Should I upgrade from i3-530 to i7-3770K?

if you add a GPU to your current setup, maybe spend 75-100$ and you'd be set @1366x768

Hello KUR0KO;

How much are you looking to spend? You're i3-530 isn't a terrible CPU.

You're looking at a motherboard change as well.
A Core i5 3550K seems to be a good option for you unless you need to spend an extra $100 on the 3770K.
So that's about $280-$300 to upgrade the CPU/MB.

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-o...


If you're just looking for better gaming the suggested video card upgrade is the better option for under $100.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: April 2012
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-car...

Do you have an unusually small case or a small power supply?

of course you can but with lower setting grab an intel core i5 3570k ultimate choice for gaming.

to be honest if a little gaming is your reason for wanting a new cpu your probably better of spending some cash on a proper gpu you will probably get the same result you are expecting from that new 300 dollar cpu graphically speaking as you would from a 75 buck gpu. if and when your cpu is slowing you down replace that later down the track

A modern entry-level GPU would not give the same results, it would give 2-5X better results in most cases.

While HD4000 raises the bar for IGPs, the bar is still mighty low.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

My budget is around $2500, but I would be happy to spend less.

I don't know whether I should build a new Ivy Bridge PC or upgrade my old one.

My current PC:
- CPU: i3-530 @2.93GHz
- Graphics card: none
- RAM: 1 stick of 2GB RAM
- HDD: 500GB (seriously running low on space)
- PSU: CoolerMaster 390W (old and makes horrid high-pitched sounds when booting)
- Case: no-name cheap case

I think you'd be happy with either Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU.
And that's a very generous budget for a new build.
What else do you do besides gaming?

I haven't been able to do any serious gaming for the past few years, so I will play a lot.

Beside gaming, I will also leech and seed anime around 12 hours a day, so I want power efficiency as well (my current CPU draws very little power with ASUS EPU).

If you didn't need hyperthreading with the i3, what apps have you added that make it necessary now ?

The IB CPU's do not appear, at least from published reviews, to be able to match the SB CPUs asf ar as overclocking is concerned. Intel has already dropped the price pre-release and that's the 1st time that's ever happened. IB will save power, temps are a bit higher tho. But these reviews on pre-retail chips so no hard info as yet.

If ya wanna build a $2500 system, this is my base build for an IB system w/ Hyperthreading in that cost catehory:

Case - $ 270 - Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Case Fan - $ 12 - Thermaltake Blue120 mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
PSU - $ 165 - Corsair HX850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
MoBo - $ 240 - Asus Sabertooth Z77 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
CPU - $ 340 - Intel Core i7-3770K
Cooler - $ 90 - Phanteks PH-TC14PE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
TIM - $ 5 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
RAM - $ 140 - (2 x 4GB) Muskin Blackline DDR3 1600 CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GFX - $ 500 - Asus GTX 680 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GFX - Later - Asus GTX 680 Same
HD - $ 90 - Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
SSD - $ 250 - Mushkin Chronos Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
DVD Writer - $ 75 - Asus Model BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
OS - $ 140 - Win 7-64 Home Professional http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Drop to the 3570 is ya don't need HT.

Power usage won't be far off with one of the new quad core CPUs, no problems there.

My suggestion is to head over to the Systems > New Build section of the forums and see what kind of whole system they can put together for you.

If you fill out the form in *How To Ask For New Build Advice* you'll answer all the standard questions that help things get started.

The i3-530 has HT.

I won't overclock at all.

I need a lot more storage space than 1 GB.

Which card and PSU should I get if I wanna upgrade my current PC?

Can you look into the future and think about what you'll want to end up with in the next year? Larger 1920x1080 monitor, for example.

My current monitor is fairly new, but I want this monitor

http://www.aocmonitorap.com/global/monitor_293.php

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD $120 and $10 off w/ promo code EMCNFHF24, ends 4/30

That HDD seems to have a lot of 1 eggs

The good news is you're looking at hardware that will easily more forward into a future new system build. GPU/PSU/HDD will all be able to find a good home in your next system build.



Best Graphics Cards For The Money: April 2012
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-car...
The cards have suggestions about what resolutions they support.
To get a 'Great 1920x1200 performance' performance rating you're looking at $140 class graphics cards like a Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 560.

And if that level of game play is OK with you, you know enough to get a PSU sized for that card, and with enough extra to handle a future new system.

LoL

If I were you I would just drop $100 or so on a second hand i5 750/760 on ebay or from a friend or go on amazon and get one there. Next a cheap 5770/6770 (same thing) to go along with it then wait till Haswell. IB isn't worth it at this time but it isn't as bad for you compared to those who already got SB. Go for the i5 quad no matter what and the i7 isn't worth the extra expense. There is an i5 IB that had 4k series gpu.

Oh your budget is 2500 you say..... Boy's lets roll out the build suggestions.

Haswell is 4xx0, I don't like that number.

And i5-3570K is 3.4GHz @ stock, I like the number 3.5 more.

"you will probably get the same result you are expecting from that new 300 dollar cpu graphically speaking as you would from a 75 buck gpu"

the key words here are "the results you are expecting"

Is it because 4 in Chinese because it is nearly homophonous to the word "death"?

I thought that 5 was for death in numerology but then again I am not student of it.

Yep.