CPU + MB Upgrade on $200-300 budget

[gamer666]

I'm looking to upgrade my Motherboard and CPU. On a budget of around 200-250 dollars (could push $300 if its worth it). The games i play... World Of Warcraft, Call of duty, Battlefield, Starcraft 2.

Any ideas of a good combo?

Current build...
Asus Striker 2 formula
gtx 570
intel q9300 @2.50ghz
8gb ddr2 800
windows 7 64
dual 1680x1050 LCD

http://msy.com.au/
bad website i know but this is the place i'll be looking to buy from. Cheapest at my location and quality products.

Thankyou for your time!

 

[stephen-mc]

i tried your website but....i cant really browse very well so theres this motherboard:

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Intel-DDR3-Motherboards-GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3/dp/B00518M74I/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315156145&sr=1-8

and you can get the intel i3 or i5 if you wanna sepnd a little more

 

[Archean]

I would suggest you to have a look at i5 2500K, it will set you back 220$, but IMO its worth every penny:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

For about 10$ less, you can get a i5 2500 (locked) CPU.

By the way, that site just doesn't work but extremely sluggishly.

 

[gamer666]

Thankyou for quick replys.

Cheapest i can get at my location is...

i5-2500k $220
GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 $160

Will pick them up on payday. Cheers!

 

[gamer666]

Will my current ram work fine with this build for now or should i look to upgrade?

8GB DDR2 800

 

[stephen-mc]

not sure but i think you should get DDR3.Go to crucial.com they sell lots of ram.just search DDR3 and on the left side of the website you can search for compatible Ram for a specific motherboard

 

[simon12]

No you need to get DDR3 RAM for that board (and any likely upgrade) You current CPU though old is not that bad so I agree upgrade to the 2500K as any lesser upgrade will not be that worth it.

 

[gamer666]

Hmm okay. so if th i5-2500k isn't going to be that much of an upgrade how about this cpu. for an extra $100...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Also, how much if any would a cheap MB effect performance, futhermore will this cpu (i7-2600K) be good for the extra $100 as a gamer, or will this be an overkill? I don't overclock, Have no idea how to do it and will most likley end up frying my cpu.
From what i can tell on the CPU charts there is not much differance

 

[Maksym]

Go AMD, wait till the end of the month and get BD.

 

[jaguarskx]

The extra $100 for the i7-2600k will get you 100MHz and Hyper Threading (HT). Games do not use HT so essentially you are paying $1 for each extra 1MHz.

The i5-2500k is generally the best CPU to get especially if you are going to overclock the CPU. Generally speaking a there is not too much performance difference between an average P67 motherboard and a premium P67 motherboard. Just buy a motherboard with good reviews.

Regarding AMD's upcoming Bulldozer CPU... it may or may not be as fast a Intel's current CPUs. You simply need to wait for benchmarks before making a decision on that CPU family.

 

[gamer666]

MB is Asus Striker II formula.

Cant help but think my GPU is being bottlenecked by my cpu. Most games i can't play on high. Also games like WoW, I'm unable to do 25 man raids with graphics turned down -10FPS. And COD Black Ops, the pc really struggles to play that on low settings, small rooms are okay but out in the open PC struggles. And with the upcoming Battlefield and COD i would hate to be gimped for my first experiance of the game, again.

 

[gamer666]

hmm that seems very strange are you on the latest Nvidia drivers, and assuming you replaced the graphics card did you uninstall all old drivers before installing that GTX570? an Overclock would help remove bottlenecking and a cooler like a hyper 212+ can also be used on a newer 1155 system if you decide to upgrade anyway!:
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=1341

Yeah, its on latest drivers + installed GPU correctly.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Eh, you guys are suggesting a $220 CPU for a 200-300 budget, WTF? What about the mobo and RAM?

 

[gamer666]

okay, i bought myself a i5-2500k

Looking at getting....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128493