Upgrade Dilemma - to stick with AMD or jump ship to Intel?

[MageVortex]

Ok, my current mobo is a

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402&name=AMD-Motherboards

And I am currently using a
AMD Phenom II X3 720 - with the 4th core unlocked and running fine for 2-3 years now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649

The best I have been able to overclock this processor is up to 3GHz to run safely without problems, goign over that tends to have problems crop up after an hour or so. This may be because it's overheating, or because I just didn't' get lucky with it being awesome, who's to say.
I have 12 gigs of RAM, so no worries there.

I just upgraded my 5750 Radeon to a 7950. One of the thigns I was really wanting was a Ultra setting on Skyrim with mods galore making it prettier to run smoothly around 40 FPS. Unfortunately, I did not quite get that. It runs, after the plethora of mods isntalled, at about 30 FPS in the outdoors, with drops to 15 beign semi-frequent. Looking at my compy, and knowing how CPU restrictive this game is, I can only conclude it's my processor holding me back. So i'm debating getting a upgrade. So now I have to determine which.

My mobo can support that new 8350 that just came out, and IF i go with that, I won't have to buy a new mobo. Makes for an easy switch! So long as it doesn't' require any more power that is, as the 7950 used up the last of what my 500W Basiq power supply has to offer. So....
So i'm basically choosing from 2 things.

1) I can sell off my mobo and processor and get all new ones to go with a shiny new 3570 and complimentary mobo....
2) Upgrade to the 8350 and call it a day.

I'm just not sure if the 3570 is a good enough difference to warrant getting it's own mobo instead of sticking with the one i bought specifically so i could upgrade later...but this was before the i5's and i7's turned the CPU world upside down.

Or would the difference even be great enough for me to worry about doing it to begin with..? My GPU upgrade was a 7 tier jump, with OC'ign headroom that could arguably make it a 8 tier jump. The CPU is not making anywhere close to as large of a jump...

Thoughts?

 

[Jay-Z]

An i5 3570 would be much better than your current CPU. You could get the CPU and a basic z77 for about $350 or so. That may seem like a lot but that will be a great platform to work off and can actually do your 7950 justice.

 

[Supermuncher85]

Having changed from AMD to Intel myself I'll say yes it is 100% worth it. Especially skyrim heavily favors intel as does deus ex and many other titles. If enjoying that new gpu is your goal, going intel is a no brainer right now.

 

[MageVortex]

Ok, then I have to figure out what mobo to go with, and i'll probably also try to get a new PSU, as the one I have is running the fan 24/7 when it's turned on, and I would LOVE for this compy to be more quiet. I guess i'll have to go make 2 more threads in each respective forum then to get some more answers. Thanks

 

[MageVortex]

Best answer selected by MageVortex.

 

[MageVortex]

Having changed from AMD to Intel myself I'll say yes it is 100% worth it. Especially skyrim heavily favors intel as does deus ex and many other titles. If enjoying that new gpu is your goal, going intel is a no brainer right now.

thanks for the input by the way