Phenom II vs i3 3240 (gaming)

What you need is a better gpu for gaming, the 9500 is not good for gaming, any of those two cpus will not raise the fps, by the contrary the 9500 will bottleneck the cpus in gaming, so if you need a new cpu, also get a new card.
For a budget cpu, the i3-3220 is a good option, and you don't need the hyper 212 evo for it, it has the multiplier locked and the stock cooler that comes with it will do, but you need a better card as well.

The I5 is better than both and is what I would go with but if you can't afford than really there is nothing you can do but save up.

You can't really overclock an I3 since the mulitplier is locked. You can raise the clock's a few hundred MHz but I don't really consider that overclocking and in reality it won't make much of real world difference in performance.

At stock settings the the Ivy Bridges I3 will beat the stock Phenom II in gaming. If you overclock the Phenom II than it will beat out a stock I3.

i wil upgrade ma GPU later... but in the case of processor... wil i3 beat AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE ..?

but phenom has higher specs right?  

Go back and look at what I just posted. at stock clocks the I3 will win out. Overclocked the 965 BE will be better. Specs like clock speeds and cores don't really matter anymore. The Phenom II is kind of old now and Intels microarchitecture is faster and more efficient than AMD's. What that mean is at stock settings the Intel CPU's will beat out the AMD CPU's despite having a "slower" clock speed. In games an I5 at 3.4 GHz will beat out a Piledriver 3.9 GHz, it's all about the microarchitecture.

You should upgrade first the gpu, unless you have a really crappy cpu or you don't have one at all, the 9500 gt isn't good for any of the recent games even at the lowest settings or resolution.
But if you really need a new cpu get the i3-3220, it has a lower power consumption and overall it beats the X4 965 BE in gaming : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-fr...
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/screenshots/original/2012...
But don't expect to gain fps with it with your current card, upgrade the gpu as soon as possible.

I agree with Django's suggestion. Can your share yur current configuration with us Lijith?
if you have a capable but a little older cpu, a simple gpu upgrade will improve your performance the most. changing cpu may not translate into as noticeable gains as it would be with a gpu. + it would be cheaper than investing in a new mobo, ram and cpu.

good luck
-satyam

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-radeon-hd-6670...

wht abt this card???

thnx buddy.. but whts the starting price of i5???
anyway am going for intel

It's decent, but i rather get the 7750/7770 at least, if you can't afford, get at least the 6670 1GB DDR5.
Don't spend much on a cpu and spend more on a gpu.

spec

intel dual core e5200
2.5 ghz
3 gb ram
1 tb hd
xfx 9500 gt 1 gb GPU
1366x786 monitor

You can easily just get a better card like the 7750, the cpu won't bottleneck it and get much more performance than you get a new cpu with the 9500GT.

http://hardwire.in/processors/689-intel-core-i5-2310-28...
The cheapest i5 you can locate in India Rs 10999. And for that price it's great value.
About 204 USD.

hey is 6670 1GB DDR5 good ??

i dnt hav more budget.. is there any other GPU at this card's budget?? wht abt 6670 for gaming?  

k ..i wil try 2 get one....

for your monitor, a 6670 ddr5 would be a huge improvement. I am running one too. I can play MW3 and Warhammer 40 Space marines both well above 40+ fps at 1600x900 (my monitor's limit). That is after the simple gpu Overclocking that AMD overdrive provides.

my sig has the OC value though currently I am running it at 870/1130. your cpu will be able to handle and drive this card easily and there wont be bottlenecks.

Try the 6670 1GB DDR5, it's better than the 1GB DDR3 version, the only one to get, if you really can't afford the 7750, but it might be good for you saving for the 7750.
For 720p, it will do just fine.

Pricing will depend on where you live. Here in the US the cheapest I5 is the Intel Core i5-3350P and starts at 179 dollars. From there prices increase until you get to the highest end I5 the 3570K. Also none of those I5's (except for the I5 3570K) can really be overclocked.You can increase the clock rate a few hundred MHz but that is not really an overclock and it won't really make much of a real world difference. Only the "k" processors can really be overclocked.

The core 2 Duo will bottleneck his graphics card. My e6700 was bottlenecking my 6670. After upgrading to a 965 BE, my FPS doubled.

@OP The i5 2500k has 120% of the performance of 965 be. It also costs 200% of the price.

I believe the decision is easy. If it ain't...Well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

^ but at that resolution?

It will not bottleneck such low end card, if the op doesn't have money for more than a 6670, i don't think getting an i5 will be a wise choice, it will not boost the performance in gaming with a 9500 gt, it will be a waste.

Here's some benchmark with core 2 duo : http://www.anandtech.com/show/6670/dragging-core2duo-in...
And that's with a 7970.