upgrading to the Core i5 will improve your media creation, multitasking capabilities, and performance. The Core i3 is a good choice if you want a PC thats quicker than an Atom-powered tablet or laptop, but dont want to spend too much money on it.
It is usually better to use a Core i7 for multitasking, media-editing and media-creation, and other demanding tasks. Our research shows that many of the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs have four or more cores, which is exactly what we consider the sweet spot for most mainstream users.
Currently, Core i3 chips have a speed range of 3.6-to-4GHz, while their Turbo speeds range from 4.2-to-4.6GHz. L3 cache sizes range from 6 to 8MB. Core i5 chips have speeds ranging from 2.9GHz and 3.7GHz, and turbo speeds ranging from 4.1GHz and 4.6GHz. The L3 cache on these chips is 9MB.