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Everytime I start considering replacing still functioning well parts in my PC, I try to slap my hand and move on, but it gets harder and harder when you've got a little extra bread to blow. Right now, I'm using an older, but still decent AMD cpu (1090t BE), 8 gig of ram, and a GTX 670. I don't do much video editing, but in this quad core gaming world we live in, I feel like this older hexacore is holding me back from experiencing what I should be.

For awhile now, I've been staring at this pairing:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1236283

and wondering if I shouldn't ditch AMD altogether and go back to Intel. The only things holding me back are

1) What's Intel got coming next?
2) How soon will the LGA 1155 be obsolete and I'm forced to buy a different socketed mobo?

I know there's been talk of new CPUs releasing in June, but, from the little I've gathered, improvements will only be minor to very, very moderate, especially considering the "k" processor I'm eye balling. I also worry that, when the new CPUs do release, this model will get discounted and I've wasted money instead of just waiting a bit.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

I upgraded from an I3 2100 to the I5 3570k about 2 months back. I love it. It is a great processor. It can game as good almost any Intel processor out. It also has amazing potential to overclock. I have yet to overclock it (stock cooling at the moment) and really won't see a need to for some time. I play Dota 2, League of Legends, Civ 5, all on max settings with zero lag. If you have a Mircrocenter near I highly recommend picking up your parts there or possibly ordering online. I will post a link of their cpu/mobo combos, and they are much cheaper than the new egg prices. The only thing I will say is get an I7 if you want to do heavy video/editing. Or you want to stream PC games on twitch. But I can stream really well on twitch with my I5, my upload speeds are what is really holding me back. Hope this helps.

http://www.microcenter.com/site/bran...r-bundles.aspx

PC Specs:
I5 3570k (Stock cooling)
ASROCK|Z77 EXTREME4 Z77
Evga 660 SC
8 gig g skill 1600 ram
Kingston HyperX 120 gig SSD (I would suggest an SSD. boots windows in about 20 seconds, loads Battlefield 3 maps super fast, and any other game that uses your hd. One of the best things I ever purchased.)

My God, those prices are much better. My sister lives in Denver. I might be able to talk her into swinging by and grabbing what I need. I'm not much of an overclocker, but I might try if it's made easy enough in the BIOS.

How is the AsRock treating you? That same board was my first choice, but I read several disheartening reviews on Newegg and Amazon, so I'd decided to stick with Gigabyte, which I used for the last 3 builds.

you are wasting your money.

the performance increase you would get isn't worth the cost.

Im not a fanboy, I have a 3930k and im telling you right now the FPS increase you are going to get is negligible.

If you want a bigger increase get an SSD with that money instead.

Originally Posted by retrad If you want a bigger increase get an SSD with that money instead.

I have 2 Samsung SSDs already, 120 gb for Win 7 and 120 gb for games alone, and, depending on the game, the performance increases are minor. Loading times improved, sure, but games that are more CPU intensive are lacking because my GPU is getting bottle-necked. I mean, poor coding aside, I still can't run GTA 4 with a decent frame rate/settings and I want to be ready for this next generation of games, console ports though they may be.

well if you aren't going to wait and you want to do it now, go for the i7 3770k imo.
Its probably worth the $100 difference if you can swing it.

actually I take it back its on sale at microcenter for ridiculously cheap, for that price I dont see how you wouldn't get it over the i5.

Originally Posted by retrad well if you aren't going to wait and you want to do it now, go for the i7 3770k imo. Its probably worth the $100 difference if you can swing it. actually I take it back its on sale at microcenter for ridiculously cheap, for that price I dont see how you wouldn't get it over the i5.

The extra $100 for the i7 isn't worth it when it comes to gaming....I did alot of research before building my gaming PC a few months back. You can look at some YouTube vids and some websites for some reviews, I picked up a i5 3570k for $189 plus $50 off a motherboard at micro center.

I'm rocking a i5, gtx 670 ftw and 16 gigs of ram....

Wait for the 4th generation to drop. It's coming very soon.

I personally own the ASRock 970 Extreme4 and a AMD FX-8320. Using a Hyper 212 Evo ($30), I have manged to overclock the CPU from 3.5 to 4.2, completely stable. The FX-8320 is fantastic for multi-threading apps such as video editing and games. I will admit that in terms of single-threaded performance, Intel wins hands down but in anything multi-threaded, AMD beats Intel by a significant margin. Considering that you already have a AM3+ board, so long as it supports a CPU with a TDP of 125w, AMD is probably the way to go.

BTW, the ASRock is rock solid. (excuse the pun)

I need to look at this microcenter website more often. The 3770k is only $10 more than what you'd pay for a 3570k on Amazon/Newegg. I've been playing around on CPUBoss.com for a day or so, and for that price, it's not too shabby at all. But, if I don't have to spend so much, I'd prefer not to.

Unfortunately, my current Gigabyte MOBO doesn't support AM3+, only AM3, so I'll have to upgrade to a different board, anyway.

I dunno. I guess I'll probably just wait to see how the upcoming Intel releases stack up to AMD and choose from there.

Originally Posted by eulogywerd21 My God, those prices are much better. My sister lives in Denver. I might be able to talk her into swinging by and grabbing what I need. I'm not much of an overclocker, but I might try if it's made easy enough in the BIOS. How is the AsRock treating you? That same board was my first choice, but I read several disheartening reviews on Newegg and Amazon, so I'd decided to stick with Gigabyte, which I used for the last 3 builds.

So far so good. Only been running a week though. I read the same reviews on newegg and was very concerned. But I installed it with care and never flexed the board. Was lucky that none of the pins were bent when it arrived as well.

Originally Posted by retrad you are wasting your money. the performance increase you would get isn't worth the cost. Im not a fanboy, I have a 3930k and im telling you right now the FPS increase you are going to get is negligible. If you want a bigger increase get an SSD with that money instead.

I disagree to a point. My I3 would allow me to game on max settings on Dota 2, LoL, and Civ 5, but when it came to games like BF3 and Batman Arkham city (on max settings. I too could play these on an I3 but it wasn't the best) you need an I5. Just depends on the game and what you want to do. I also stream games on twitch and it was awful on a duel core. Since you already have the SSD's might as well up the processor

Go EXTREME6, EX4 Has habit of misreading voltages. I went from FX-6200 to 3770K and FPS different was insane....even my 7970 felt no longer bottlenecked. you should get a 3770k since its 229$ at Microcenter if you have someone capable of doing that.

My EX6 is treating me very well, I love it.