TROUBLE DECIDING BETWEEN I5 3570K, 3570, OR 8350

[cdrkeen]

I'm very confused... I've done a lot of reading about the right cpu for me, whether overclocking the cpu would be worth it for the extra money or not. I'm deciding between the i5 3570k if I were to overclock, the i5 3570, or the amd 8350 8 core.

I'm looking to spend total of around $400 usd and less the better. I only need to upgrade Motherboard, Ram, CPU, and HD. I already have a 7850 2GB and trying to pair the right cpu for this and the games I play. My motherboard fried which is why I'm upgrading. I'm mainly getting this for far cry 3, bf3 and some source games. Now I read from some places that the amd 8350 8 core beats the i5-3570k at higher resolutions ie 1920x1200 in far cry 3 which I would be gaming on. Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et7kDGSRfc. And then other graphs show the opposite but at lower resolutions. Can anyone confirm this?

I'm deciding between these builds and would prefer to buy it on newegg or amazon. Here is what I have so far. Please feel free to give opinion on the motherboard if you think it will be suitable to overclock with on the z75. Only would be looking for a modest overclock 400 to 600mhz down the road if needed.

Intel overclocking build:

SSD ADATA Premier Pro SP900 ASP900S3-64GM-C 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive $74.99
MOBO ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $76.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W $215 with promo code
Memory G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $49.99

Total $416.97

Intel non overclocking:

Same ram and ssd
Intel Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W $199.99 with promo code
ASRock B75 PRO3 LGA 1155 Intel B75 $ 75.99

Total $400.96

AMD build:

Same ram and ssd
AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ $189.99
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3 AM3+ AMD 770 $69.99

Total $384.96

All thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

 

[twelve25]

Hard to beat this SSD deal right now on a 120GB Samsung for $80: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5247113&sku=S203-8003&cm_re=Homepage-_-Zone2_2-_-CatId_5298_S203-8003


For just gaming, I'd go with the 3570K or drop down to the FX-6300. The 8350 doesn't outperform the 6300 for gaming because no games use 8 cores. Both of those are overclockable.

If you don't overclock, then just get the cheapest i5 you can find. So probably, the i5-3350p.

 

[cdrkeen]

Looks like a really good deal on the SSD thanks. Looking at the anandTech cpu comparison seems like any i5 is worth it over 6300 for games, but maybe that changes with overclocking? I don't know, personally after having this motherboard fry on my I'm a bit hesitant to overclock anymore but I do know how to, you always run the risk of frying and it's a pain in the arse to get a 100 percent stable overclock

Also I heard having the 8350 8 core is a good idea because more and more games soon will be using more cores. and the games that are more than 4, forgive me I cant recall at the moment it competed very closely with the 3570k

 

[noob2222]

One thing to think about is the turbo speed is basically a guranteed achievable speed. The 6300 base is 3.5 ghz, turbo of 4.1 ghz. Simple overclock would be just to set the base to 4.1 ghz and leave it.

Any of the choices would be bottlenecked with the 7850 graphics card.

 

[cdrkeen]

All of these cpu's would be bottle necked by the 7850??? it's pretty hard to believe that if you look at the performance charts for systems with a 7870 and a 7850 is not far off of that it definitely improves performance with one of these cpu's from what I have read and seen

As far as the turbo goes I understand that to mean the cpu throttles up when the thermal temperature stays below a certain point but also it cuts off a certain amount of cores to achieve the higher frequency, so just because it's a turbo of 4.1 I don't believe that means you can just set all 4 cores to that speed permanently at least with stock cooling

 

[iceclock]

for the best price to performance ratio 3570k.

 

[cdrkeen]

But my 7850 will bottleneck this cpu? Can anyone else confirm this?

 

[noob2222]

http://www.techspot.com/review/615-far-cry-3-performance/page6.html

Overclocking with the i7 produced almost nothing with a 7970 ghz. The fx chips do underperform when underclocked, but that not what they were desighed for. 4.0 ghz and up is where they perform.

The slight difference between the 4170 and the i5 is due to the system designs. Intel does have a better memory controller and pci 3.0.

You have to decide if 1- 5 fps is worth $100 or more.

I run battlefield 3 with 6970 crossfire pcs+ on the 8120 @ 4.7 ghz, gpu stays near 100% usage, 80+ fps on ultra settings.

The 7850 is slower than both setups.

 

[iceclock]

no that will be fine.

 

[cdrkeen]

Okay thanks for everyone's input. I think the best idea is to go with the overclocking intel setup with the 120GB ssd totaling for $420

I was thinking about going with the fx 6300, but when you factor in the cost for a decent heatsink it would cost $360 then having to overclocking it right and praying you get a good piece of silicon not to mention the chance of blowing up your computer just to reach the stock performance of a 3570k.

So for $60 more bucks you get a cpu that I wouldn't have to overclock right now. And then if I need to later on I have the option to and won't have to upgrade cpu if I decide to get a bigger next generation gpu that comes out. Also there might be some cpu intensive games that come out that will benefit from the i5 anyway even with the 7850

 

[twelve25]

I don't think that is a bad decision at all, but you are probably worrying a bit much about bottlenecking. But, it sucks to look back in 6 months and say "I should have just spent the extra $50"

 

[cdrkeen]

Best answer selected by cdrkeen.

 

[cdrkeen]

I don't think that is a bad decision at all, but you are probably worrying a bit much about bottlenecking. But, it sucks to look back in 6 months and say "I should have just spent the extra $50"

Yeah you're right I am probably too worried about the bottleneck lol... But I've built systems where I did regret not spending that extra 50...so for my peace of mind