Best Intel CPU for a budget-friendly home office PC?

Question

Ive built PCs for years but my old workstation just kicked the bucket and honestly the current Intel lineup is a total mess. Everything looks like a rebrand or some power-hungry heater that I definitely dont need for a basic home office setup. Im in the UK and really trying to keep the CPU cost under 150 quid since I need to save cash for a decent monitor. Its mostly just heavy Excel work and zoom calls but I hate laggy multitasking. Should I just grab a 12th gen i3 or is there some hidden gem i5 that wont break the bank? Kinda losing my mind trying to parse all these model numbers...

Solace77 · Accepted Answer

Re: I feel your pain. The naming conventions are a nightmare right now. Honestly, for heavy Excel, you want those extra cores. Skip the i3 and look for a deal on a Intel Core i5-12400 6-Core 2.5GHz. It is the sweet spot for efficiency and price.Check CamelCamelCamel for price historyLook at used market listings It handles multitasking way better than any i3 could. Might as well save the headache.

LinuxGuru404 · Answer

I feel your pain. I went through the same headache last month when my old rig died during a massive spreadsheet export. I ended up grabbing an older i5 chip I found on sale and honestly? It crushes my daily office workload without heating up the room. Don't overthink the newer branding too much. Even a base level chip from a few years back handles Zoom and multitasking way better than you'd expect.