Upgrade Advice (CPU/Mobo)

[Coxey]

Hey there folks!

I'm planning on upgrading my CPU/Mobo combo shortly and I am seeking some suggestions.

What am I (going to be) doing with this PC?
- Gaming at ultra graphics (sucker for eye candy)
- Daily / Every other day rendering w/ Adobe Premier CS6
- Rendering approximately 5-15 minute full HD videos
- Virtual Machines
- Occasional game-server hosting (small ones for friends, approximately 8 slot)
- Planning on getting a second 7970 for xfire

With that being said, I'm gonna list a few questions.

- 4770k or 4670k? Although I know gaming wise there's little-to-no performance difference and clearly the 4770k will be better at rendering, which one do you advise? (Bare in mind I don't upgrade my cpu/mobo every generation)

- Motherboard budget is around £150 tops / although I don't mind losing out on bells'n'whistles and settling for a board around £100-120.

Current Specs:
i5 760@3.8GHz
Asus P7P55D-E LX
MSI 7970 Lightning BE
4x2GB Corsair XMS3@1600MHz
Corsair TX650

Thanks in advance.

 

[looz]

Well, due to OpenCL there is little reason to spend extra cash for i7. Your card isn't far behind in rendering times, though, some codecs do not support OpenCL.

 

[Coxey]

Well, due to OpenCL there is little reason to spend extra cash for i7. Your card isn't far behind in rendering times, though, some codecs do not support OpenCL.

Didn't even consider OpenCL. :crazy: This is why I ask for advice here, cheers pal, will take this into consideration.

 

[Blade of Grass]

Although you can use OpenCL with your system, you should still see a benefit from a better processor.
I'd personally say to go with a 4770k as it performs about 35% better, for about 40% more (looking at Newegg and CPU Bench).
Also, when you're not rendering, and doing things like editing, hosting servers, and doing virtualization, you'll benefit from the extra threads that the i7 has.
It's really up to you whether you think the extra performance is worth it, but I'd say go for it.

For the motherboard, I'd say go for an MSI G45 Gaming, I'm not from the UK, but after quickly checking Amazon.co.uk it appears to be £104, hope this helps

 

[NeverBackDown]

Also in OpenCL a 6950 beats a titan. Yep a 6950. AMD destroys Nvidia in OpenCL and if that is what your software supports then get it! A 7970 scores over double and renders 2x as fast as a titan.

Also MSI GD45 Gaming or MSI GD55(non gaming) are both great choices for the money. 4770k would also help but so would an 8320 for those multi thread intensive games. Many newer games are loving those extra cores.