CPU Upgrade Questions

[big papa blood]

Hey all, thanks for taking the time to read this!

I'm currently running a Phenom II X4 970 OC'd to 4.2ghz and my video card is EVGA GTX 680. It handles BF3 (High Settings) and MOHW no problem, but man, it's really just getting destroyed in the Planetside beta. I'm thinking the core performance is lacking even though I've got it clocked as high as it is, so I'm considering an upgrade. I've read in the forums that AMD is just really lacking behind, so I'm considering a new intel CPU/Mobo. My options:

i5 3570k - $169
i5 2500k - $159
i7 2700k - $229
i7 3770k - $269

So with those options out there, which would you choose based on price? I know the 2500k is the gaming golden chip, but it's a bit older. I'm not doing much with audio/video, outside of making montages and such. I don't really mind how long my 970 takes to process, so I'm thinking that the hyperthreading from the i7 may not be worth the price cost. Does HT help anywhere in gaming, or should I go ahead and rule them out? Also, I don't want to buy another processor for a while so I'm looking for something that'll last a while.

With all that being said, do you think that the cost of upgrading is going to net big enough improvements to justify doing so? I know that's a subjective question, but I'd like to know your thoughts.
Thanks!

 

[rds1220]

Hey all, thanks for taking the time to read this!

I'm currently running a Phenom II X4 970 OC'd to 4.2ghz and my video card is EVGA GTX 680. It handles BF3 (High Settings) and MOHW no problem, but man, it's really just getting destroyed in the Planetside beta. I'm thinking the core performance is lacking even though I've got it clocked as high as it is, so I'm considering an upgrade. I've read in the forums that AMD is just really lacking behind, so I'm considering a new intel CPU/Mobo. My options:

i5 3570k - $169
i5 2500k - $159
i7 2700k - $229
i7 3770k - $269

So with those options out there, which would you choose based on price? I know the 2500k is the gaming golden chip, but it's a bit older. I'm not doing much with audio/video, outside of making montages and such. I don't really mind how long my 970 takes to process, so I'm thinking that the hyperthreading from the i7 may not be worth the price cost. Does HT help anywhere in gaming, or should I go ahead and rule them out? Also, I don't want to buy another processor for a while so I'm looking for something that'll last a while.

With all that being said, do you think that the cost of upgrading is going to net big enough improvements to justify doing so? I know that's a subjective question, but I'd like to know your thoughts.
Thanks!

The I5 is faster but the Phenom II 970 should be able to handle pretty much all games with no problem, and even if it does seem slow an overclock should help. What is your overall setup? How much RAM do you have, what resolution is your monitor set at, what resolution is Planet set at.

 

[big papa blood]

CPU is overclocked to 4.2, 16gb RAM, monitor is 1080, and playing on low settings.

 

[rds1220]

I'm not that familiar with that game, I've never played it but from what I do know about it it seems to be more CPU demanding than GPU demanding. Still though I would think a quad core Phenom II would be able to handle it especially if it is overclocked. What exactly is the problem, bad FPS, lag, FPS dropping?

 

[big papa blood]

FPS drops, big time.

 

[pc 1]

if you mean planetside 2, i've seen others with higher processors having fps drops, so i think it's better to wait there might be a fix

 

[rds1220]

You said this planet 2 is a beta version so it might just be the game. before you spend 500+ for a new motherboard, RAM, and CPU I would wait and see what happens when the final version comes out.

 

[swifty_morgan]

saw a couple of vids........... too much going on on screen game lags.......... more people on server game lags.............selection of characters lags more depending on what one you choose.......

server problem not machine/hardware problem.