Upgrading now or wait?? what gains should I expect

[shaggs2riches]

Looking at finally getting rid of my extremely aged m2n-e motherboard and AMD 945, and replace it with an i7 3770k and P8Z77-VPRO. Not too sure about ram or cpu cooler yet. Sadly, I have bad luck in upgrading equipment just as something much better rolls in, then kick myself for not waiting that extra few weeks. So just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on whether or not I should go for it now (in less than two weeks) or if something is soon to be out that is worth waiting for. Also I know that this will be a big help in all things, but I'm just curious if anyone can give light on how my gaming experience will change?? I'm using a GTX 560ti 448 Classified Ultra and don't think I will change that for a little while. I guess the only thing I can compare is currently I am playing Crysis 3 on medium settings, FXAA on 1080 with 45-60fps. If there are better choices I should be looking at then I'm all ears.

Thanks
Shaggs

 

[jaguarskx]

Hyper Threading does nothing for games. Better to save some cash and get the i5-3570k.

Haswell is expected to be released in June/July. Performing gains is unknown, but I would guess about 6% - 8% more powerful than Ivy Bridge assuming the same clockspeed. The biggest performance difference should be the graphics core. But that is meaningless if you plan on installing a graphics card.

Is it worth waiting until the summer to get an estimated 6% - 8% CPU performance increase? That's the decision you need to make. I would say no if you want to build something ASAP. Benchmarks are not likely to be available until late May / early June.

 

[Rammy]

Haswell (new intel chips) are around 3 months away. The benefits of these chips is likely to be mainly in terms of the significant improvements in integrated graphics (which you won't be using) as well as the standard incremental increases in performance.

There will almost always be something better on the horizon, and in many ways there is never a "good" time to buy. Buying anything shortly after it launches is likely to cost more than say a couple of months later, but by this point speculation will already be mounting for whatever the next big thing is.

If your focus is solely gaming, an i7 is overkill, but it seems like you are managing pretty well on an ageing CPU. My advice would be to see if you actually need anything from the next product line, something slightly better will always be just a few months away and if all you want is something to play games etc, a quality CPU will last years. Sandy Bridge CPUs are two years old and while there are better things available, there is almost no visible difference in gaming performance.

 

[shaggs2riches]

Okay, looks like the 3570 is $100 cheaper as well. This might help to start saving for a bigger graphics card. I guess then that leaves me questioning if I would benefit further by getting a new graphics card first? The sale of my 560ti could go to the new mobo and processor.