Help choosing a CPU Combo

[kuziwk]

Im currently at a q6600 at 3.4ghz. I do some casually gaming, but when I do I want it to perform to the latest games. Im looking at the 2500k and the amd 8350 piledriver looks really good on paper aswell. When I compared 3dmark vantage scores why is it that my q6600 which is 8 years old score higher than the AMD 8350? Is this a drivers issue in vantage?

On a side note if I went the intel route, what intel processor would be the best bang for my buck?

Also someone recommend a motherboard for the cpu we choose? I like gigabyte for overclocking reasons.

 

[mace200200]

I would go for the I5 3450 since you have to change your board either way. For your board, since you OC get a z77 board. I would make sure it also has the heatsinks on the mosfeats, they can get hot and blow up if you OC real high. I'm not to fimiluar with the new Intel boards but I think the gigabyte boards are the same as with AMD meaning the UD ones will have the right heatsinks. Mine does and it's the GA-970a-UD3 if you want to look one up.

 

[EzioAs]

The FX8350 needs to be overclocked in order to match the performance of a 2500K/3570K. It's not exactly the best choice for a gaming CPU.

Recommendations: Intel Core i5-3570K and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H

 

[DarkSable]

I would go for the I5 3450 since you have to change your board either way. For your board, since you OC get a z77 board. I would make sure it also has the heatsinks on the mosfeats, they can get hot and blow up if you OC real high. I'm not to fimiluar with the new Intel boards but I think the gigabyte boards are the same as with AMD meaning the UD ones will have the right heatsinks. Mine does and it's the GA-970a-UD3 if you want to look one up.

Erm, Mace, you do realize the 3450 is a locked processor, right?

I think what you meant to say was the 3570k.

But yes, the z77x-ud3h is a great board to overclock with... However, it's UEFI and BIOS are badly designed, to the point where tweaking an overclock to get it perfect is a horrible process. Because of that, I'd recommend the AsRock z77 Extreme 4. I've used both boards, and they're at the same price point and overclock equally well, but the AsRock has a much more user friendly UEFI / BIOS. (The Gigabyte tends to lose settings, so you have to make each change several times.)

 

[mace200200]

Yea that's right, like I said I don't run intel right now so I get the new stuff mixed up sometimes.

 

[DarkSable]

No worries, it happens.

 

[kuziwk]

I was thinking the amd 8 core will more future proof, or no? I Hear they are releasing steamroller which would be am3 socket. Intels next gen chips are on a different socket, so if I go the intel route it looks like if I ever wanted to upgrade again I would need a good board.

 

[DarkSable]

It would allow you to upgrade, yes, but...

The i5-3570k is a WAY more efficient architecture, so it's not going to bottleneck graphics cards for years to come - the AMD chips are considerably slower and bottleneck CURRENT cards, so you'd have to upgrade several times by the time the intel chip would no longer be viable.

 

[kuziwk]

Makes sense, so ill probably settle on the intel 2500k or 3570k with the asrock z77. Whats the deal with Haswell though, if this is released would it be wise as the prices might drop on the previous gen? When is haswell released anyways?

 

[warhead0]

The AMD chips really aren't as bad as alot of people are making them out to be.

AMD 8350 is an excellent chip and will serve you well.

 

[Hazle]

i reckon the Q6600, being an extremely high-end CPU for it's time has better single threaded performance over the 8350. the 8350 strength lies in it's multi-threaded performance, which is primarily absent in a large majority, if not all games, making it pointless for gaming purposes alone, for the price. and then, there's the power consumption.

if you're looking for an upgrade and you're into OCing, there's the 3570K + a Z77 board. better single threaded performance for gaming, and power usage. the 2500K costs just as much as the 3570K.

games are still doing fine with dual cores, with quad cores being the optimum choice. when a majority of games do see any benefit from a 6+ cores, with dual cores becoming obsolete, the 3570K would still be a decent CPU for the job. plus, you're long overdue for an upgrade anyway.

 

[DarkSable]

Makes sense, so ill probably settle on the intel 2500k or 3570k with the asrock z77. Whats the deal with Haswell though, if this is released would it be wise as the prices might drop on the previous gen? When is haswell released anyways?

I would highly recommend the 3570k. (If nothing else, having PCIe 3.0 for future graphics upgrades is worth the $10 difference.)

No, the AMD chips aren't BAD, and I didn't say that. They're plenty for a lot of people, but if you're going to be overclocking a lot and pushing the graphics and framerates, then Intel runs cooler and way faster for the same price.

Haswell is going to be released in June, if everything goes as planned. The thing is, you aren't going to see that huge of a price drop on older chips - I would imagine no more than $20-$30. Intel doesn't really do that; they just phase out the old chips as fast as they can. (And getting a haswell isn't going to be much of an upgrade over an ivy bridge; like I said, the i5 is going to last a good long time.)

 

[kuziwk]

I found a deal on ebay, its used however. $300 for a 2500k, asrock z77 and 8 gb corsair vengeance. Worth it?

 

[DarkSable]

Hmm... lots of people recommend to stay away from used parts - I'm not usually one of them.

That's not an AMAZING deal; about $80 less than you'd find new. It's up to you whether that's worth the risk of used parts - especially from ebay rather than creigslist, where you can check to make sure the parts work before buying.

 

[kuziwk]

Yeah im not to hard up to upgrade, I just listed my Laptop on kijiji as I got a new one from my telus bundle. Its a duo core 2.2ghz turion HP DV7. Selling for $150, lol good deal...I think. Once I sell that I will upgrade.

 

[DarkSable]

Ooh. I'd actually buy that... I need an upgrade from my tiny netbook that makes my fingers cramp in class.

Only trouble is it's my mother's netbook. She has the full-sized (ancient) laptop that I got for christmas. The reason I don't is because I bought a SSD to upgrade it with right after christmas, before realizing that it's got an IDE drive in it, not a SATA drive. So if I get a full-sized laptop, even as good a deal as that one is, I can give the netbook back to my mother, but then I have a christmas present that I'm ignoring, and that seems kinda, well, bad of me.

I sent you a PM nonetheless.

 

[kuziwk]

Haha I have pictures. Just the back/top of the laptop is peeling for some reason but the screen is mint and it is still a pretty fancy looking laptop. PS I just bought the 2500K setup, once you factor in GST from Memoryexpress. Im looking at 450 in an around that neighborhood. I should also note my q6600 cpu I bought on ebay used and it still works great, $340 shipped to me now the waiting game.

 

[ruiomichlet]

like I said I don't run intel right now so I get the new stuff mixed up sometimes.