answer:“Sandy Bridge” has come and gone; it was replaced in 2012 with “Ivy Bridge”, which is also deprecated. The “Haswell” series of i3/5/7 are the current generation. To compare, I have an old “Clarkdale” i3–530. According to PassMark, my CPU scores 2596. The lowest “Sandy Bridge” i3 was the i3–2100, which clocked in at 3613, making it more powerful than the fastest “Clarkdale” i5 (the i5–680) which got 3539. Some of the “Haswell” i3s beat the lower end of the “Clarkdale” i7s, while the “Haswell i7s are more than most people need. Note that they are all marketed at i3/5/7s though. The model number is very important! Clarkdale = 3-digit (Socket LGA 1156) Sandy Bridge = iX-2xxx (Socket LGA 1155) Ivy Bridge = iX-3xxx (Socket LGA 1155) Haswell = iX-4xxx (Socket LGA1150) With the exception of upgrading from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge, a new CPU requires a new motherboard due to Intel changing sockets. I need a new system to upgrade my system as the LGA1156 i7s are not worth the high price of the upgrade; I could get a new, faster i5 CPU/motherboard combo for less than they want for an old LGA1156 i7!