I5 with 550ti or i3 with better gpu

[yamahammer342]

Hi everyone.

I had a new system build I was planning for gaming, but now after reading some stuff I am second guessing myself. I am still on core 2 duo so it's time for an upgrade. First I will tell you what I had planned.

i5 3570k
ASRock z77 pro4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
and keeping my existing 550ti 1gb gpu
Reusing a 500w psu and my harddrive.

After reading around though, I think that 550ti is going to severely limit the 3570k. So here is a couple options I would like advice on;

Getting the i3 2125 to save money and get an additional 550ti and run 2 of them
Or
Staying with that I had planned and down the road get a 600 series gpu
Or
I am open to suggestions from you guys.

Thank you for any advice/direction.

Matt

 

[TheBigTroll]

give me a budget, location, and what parts you do not need in this new build

ill figure something out for you

 

[yamahammer342]

give me a budget, location, and what parts you do not need in this new build

ill figure something out for you

I live about 2.5 hours from the Columbus micro-center. I was thinking about going there for everything. I don't need; case, psu (unless going sli or something), hdd, or optical drives. Basically just CPU, memory, mobo, maybe gpu, running a 550ti atm. Would like to keep it around 400 bucks.

 

[nix327]

Hi everyone.

I had a new system build I was planning for gaming, but now after reading some stuff I am second guessing myself. I am still on core 2 duo so it's time for an upgrade. First I will tell you what I had planned.

i5 3570k
ASRock z77 pro4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
and keeping my existing 550ti 1gb gpu
Reusing a 500w psu and my harddrive.

After reading around though, I think that 550ti is going to severely limit the 3570k. So here is a couple options I would like advice on;

Getting the i3 2125 to save money and get an additional 550ti and run 2 of them
Or
Staying with that I had planned and down the road get a 600 series gpu
Or
I am open to suggestions from you guys.

Thank you for any advice/direction.

Matt

Get an i5 3470 and an asrock h77m mobo..that'll save you about 70$..add that to the gpu and get a 660.

 

[yamahammer342]

Get an i5 3470 and an asrock h77m mobo..that'll save you about 70$..add that to the gpu and get a 660.

The 3470 is only 15 bucks less than the 3570k as far as what I am seeing. I don't think I can justify that, and a 660 is pretty expensive.

 

[TheBigTroll]

yes, getting a h77 + a 3470 is a better option. you save money through the motherboard.

to run the 3570k properly, you must buy a z77 board which costs more for the chipset itself

you can get a sapphire 7870ghz at newegg for 194.99 after MIR

 

[yamahammer342]

So it is definitely agreed that the 550ti would horribly bottleneck the 3570k?

 

[nix327]

The 3470 is only 15 bucks less than the 3570k as far as what I am seeing. I don't think I can justify that, and a 660 is pretty expensive.

I compared the prices from parts picker which is why i thought there is a difference of about 60 -70$..if either amd or nvidia is ok for you then the 7870 is a great option like big troll said.. even a 7850 will be loads better than 550ti..

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/541?vs=549

 

[Supermuncher85]

So just saying microcenter still has the deal where you get $50 off the mobo. So i5 3570k $169.99 + $55 z77 board sounds pretty good to me.

 

[yamahammer342]

I compared the prices from parts picker which is why i thought there is a difference of about 60 -70$..if either amd or nvidia is ok for you then the 7870 is a great option like big troll said.. even a 7850 will be loads better than 550ti..

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/541?vs=549

You are right. $15 was only the difference between the 2 cpus. IT would save me exactly $55 to go with the 3470 + h77. I am still thinking of maybe still going 3570k and upgrading gpu later. 55 isnt much of a savings, unless there won't be much of a difference. I just figured the better mobo would last me a lot longer, and have more options as far as oc goes if I ever wanted to do that.

 

[yamahammer342]

So just saying microcenter still has the deal where you get $50 off the mobo. So i5 3570k $169.99 + $55 z77 board sounds pretty good to me.

Really? I couldn't find any info on their website about that deal.

 

[TheBigTroll]

55 dollars is enough to get me to the next tier in GPU performance.

 

[TheBigTroll]

and a 550ti would not horribly bottleneck a i5. its just that its mismatched

 

[yamahammer342]

55 dollars is enough to get me to the next tier in GPU performance.

I think you may have misunderstood, sorry. I already own a 550ti that I was thinking about keeping the same. So getting a 660 or a 7870 adds another $200 to my budget. That's why I was thinking about getting another 550ti and running them in SLI, but I am not sure if that would help me much or not.

 

[TheBigTroll]

nah. dont use a 550ti SLI. not worth it if a single 7870 performs better than 2 550tis

 

[Supermuncher85]

Really? I couldn't find any info on their website about that deal.

Just add the I5 3570k to the cart, add the DS3h z77 from gigabyte to the cart and you'll see it gets $50 off.

 

[nix327]

nah. dont use a 550ti SLI. not worth it if a single 7870 performs better than 2 550tis

Yeah..if you already own a 550ti i suggest you stick with it for now..550ti sli is not a good option..you can upgrade to a better gpu later..get the i5 3570k and z77 mobo for now..

 

[yamahammer342]

Just add the I5 3570k to the cart, add the DS3h z77 from gigabyte to the cart and you'll see it gets $50 off.

Wow, thanks so much for that info.

Thanks to everyone else as well for all the help. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[azathoth]

Get the i5-3570k, and wait until you have enough money for a higher end GPU.
If you get the i5-3570k you will have a futureproof CPU for MANY years to come, because you can easily overclock it to 4.4Ghz instead of being confined to 3.2Ghz or so with a locked 3470.

 

[yamahammer342]

I have a follow up question.

I was planning on getting the ASRock z77 pro4. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296 Would gigabyte be a better option? or something else? After reading reviews on the ASRock, it seems like they have quite a high failure rate.

 

[TheBigTroll]

id get a gigabyte z77x-d3h if its cheaper than the extreme4. another option

all boards have failures.

 

[yamahammer342]

Best answer selected by yamahammer342.