Need some opinions on future proofing my rig.

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JBourke

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May 8, 2013
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I'm looking to future proof my rig for the next 2-3 years or so with a budget of $700 for a CPU, Motherboard and GPU. I'm not much of an overclocker and I play on 1080p and want to stick to 1 GPU. There are two options i'm looking at.

The first option is jumping on a deal for an i5-3570k with a Asus P8Z77-V LK and 8 gigs of corsair DDR3 ram for $330. I'd be getting a Sapphire HD 7870 xt GPU with that.

My other option was waiting to get a Haswell i5 with a z87 motherboard, but assuming that I won't be able to get the CPU and motherboard for the same price as the ivy bridge and the asus deal I'd have to settle for a lower end GPU (like a GTX 660).

Which option is going to give me a better bang for my buck? This is mostly for gaming. (Skyrim, BF3, New Vegas, etc etc, and some games coming out later.)

Thanks! I'd love some opinions. :)
 
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cmi86
The new haswell's are only going to be roughly 7% faster than current gen ivy chips so I would honestly just stick with the 3570k and the 7870XT as it is a lot faster than a 660. Plus it comes with 3 free games if that matters to you. I just bought the powercolor 7870 myst and I am so happy with it. Overclocked to 1200/1600 it performs on the same level as a 7950 for a good chunk less money. Although with a $700 budget I don't see why you couldn't get a new haswell and a 7950/7970/670
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cmi86

cmi86

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The new haswell's are only going to be roughly 7% faster than current gen ivy chips so I would honestly just stick with the 3570k and the 7870XT as it is a lot faster than a 660. Plus it comes with 3 free games if that matters to you. I just bought the powercolor 7870 myst and I am so happy with it. Overclocked to 1200/1600 it performs on the same level as a 7950 for a good chunk less money. Although with a $700 budget I don't see why you couldn't get a new haswell and a 7950/7970/670
 
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JBourke

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May 8, 2013
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I'm also going to have to get a new operating system as I'm upgrading the motherboard, so I'm trying to calculate that in, plus I wouldn't mind having some cash left over to upgrade to 16 gigs of ram instead of 8 gigs. I've read a lot of articles saying that the 7950/7970 is kind of overkill for 1080p gaming. Also I only have everything at stock cooling, I wouldn't mind some extra head room for some better coolers so I can think about overclocking (especially with the 3570k CPU)
 
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PlanarX999

PlanarX999

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7950 would be a nice GPU choice, undeniable overclock potential, but I'm not deny what cmi86 said as if what he said might be right by going with something bang for buck since you are saving up some money for something useful.
 
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JBourke

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I see. I've never been an early adopter of a new CPU release before. Can we expect price markups or any stability trouble for being the first ones out of the gate to buy the new haswell processors, just comparing to recent history? My current CPU is the i5-760 lynnfield so its been awhile..

I would love to stay around the $600 range if possible (which the Asus board, i5-3750k and 7870xt will set me just around that). But if i'm going to be shooting myself in the foot not waiting for Haswell I would rather wait if I can still escape with a stable system in mid-June for $600-$700. If the 7950 is going to be considerably better than a 7870 xt at 1080p that makes a difference too.
 
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cmi86

cmi86

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You might wan't to give this a read http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401-3.html I'm not trying to start some argument as the thread has already been answered. I'm just pointing out that through running several benchmarks toms found the 7870 XT to be almost identical to the 7950 in performance due to it's increased core speed and memory clocks making up for the disabled shaders.
 
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