I5 or i7

[8tE1GH7]

I'm in the process of building my first gaming PC but I'm not 100 percent on the CPU. OK so I'm torn between the the i5-3570k or the i7-3770...I know the i5 would suit my needs but should I just suck up the extra cash and get the i7? Is the extra performance really worth the money? Also thoughts on a good CPU cooler?

 

[jaguarskx]

Depends on what you are doing.

If all you are gonna do is play games, then the i5 is more than enough.

If you are going to do 3D rendering, or video encoding or anything that is very demanding on the CPU and can use HyperThreading (HT), then go with the i7. Games do not benefit from HT.

 

[8tE1GH7]

No, I'm not rendering or anything like that...just gaming. What about the AMD fx-8150, it's a little cheaper but how's the performance?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

No, I'm not rendering or anything like that...just gaming. What about the AMD fx-8150, it's a little cheaper but how's the performance?

In gaming the i5 pretty much dominates it. A 8150 can game, and relatively well, but the i5 is on another level entirely.

If you won't be rendering or editing videos, there's no good reason to get the 8150 over the i5 (especially considering that cost isn't really an issue, since you were even thinking about an i7).

 

[guskline]

I have 2 I5-2500k rigs and a 8150 rig. Unless you already own a AM3+ AMD mb buy the 3570k. See my member config. If you are going to overclock consider a very good cooler. I have a Corsair H60 with Push/Pull on one of the 2500ks and a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ with push/pull on the other. I have a Corsair H100 on the 8150 Bulldozer. Buy the best aftermarket cooler you can afford if you want to do some serious OCing.

 

[8tE1GH7]

Was the H100 easy to install?

 

[azed3000]

If your just gaming then i5, even 2500k is pretty good too. One thing to note, sandy bridge cpus are slower than ivy bridge clock per clock, but sandebridge can overclock much higher than ivy, surpassing it in performance. So if your going to be overclocking at above 4.7ghz then get a sandebridge (2500 or 2600k), if not then ivy bridge. For gaming get the i5. Not sure if the new upcoming games utilize hyperthreading though, aparently they might be, in which case i7 would be more the way to go.