Upgrade my current Phenom II X4 or new i5-2500k?

[rhinolax25]

Hello,

I am currently looking to upgrade my system as the three year cycle has hit. Overall i have been extremely happy with my build for a few exceptions. A) no ssd yet as motherboard only supports SLC II, B) Im a Nvidia fan boy and my current system doesnt allow for possible SLI, and C) I want DDR3!

My current system built August of 2009 is:

Processor: Phenom II X4 955BE 125W overclocked at 3.7ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Memory: 4x 2GB G.Skill DDR2 1066
GPU: EVGA GTX 560ti 1GB Superclocked
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 650W Modular
Case: Antec 902 version 1 or something
HDD: 640GB WD Caviar Black 64MB cache

Usage: Gaming BF3 multiplayer 64 player maps, Civilization 5, school & office work
Budget Range:$900.00 USD, give or take.
Parts Not Required: HDD, Video Card, DVD/CD Drive
Preferred Website(s) for Parts:Newegg.com, Tigerdirect.com, Microcenter
Parts Preferences: No preference
Overclocking: Yes, light to moderate only
SLI or Crossfire: possible
Monitor Resolution: 720P 32" Toshiba TV HDMI single monitor
Additional Comments: I have every intention on getting a Coolermaster HAF X for decent system cooling and living in Colorado there is lost of dust (especially with a fire a few miles to the west), but beyond that I cant decide whether to semi build an entire new system around an i5-2500k and Z77 board or keep my current process and drop it into an 990fx motherboard. Also fan controller yes? no?

Thanks!

 

[Outlander_04]

http://www.techspot.com/review/458-battlefield-3-performance/page7.html

a mildly overclocked phenom will give you the exact same fps in BF3 that a 2500K would ... and so would a $110 FX 4100

 

[nekulturny]

The problem is thats only a single player benchmark. BF3 single player is like every other game, using only 2 cores, however multiplayer can actually use all 8 cores of an FX-8150.

My opinion is that, your current system if you find no real complaints about its performance, which you seem to not have many. No, its not really worth an upgrade for performance.

DDR3 is not going to do much that DDR2 cannot. An SLi setup is sort of overratted, and I think with 2 560 TIs, you'd be stretching the limits of that power supply. You might consider upping the 560 TI to something like a GTX 670

 

[rhinolax25]

Regardless, I intend to buy the CoolerMaster HAF X and possibly a CM Hyper 212 EVO. Would it be advantageous to get a 990fx board, 8GB DDR3, a 128GB SSD, and a new power supply at the same time? To be honest I'm shocked that my PSU has survived this long.

For example:

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
G.Skill 2x 4GB DDR3-1600
Corsair 750W Modular PSU
128GB SSD

Right now my current system is at it limits with regards to upgrading with out dropping in a new board or i can drop in a new board and have potential?

 

[nekulturny]

I won't lie to you, I love my Asus Sabertooth board, if you want to buy one and stay with AMD, you could get the Sabertooth board and keep your Phenom II CPU until this winter, AMD will be releasing Piledriver.

Now, we all know that a lot of people don't like the FX CPUs, they have their good points and bad points, and they are sufficient for gaming, albeit not as good as some of Intels offerings, so you have to take that into account.

Although PileDriver will probably still be behind Intel, AMD is looking like so far they will meet or exceed their goal of improving Bulldozer by 10% a year for this year. AS Tom's got a look at PileDriver in the new benches for the Trinity APUs.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224.html

Its up to you, as it is now, FX-8120s kinda suckish at gaming at their stock speeds, but they overclock well, and are perfectly fine to "get the job done". Although at the end of the year we'll have FX-8320s/8350s in the PileDriver model numbers, so those would be the ones to look out for.

Its a gamble on whether or not AMD will pull it off, but I don't think a big one.

The SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade if you can afford it.

Corsair TX Series are great PSUs, you can see by my sig what brand I trust to power my computer.

 

[rhinolax25]

I won't lie to you, I love my Asus Sabertooth board, if you want to buy one and stay with AMD, you could get the Sabertooth board and keep your Phenom II CPU until this winter, AMD will be releasing Piledriver.

Now, we all know that a lot of people don't like the FX CPUs, they have their good points and bad points, and they are sufficient for gaming, albeit not as good as some of Intels offerings, so you have to take that into account.

Although PileDriver will probably still be behind Intel, AMD is looking like so far they will meet or exceed their goal of improving Bulldozer by 10% a year for this year. AS Tom's got a look at PileDriver in the new benches for the Trinity APUs.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224.html

Its up to you, as it is now, FX-8120s kinda suckish at gaming at their stock speeds, but they overclock well, and are perfectly fine to "get the job done". Although at the end of the year we'll have FX-8320s/8350s in the PileDriver model numbers, so those would be the ones to look out for.

Its a gamble on whether or not AMD will pull it off, but I don't think a big one.

The SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade if you can afford it.

Corsair TX Series are great PSUs, you can see by my sig what brand I trust to power my computer.

Don't get me wrong I love my Phenom II X4 and don't have a complaint about it other then the 3.8ghz overclock crash that happens. I agree the SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade but again it relates back to my current setup that only supports SLC II. I guess the one last question(s) I have is, how long will my Phenom II last me? How long will the Phenom II BE continue to be utilized at the current efficient rate? To be honest I'm still on the fence with regards to AMD's current/future lineup of processors.

 

[nekulturny]

Yea I understand, its a tricky question. I can't really say how long the Phenom II will last you, likely it will last you a couple more years. But really it depends on so many factors, game coding really hasn't changed much, and isn't likely to.

As far as being on the fence about AMD, well don't get me wrong, stock for stock AMD is not on the level of Intel in terms of gaming performance, however unfortunately we have a system as such there are only 2 companies to pick from for a processor. One of them is bound to not be as good as the other, and I think to some degree its human nature for one person to say "that one is the bad guy", (the old cowboy white hat vs black hat), that being said, the vast majority of games on the market are limited by your video card, not your CPU. Can Intel get you more FPS? Yes, in most games, the question is, how many FPS do you really need? A lot of people do an injustice by making it sound like AMD can't do the job (in regards to gaming).

The reason I put the 2nd rig in my sig line is to emphasize this somewhat, according to benches the i5-2400 is "loads better" than my Phenom II. But the thing is, guess what? In terms of actual playing experience, there is none.

Either way, I definitely wouldn't invest in a motherboard until your sure which way you're going.

As far as an SSD, I would honestly hold off on that too. Even if you got a SATA III SSD for now, it would work with your SATA II mobo, and you'd still notice a pretty big bump in loading speed and whatnot. Although I'd hold off a little longer until the price per gigabyte goes down a bit.