Need Upgrade, AMD or Intel?

[FlutterPwn]

I've been needing an upgrade ever sense I bought a GTX 560 and it got bottlenecked by my Pentium. I was looking to spend no more then $300 for a new CPU and Mobo and also a cooler. My case is a Azza Toledo 301 and supports most aftermarket air coolers and supports up to a 240mm rad. I wanted to go liquid for the sake that I won't be getting the best CPU and wanted to overclock it heavily. All I ever use my computer for is gaming, running teamspeak, and sometimes music while I'm playing games, so I know anything above a Quad will be pointless for me although I have been looking at the FX8120. I've also been looking at the i5 2500, but I just can't decide what will be the best for the money I'm willing to spend. So those who know the market for parts or can give me their opinions on parts they have that worked well for them would be much appreciated. I just want to gather some info but I don't plan on buying anything until after the christmas rush.

So I need a CPU, a Motherboard, and a aftermarket cooler all for around $300 unless you can convince me other wise to change any of my decisions. I will greatly appreciate all of your input.

 

[grassman]

2500k used $150-180 used mobo MSI/Asus for $60-80 then get at least a corsair h60 used $40

 

[Stevo]

best for your money amd, best for quality intel

 

[Christoi]

There's really no point getting an FX6300/8150 if you are using it for gaming, as the extra cores will not be fully utilized, thus giving it near identical performance to the FX-4300. The 4300 is pretty good though, it's not as fast as the IB i5's, but it still performs well with games, so it would be a good option.

With $300 to spend it may be better to stretch for a 2500k/3570k though, with a motherboard like the MSI Z77A-G43 or the ASRock Z75 Pro3. Overclocking really isn't necessary since you are GPU-bottlenecked anyways, so I'd just stick with the stock cooler for now.

If you have an OEM license of Windows however, you will need a new license with a motherboard upgrade, so do keep that in mind (if you do, an FX4300 + ASRock 970 Extreme3 + Windows would work nicely).

 

[Deejeta]

You'll be ok with the oem license thing. Phone activate windows and tell the operator that your hard drive or something died. I've done this at least a dozen times.

 

[Christoi]

You'll be ok with the oem license thing. Phone activate windows and tell the operator that your hard drive or something died. I've done this at least a dozen times.

That also works. I've heard Microsoft is indeed rather lenient with that kind of stuff. The license is tied to the motherboard though, so a dead board would probably be a better excuse.

 

[MacLeod]

If you live near a Microcenter (most people don't) they have insane deals on i5's like $150 for a 2500K including $40 or so off a motherboard if you buy then both. Catch is its in store purchases only.

 

[hmmblah]

If you live near a Microcenter (most people don't) they have insane deals on i5's like $150 for a 2500K including $40 or so off a motherboard if you buy then both. Catch is its in store purchases only.

They had a sale on the 2500k not too long ago, $99. If I didn't live ~7.5hrs from the nearest MC, I probably would have picked one up. It's probably a good thing I don't have one close.

 

[FlutterPwn]

The nearest MC near me is about a 60 mile round trip. So I would spend all the money I save on gas. I would really like to stretch for intel because I've been told their duel cores can beat a amd quad any day. I just want something I can play games with and not need a upgrade in a year. I have Battlefield 3 and Crysis and I can't even play them without running 600x400 res and lowest settings and still get 25-35 fps.

 

[MacLeod]

The nearest MC near me is about a 60 mile round trip. So I would spend all the money I save on gas.

Only if you drive a crew cab pickup that gets 6 miles per gallon! My Accord gets 30+ mpg so that would be 2 gallons of gas or $7. Youre gonna save about $100 on a CPU and motherboard from Microcenter.

I would really like to stretch for intel because I've been told their duel cores can beat a amd quad any day.

Youve been told wrong. The 8300 processors are competitive with 3570's in a lot of things. Yes Intel is a lot further ahead when you only compare core to core but Windows will split up the workload between the cores so even single threaded applications can still use a lot more than 1 core. That being said, Intel is faster but AMD is a whole lot closer in actual real world use than you would be led to believe by reading forums.

I just want something I can play games with and not need a upgrade in a year. I have Battlefield 3 and Crysis and I can't even play them without running 600x400 res and lowest settings and still get 25-35 fps.

Thats gonna be a GPU issue more than a CPU issue. You put an old Core 2 Duo with a GTX680 and itll outperform a i7-3960X with a GTX460. No doubt you want a strong CPU to feed that GPU but if you need to skimp on some spending cash, the GPU is NOT the place to do it at least in terms of gaming.

Also, if youre having to turn BF3 and Crysis down to 600x400 and still cant get out of the 30's then youve got something else way wrong. What kind of proc are you running? How old is that thing? Its not a Pentium 4 is it?

 

[FlutterPwn]

Only if you drive a crew cab pickup that gets 6 miles per gallon! My Accord gets 30+ mpg so that would be 2 gallons of gas or $7. Youre gonna save about $100 on a CPU and motherboard from Microcenter.



Youve been told wrong. The 8300 processors are competitive with 3570's in a lot of things. Yes Intel is a lot further ahead when you only compare core to core but Windows will split up the workload between the cores so even single threaded applications can still use a lot more than 1 core. That being said, Intel is faster but AMD is a whole lot closer in actual real world use than you would be led to believe by reading forums.



Thats gonna be a GPU issue more than a CPU issue. You put an old Core 2 Duo with a GTX680 and itll outperform a i7-3960X with a GTX460. No doubt you want a strong CPU to feed that GPU but if you need to skimp on some spending cash, the GPU is NOT the place to do it at least in terms of gaming.

Also, if youre having to turn BF3 and Crysis down to 600x400 and still cant get out of the 30's then youve got something else way wrong. What kind of proc are you running? How old is that thing? Its not a Pentium 4 is it?

I'm running a pentium but not sure which one. It's a Intel E6700 3.2ghz duel core 775 socket. It came from an Dell Inspiron 560 that I bought last christmas.
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-560/pd
It came with the Pentium E6700 and a 018d1y mobo with a 500g HDD and 2g ram. For me it was a big upgrade from my Inspiron 1525 laptop. I didn't know much about computers when I bought it and my aunt thats a Dell employee told me it would be a good computer.
My gpu is a EVGA GTX 560 superclocked with 2g. I got it on sale for the same price as a 560.

 

[MacLeod]

Yikes! Yeah thats 6 or 7 year old processor. Guess that thing would hold you back pretty good. The GTX560 isnt that great but its not that bad. It was a decent lower-midrange card when it came out. Still I would think you could do better than 30 fps at those insane low resolutions.

Either way, youre right, you need a CPU upgrade in the worst way. Id get down to Microcenter and take advantage of one of those great sales they have on i5's and a motherboard combo. Dont forget youre gonna need new RAM and a new copy of Windows 7 too.

 

[FlutterPwn]

Yikes! Yeah thats 6 or 7 year old processor. Guess that thing would hold you back pretty good. The GTX560 isnt that great but its not that bad. It was a decent lower-midrange card when it came out. Still I would think you could do better than 30 fps at those insane low resolutions.

Either way, youre right, you need a CPU upgrade in the worst way. Id get down to Microcenter and take advantage of one of those great sales they have on i5's and a motherboard combo. Dont forget youre gonna need new RAM and a new copy of Windows 7 too.

why would i need new ram? I have 3x 2g pieces, the one that came with my mobo was a Hyundai Electronics HMT325U6CFR8C-H9, and I also have two kingston 9905474-020 and they're all 1066mhz. also, why do I need a new OS also? can't i just use my same HDD and plug it to the new mobo? or is there some bios issue?

 

[grassman]

the pirate bay

DEAL WITH IT M$

You need DDR3 Ram it's no big deal though ram is dirt cheap and all you need for gaming is 4GB then move up to 8GB down the road. Also if your gonna have good chips in there grab a proper PSU or you'll be sorry later.

 

[MacLeod]

Right. New motherboards use DDR3 sticks and your 775 board uses DDR2. But like he said, RAM is dirt cheap so you're looking at like $25. When installing a new motherboard you'll need to install a fresh copy if Windows. An OEM copy runs $100 but can be found on sale lately for $80.

 

[Glassjaw003]

Yeah you will be able to go a lot further with that 560 without that bottleneck. I prefer Intel at the moment, but you are a bit limited with your money unless you find a deal on the parts somewhere.

If you have already made up your mind on the $300 and don't want to wait any longer, and can't find a deal online or anywhere near you, then do what you got to do and go AMD.

Now if you've had that 560 for a bit and can stand to wait a little bit longer, get another $100 and go for the Intel spec, great stuff.

 

[Spoon_E11]

With a new series of chips in march - july from intel. Wait until then when (hopefully) you have some more disposable income. The current chips will come down in price.

 

[SeekaX]

2500k, gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3, coolermaster hyper 212 evo.

 

[FlutterPwn]

I thought my mobo used DDR3, my kingston ram is DDR3. I guess DDR3 ram is backwards compatible. Well thats 4g of ram I can still use and I'm running windows ultimate... Also i need a car, and if i wait longer, i might spend all my money on a car then be out of money.