Questions on upgrading?

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Penley54

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I have an Athlon II x3 455 right now. I am planning to upgrade to an Intel I5-3570K Ivy Bridge. Is this a good upgrade? Will I notice a difference in gaming performance? I will also have to upgrade my Motherboard also since this is an Intel Processor, so in doing this, will I have to do a full wipe? I just wiped my stuff like 2 weeks ago due to getting an SSD and just got all my stuff back so if possible I would like to not format it. Lastly out of these two motherboards which one is better? I have to choose between these because I get an extra $50 off when paring them with a 3570K... -- http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387326 -- or --http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387556
 
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ilysaml

ilysaml

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Of course the Gigabyte motherboard.
The other one is an unknown brand name.
And yes the difference will be day and night, Athlon II is not even compared to the old aged Core 2 Quad CPUs.

You'll have to install a new operating system when you get the CPU and motherboard.
 
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MarkCYates

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Really Day and Night. I mean I am an Intel Fan Boy but not a gamer and honestly I do believe the Intel Core I5 is a dual core so I don't think he will be seeing much of an improvement if any at all.

He has a triple core hence the X3 atleast I thought and AMD's are great for gaming. I have been told this in the distant past by many hardcore PC gamers. I do believe it is worth googling an unbiased review with benchmarking.

No offense but if you ask me I would just max out the memory to the max your current Operating System supports. This would be much cheaper and give you a big boost in performance if your not already maxed out. Otherwise your just wasting your money honestly.

Your going from a Triple Core to a Dual Core. Check online to verify the number of cores. I love Intel to bits but dude you don't need to jump into this project if your not going to get the results you wanted. I am trying to save you dissapointment.

Make sure you have atleast a 1GB GDDR5 Dedicated Video Card Installed whichever way you decide to go. That with a significant increase in memory and it will blow your mind. Not just your gaming will be faster but your internet, Desktop and everything else that requires GUI! Oh Yeh.

 
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MarkCYates

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After Researching it For you your Current CPU (Processor) does indeed have 3 cores. The Intel Core I5 does indeed have 2 Physical cores. It supports hyperthreading which actually makes the PC think there are two logical cores for every physical core.

So if you do the insanely basic math of 2*2=4; this is the number of cores your PC thinks it is running in the CPU. This like I said before doesn't mean much for gaming purposes.

You need a Dedicated GPU (Graphics Card) running @ 1GB and using GDDR5 memory Architecture or better for you to notices a significant boost in performance of gaming. T

This coupled with an increase of system ram will blow your mind performance wise on the entire system. Trust me. I'm a hardware expert. It is simply not worth it to go any different route.

If you want proof you will have to go through with your original plans and get back to me with your results either path you choose.
 
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DJDeCiBeL

DJDeCiBeL

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Exactly 0% of that is true. A desktop SB or IB i5 has 4 actual cores and DOES NOT have HT.
 
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MarkCYates

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It has 2 Physical Cores man. Not trying to be an ass. It supports HT technology which means the PC registers it as 4 cores. This is very cool technology but having 4 physical cores is even better I would tend to think.

He needs to go my route. I'm not trying to be an ass at all and I respect your opinion but I am just trying to save him dissapointment. By the time he does what he originally wanted to he will have a brand new PC anyway. I'm sure he bought his parts with care and likes the ones he has currently.
 
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MarkCYates

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I'm not here to argue with anyone, I am here to help others and gain business for my company by doing so. I believe in the pay it forward principle and I am giving back to newbie techs my knowledge. So lets say I have been told wrong all this time and my quick research is also wrong. With that said, Please Sir anwser the following Question.

Do you honestly think him gaining 1 additional core and going to a superior processor in the Intel Core I5 Third Generation is going to give him a significant increase in performance?

Which method being mine or yours would be the most cost conscioucence route?

If method 1 is correct which of our two methods would yeld better results?

Lastly:

Would upgrading the memory and GPU increase total system performance?

~The correct anwsers to all questions above will prove my point or yours as being correct~
 
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MarkCYates

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I stand corrected. That was my initial belief until I was redirected by other techs years ago into thinking what I expressed before of it being 2 physical cores. I appologize. I should have never listened to that person whoever it was (I can't remember).

But please know that I still believe my way will still yeild much better performance. I will give you an adequate time and chance to prove me wrong. You may be right being he would be going from AMD to Intel and gaining 1 additional Physical Core and Clock Speed?
 
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MarkCYates

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I'm thinking in General Terms. Let me check the link. Are you talking L2 and L3 Cache Size with the 20?? K measurements, because if you are then you may definetly be right and I will go ahead and admit it because that is a huge increase in performance. The cache size is crucial.
 
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DJDeCiBeL

DJDeCiBeL

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Look at the bench I linked above. Not even close...
 
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MarkCYates

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Yes this is 100% correct totally depending on the amount of ram and Video Dedicated Ram increase. Everything in Windows these days use GUI so I do believe if he more than doubled the Video Ram that he would notice slightly better system performance.

That coupled with a significant Ram increase triple or quadrupling it would have a major Increase in System performance. Noticed I mentioned these two together and not apart. But Yes you are absolutly correct in saying on a current day custom build like his upgrading the Video Card won't make much difference in system performance.
 
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KelvinTy

KelvinTy

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I don't think these two guys know what they are talking about... ilysaml & MarkCYates
"You'll have to install a new operating system when you get the CPU and motherboard. " - You can re validate your Windows online or via phone.
Source: http://www.rawspinach.org/2010/01/06/windows-7-motherboard-swap/

And also, the "second" motherboard is from Biostar which is founded in 1986 and is somewhat popular amoung price restricted users.
The main difference is SLi or CF capability (meaning running 2 graphics in parallel).
The biostar board's 2nd PCI-E lane is wired to 4x (@ PCI-E 2.0 instead of latest 3.0 mode) only which will force both cards to run at a "slower" mode.
In other words, if you are planning on running 2 graphics card, don't buy the biostar board.

MarkCYates's comment is full of rubbish, please just ignore him.
 
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MarkCYates

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Yes this makes alot of sense. So are you saying it is newer architecture. I did not check on the architecture differences. Ok I'm very much interested in checking the link now. Hold one sec.
 
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MarkCYates

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I absolutly get it now. I was going on incomplete information. Typically I would have been correct but not in this case. I did not take into account that the new CPU had much newer Architecture and a far greater cache size and being it was intel, yes I agree 110%. You are correct sir. I take my hat off to you. I guess I'm just advanced in Hardware, right Haha. No Hard Feelings.
 
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MarkCYates

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I will just have to think it through more and research it more before I post. My research led me into the wrong train of thought as it was erroneous.
 
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MarkCYates

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Dude I honestly thought Illysami was Decibel because I didn't look at the name for the first response on the first page. I just merely read the response. I would never tell someone they had to install a new OS unless they had a failing HDD. The OS resides on the HDD, and that is just Computers 101 or very basic knowledge.

With that said, please point me to my errors. Did you read the entire thread because before you pass judgment on my well thought out comments please read the entire post. I really don't think you did. I admitted I was wrong about the third gen Intel Core I5 being dual core. It is indeed a quad core.
 
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Pyree

Pyree

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Please forgive MarkYates. Hint: Youngster.

Everyone needs to starts somewhere and even the best make mistakes.

Disclaimer: The best is certainly not me. Well, may be WR2. The last time I checked (like 10 seconds ago) he is No. 1. I am not saying he made any mistake and I haven't seen him made a mistake yet. But I am sure he made a mistake before. Please don't tell him I said that. :lol: Congrats for overtaking rolli59 and become No. 1 user in TH forum!!!
 
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MarkCYates

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Thanks for sticking up for the new guy. I have a great base knowledge of Hardware and Software Troubleshooting and repair and consider myself advanced in that section and intermediate in security. I am new to Tom's Hardware. It is all good. I hardly see how I could have possibly taken over rolli?? and become the #1 user after just being on for one night.

I spent a few hours to try and drum up some business. I hope this is ok with all the techs. I find Tom's hardware is a great place to learn new skills and info from much greater techs than me and also to pay it forward to help the newbies. I am @ Youngster status. I am 28 years old.

I have been working with hardware since I was 13 and software since I was around 16-18 to provide a really rough estimate. I hope to learn from you and others much more than what I already know. I take no offense to any earlier comments and there are no hard feelings. After all we have the 1st amendment right for a reason imo.

Please feel free to email me to tech talk anytime. My email is made public under my profile settings.
 
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MarkCYates

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I would go with DJDecible's method and also carefully consider what Pyree says towards the end of the thread. He seems to know his PCI System bus very well. It is better architecture and cache size and your gaining an additional physical core. I stand corrected by DJDecible.
 
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