CPU Upgrading Help

[buzzytheblue]

My current CPU is not really cutting it in demanding games so I'm looking to upgrade and am looking for some suggestions.
Specs:
AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.8Ghz
12 Gigs of DDR3 at 1333 Mhz
ATI Radeon Sapphire 5870 2GB
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
MSI 760GM-E51 mATX Motherboard
700 Watt Corsair PSU

I've been looking around and wouldn't mind spending up to around $160-180. I'd prefer to stick with AMD, mainly because I don't feel like dishing out tons of money for an Intel. Also needs to stay a quad core.
-Thanks

 

[asnorton44]

You could get a AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor for $140. Or the 980 3.7GHz is $170. Here is a comparison for your current CPU vs 970:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/105?vs=186

CPU 970 Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894

 

[buzzytheblue]

Is there a decent performance gap between the 970 and 980 or is it not worth the extra money?

 

[asnorton44]

Not a huge difference. Some comparisons here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/186?vs=362

I probably wouldn't spend the extra $30.