Should I upgrade to i5?

[Bosshippopotamus]

About 6 months ago i built a budget gaming computer. It has a 560 ti and i3, with 8gb RAM. Would it be worth it to upgrade to an i5? Would i get a noticeable performance increase on games like Skyrim, Far Cry 3, etc.?

 

[ihsaan96]

Depends which i5 you get. You should get the high end i5's and you will definitely notice a difference in performance when it comes to FPS etc. Best for gaming would be to get an i7 3770K and you'll be set

 

[socialfox]

I'd say the i5 3570k is the best to go for a gaming computer, the i7 3770k CAN perform worse in some games and for the rest it is mostly tied with the 3570k. The price hike of $100 is obviously not worth it.

 

[samuelohagan]

i3 is a very capable processor, you will only get a small boost.

 

[Guest]

NO.

i just went and got an i5 instead of a 7950 when i had the money because i figured it would get bottle necked by an i3 in some games. well since then work slowed down and i had to fix my van. so instead of an i3/7950 i sit here with a i5 and 570 i picked up off of ebay for $150 and kicking myself for not sticking with my plan; i am sure my frame rates and settings would be better.

with that said:
i do believe i did get a ~3% - 5% increase in crysis 2 and a little bit in metro 2033. nothing to write home about. i would suggest getting a better gpu and see if the i3 bottlenecks it. (edit: if at all)

 

[sam_p_lay]

i3 is a very capable processor, you will only get a small boost.

+1 to this. While the i5 is an excellent recommendation for somebody with a really old CPU (or no CPU), it's important to consider what's already in use. In this case, you already have a very capable CPU, so unless you can sell it for a good price, I'd stick with it. Stepping up to an i5 isn't gonna do much when the i3 won't be holding back your GPU.

 

[johnsonjohnson]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/far-cry-3-performance-benchmark,3379-7.html

 

[Bosshippopotamus]

Thanks for all the replies. My plan was originally to get an i5 3750 and a 660 ti. However, would it be better to leave out the i5 and just upgrade the card?

 

[johnsonjohnson]

You can just upgrade the card. Make sure you have a quality PSU with enough cables to power it.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies. My plan was originally to get an i5 3750 and a 660 ti. However, would it be better to leave out the i5 and just upgrade the card?

if you have the money, get a GTX 670 and deal with any bottleneck an i3 will cause in a game like BF3 multiplayer; in other games i have doubts it will happen at all such as FC3. (from the previous link posted

 

[Bosshippopotamus]

Looniam, what do you mean by "deal with any bottleneck"?

 

[Guest]

Looniam, what do you mean by "deal with any bottleneck"?

put up with, accept, don't let it bother you . . until you get an i5.

(edit: in FC3 you would get a better FPS with a 670 than you would with a i5 and 660ti but in a more cpu dependent game like BF3 multiplayer the i3 would get a bigger load and start to limit the 670)

 

[Bosshippopotamus]

Best answer selected by Bosshippopotamus.