My Debian Bullseye box has a i7 930. My 64-bit Win8.1 box has a i7 4820K. Now I want to build a single new system. It would have Debian as host and Windows as a VirtualBox guest. Likely, the Windows guest will be running a lot. What would be the lowest CPU I should consider for not only adequate performance but also to have a meaningful upgrade from what I have now? Even though both of my present CPUs are Intel, I am open to AMD and would consider both while designing the new system.

If you are considering a new CPU I think that the current new AMD CPUs are better than the current new Intel CPUs. Intel fouled up their current upgrade cycle and AMD didn't. If you are considering CPUs that are a generation older then either AMD or Intel is fine.

What I have done over the years is continually upgrade to the -1 generation of computers. Right now the second hand computer market is fairly cheap because Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade their hardware if they want to go to Windows 11. Check out eBay for used Windows 10 computers.

Over the last 2 years you can gain far more performance improvement by upgrading HDDs to SSDs than you can by getting a faster CPU. So I would advise you to do both. Buy a faster CPU and use a SSD in the new to you computer.

Another consideration is USB speed. Your new computer should have at least 2 USB ports of type 3.0, 3.1, or 3.2.

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Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (8 cores, 16 threads, no IGP)
Processor cooler: top-down, e.g. be quiet! Shadow Rock TF 2
RAM: 64 GiB = 2× 32 GiB DDR4 PC-3200
Mainboard: Chipset AMD B550, 1× M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Slot + 1× NVMe PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 Slot, 4 Slots for DDR4 RAM, support for 128 GiB RAM
Graphics card: AMD RX 550 (minimum, for gaming & graphical simulation a more powerful AMD graphics card is recommended)
Mass storage devices: (M.2 NVMe 1 TB PCIe 4.0) XOR (M.2 NVMe 500 GB PCIe 4.0 + M.2 NVMe 2 TB (larger capacity if desired) PCIe 3.0)
NVMe heatsink(s): e.g. Sabrent Rocket NVMe Heatsink

Don't choose a processor with IGP! An IGP uses shared memory. An IGP decreases system's performance, delivers poor graphics performance and makes heat dissipation from processor more expensive.

Check if you need a RS232 port. Some actual mainboards provide one.

In December I bought 11th gen Intel (socket LGA1200) for B560 chipset Asus mATX motherboard, to save on power consumption and cost, with i5-11400 CPU, 6 cores, 12 threads, 65W TDP. UHD 730 IGP & mobo support 3 graphics outputs simultaneously, with DP, HDMI, HDMI & USB-C ports on motherboard to select among. 500W EVGA 80+ PSU I bought on sale for $32 is wildly in excess of actual need. 2 NVME M.2 sockets give it seriously fast I/O from storage, the arguably main justification to upgrade from the newer of your boxen (alternate main: DDR4, or maybe DDR5).

I'd check that you don't already have a VM supported cpu. Otherwise one would want to consider the motherboard and cpu combination that might improve VM integration to host.

I'll do generic recommendations. Mostly I'd agree with Jailbaits post, except the newest Intel desktop CPU's, Alder Lake, CRUSH anything AMD currently has on the market. Only at 15-watt TDP (U-series ultrathin laptops) does AMD maintain a performance advantage because Intel only gives those CPU's 2 performance cores.

If looking at anything that's not LATEST generation, AMD is the way to go. AMD 5000 series is better than anything pre-12th gen from Intel. While performance of the 11th gen is CLOSE, efficiency it's not. Intel CPU's will boost to MUCH higher power usage to keep up with the AMD processors.

If you're not a gamer and having an IGP is adequate for you, then Intel may be easier to find. The only 2 officially commercially available APU's of AMD are the 5600G and the 5700G. They're VERY nice APU's, and the IGP crushes the intel IGP, but they're not insanely common and the official MSRP isn't fantastic given the level that Alder Lake's performance exceeds Carrizo's (am I spelling that right?) performance. The 5700G does offer 8 cores, 16 threads though with a high speed Vega IGP, so it IS a pretty good chip if you want to stick to IGP's.

IMO in US Ryzen 5600G is the sweet spot for performance and price compromise for new build if integrated graphics are desired.

Meaningful is a relative term . I would think that going AMD that would be the 5600G, 5600, or 5600X would be the low end of 'meaningful' performance gain over what you have. As said above that group of CPUs are the sweet spot. Price and Performance only goes 'up' from there. Make sure the new build uses an SSD for the OS drive. That really has meaningful performance gain over HDD! BTW I have an 5600X and 16GB of DDR4 which is running KUbuntu 20.04 as base system and a Windows 7 VM. Very good performance from my point of view. Also have a 5900X and 32GB DDR4 in my workstation and that also eats up VMs.

CPU? I'd say one of the ARM or MIPS options, but stay away from x86 at all costs. MIPS boards are harder to find these days for general purpose devices, but there are many ARM systems to choose from.

Either way Qemu can provide the emulation for the legacy architectures which legacy operating systems are tied to.

Serena,

I second biker_rat's recommendation for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G.

This video may help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvXSK4AYQVo

Newegg:
https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-5...82E16819113683

Build of what? It's difficult not to recommend x86_64 in a pc, but if you're building something else post again. Otherwise, I've just finished one of these threads in this forum. https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ns-4175711756/

I don't really want to recommend anything, because later you may say the recommended system was not optimal for you, because ....
(not enough or too much disk/ram/cores or just it is too expensive or too slow or not that fast or ...)
It definitely depends on your money and your requirements (what will you run on it) and also on your plans (if you want to upgrade it later or replace or ?)

From my side I would buy and upgradable motherboard, so later you will be able to buy a much better cpu or more ram or ....
Do you want to run a flight simulator or do you want to manipulate images/videos, or do you want to .....

Impressed that most are recommending AMD.
At work we have a lot of servers and desktop/laptops from Dell, so they personally visit a few times per year.
Last week I queried for a server with the best subsystem/cpu towards building one with high throughput with low latency.
The reps hands down recommended going for AMD.
Next I asked our HPC/server guy and he builds them with AMD too and keeps Intel for the masses.
Its to do with something AMD designs their buses better.

I just built my Ryzen 5 5600x 6 cores 12 threads,16gb ram going to soon 32gb ddr4,1tb m.2 nvme drive. nvidia rtx3060

It is So Fast! loading times are nothing.

upgraded from amd fx8120 8core 8 threads cpu and 16gb ddr3. old system didnt even have ssd.
had a nvidia rtx 3060 in this and gamed some. ssd would have made it better. cpu was great and lasted some 10+ years.

AMD leads price/performance.

Is that true even if you don't use the IGP (i.e. you use an external display card)?