CPU's -they dont make em like they used to?

[Columbo]

Hey guys,
I'm looking at building a budget gaming pc, and am looking at my current desktop build from July 2012 as a reference point (I've just upgraded the gfx card to a geforce 1060 but otherwise I still find it to be more than good enough)

My CPU is an intel i5 3570k 3.4ghz that I bought in july 2012 for the equivalent of about 200USD - because I still think it's alright, and I don't want to spend much I figured I'd get something with about the same benchmark score (7100) but I'm really amazed that to get something today with an equivalent benchmark it's going to cost me the same, if not more!?!?!?!

TBH I havent been following hardware developments much over the last 4 years but have been building my own pc's since about 2000 and have got kind of used to a cadence of upgrading the graphics card every 2 years and having to do a complete new build every 4.

Is there something I haven't understood about the benchmarks or has something really strange happened in the world that I've missed out on?

Genuinely confused here!

[David (PassMark)]

The rate of improvement in CPUs as decreased. Especially when looking at single threaded performance.
The market competition has also lessened, especially at the high end, where there is none. Prices for the really high end CPUs are now $1000 - $4000. Prices unheard of in the past for x86 CPUs.
In the meantime inflation continued marching on, and value hasn't improved.
If your CPU budget is $200, then I would suggest that you are better off keeping what you already have.

[Columbo]

Thanks for the explanation, David. I hadnt allowed for inflation so that's probably why it seems to cost slightly more. All the same I find it pretty astonishing that the market hasn't pushed down the prices for 4 year old tech in the slightest.

Keeping my existing cpu isn't really an option for my project as I'm trying to separate out a sim pc that's distinct from my home office desktop pc, so that I have a sim rig with wheel / joystick / surround system in the basement, but at the same time an orderly workspace and a nice pc in my home office (that I can still use for strategy gaming and the like)

I guess I'll take a look at the used market for cpu's and see what I can find, maybe there's something to be snapped up from somebody looking to upgrade to the seriously high end stuff.

While I'm here, I should just say thanks, even if the cpu market is a bit stagnant these days, I've found this site immensely useful when looking to buy new hardware over the years!

[David (PassMark)]

If value is important
- some of the higher end AMD models are good value, like the AMD FX-8350
- some of of the more obscure Xeons seem a bit miss-priced. Like the Intel Xeon E5-2660 @ 2.20GHz . But motherboards are often more expensive
- the new intel i3s. Like the Intel Core i3-6320 @ 3.90GHz
- special mention to the Intel Celeron G3920 @ 2.90GHz (a bargain at $45)