Worth Upgrading?

[knight_40k]

Lets start out with my specs

Phenom II X4 965 BE
Asus Crosshair V Formula
Radeon 5850 1GB GDDR5
8GB DDR3 1333 (2x4GB)
Seagate 500GB 7200 SATA2
Coolermaster Extreme Power Plus 600Watt
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit
24" LCD @ 1920x1200

Here's my predicament, I'm not a huge gamer but I love my SC2 and should be able to play it on extreme settings without lag of any kind. I did a bit of research online and found out that SC2 is fairly CPU reliant and really only takes advantage of two cores so my Phenom II 965 isn't much better than my C2D 8400. Among that search I noticed that the i5 2500k and i7 2600k completely dominated this game.

I tried upgrading my video card to a Radeon 6950 which I had for two days but it didn't help much, I gained about 15-20 FPS. I went to my local store and they allowed me to install SC2 and play it on their i5 2500k/8GB/radeon 6950 CF (also 1920x1200) system and I noticed instantly the game loaded a few sec faster. Also, on my system I notice an ever so slight delay when clicking and moving units which was not visible on their i5 system. Both systems were set to extreme graphics and I did not have either system OC'd.

I guess my question is, could my CPU be bottlenecking my performance? Is it possible that the CF on their system made all the difference or is the i5 just that good?

My next question is, if I go ahead with this, I don't necessarily need to OC for this game from my initial test it seemed to run as I'd like it to at stock. Would I be ok to get the non-K 2500, do they perform the same at stock? It would be nice to have the OC option though for future and the price difference is only $13.

I have narrowed it down to Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3, Asus P8Z68-V Pro or MSI Z68A-G45/65 (G3) depending which CPU I go with.

Thoughts?

 

[rolli59]

SC2 the CPU is a bottleneck, here compared with first gen I7 http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/page13.html

 

[esrever]

I play the game no problem on extreme with a 955. Usually getting over 90 fps.

 

[simon12]

Buy a coolmaster 212 evo or + and overclock to 3.8GHz+

 

[AdrianPerry]

I guess my question is, could my CPU be bottlenecking my performance? Is it possible that the CF on their system made all the difference or is the i5 just that good?

The i5 is just THAT good

My next question is, if I go ahead with this, I don't necessarily need to OC for this game from my initial test it seemed to run as I'd like it to at stock. Would I be ok to get the non-K 2500, do they perform the same at stock? It would be nice to have the OC option though for future and the price difference is only $13.

At stock they will both perform the same. For the sake of $13, even if you never even over-clock it, $13 is so minor, it would be crazy not to get the over-clockable K-series.

I have narrowed it down to Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3, Asus P8Z68-V Pro or MSI Z68A-G45/65 (G3) depending which CPU I go with.

ASUS P8Z68-v PRO gets my vote every time as I use the motherboard myself and its been fantastic. (Not sure how it compares to the GEN3 which would probably make more sense to buy now ~ didn't exist when I got my -v PRO).

You can reach 4.2-4.5GHz over-clock just with the built in OC features on the motherboard (depending on what cooling you have) - Hyper 212+/EVO would be a good choice.

 

[knight_40k]

Just to further clarify, the game does run smooth with my system as is now. If you play around with graphics from super low to extreme, there is a difference in performance and that's what I mean when I say that ever so slight delay moving/clicking units. When I tested that i5 machine, it was completely smooth throughout, so the CPU must be playing a part and since I spend a great deal of time on this game, the upgrade seems worth it to me when most would just leave well enough alone. Also with custom maps I notice the i5 can push through some area's where mine would get a little slow.

Those of you telling me to get aftermarket heatsink, I have a thermaltake V1 on one of my older systems, would that work on the i5?

 

[knight_40k]

Best answer selected by knight_40k.