7870 (1.1mhz)and i3 3220 or 7950(850mhz) and phenom ii x4 965

paddys09

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Tough question the CPU's perform similarly the i3 might have a slight edge with stock clocks but the differences are pretty negligible and the phenom can be overclocked whereas that i3 won't really.. I would also say the phenom would be better for recording and editing but getting the i3 would give you a better platform to upgrade on...

As far as the GPUs go the 7950 will probably have a slight bottle-neck with the 965...

So I would like to answer your question but neither would be my choice for your needs... I would aim for an i5, whats your budget anyway for CPU and GPU?

Also an SSD is a pretty cost effective piece of kit when recording and editing..
 

jaideep1337

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965 and 7950 would be my choice because most games are hugely GPU limited and getting a better GPU is always a good thing. There will be bottlenecks but those will be very small.
As paddys said if you can get an i5 then nothing like it otherwise the 965 is still pretty good too.
 

Limerick

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I would strongly recommend you trying to get an i5 so there won't be any bottlenecking issues. And if it bottlenecks now the next time you upgrade the bottleneck will be bigger unless you upgrade the cpu as well, but that's just wasting more money than if you get a good cpu and gpu now.
 

twelve25

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Pentium G850 and 7950.

G850 beats the Phenom in games and is only $70 @ newegg. It also gives you a path to upgrade to i5 or i7 processors in the future.

Edit: Or there is the ivy bridge G2120 for $95 that is basically a 3.1Ghz i3-3220 without hyperthreading (which is useless for games)

 

TheScarecrow97

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but the hyperthreaded cores will be very useful in a game like BF3 or while I'm recording, right?

Also, I fully intend to upgrade to Haswell. Which is why I don't want to blow a ton of money on an i5 right now. Might as well skimp on the cpu for a really nice gpu that I can pair with a Haswell i5 in a year or so.
 

twelve25

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I don't think hyperthreading will help one bit.

This is with a 7970:
Battlefield3.png
 

paddys09

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HT will help with recording and editing though...which is why if budget wasn't a concern I would definitely be recommending an i7...

As things stand though, would try and get the extra $50 (less when you factor in rebates) to get the 7870 and 2500k from Newegg if you don't have a microcenter nearby...

The 7950 is a great card, but the 7870 handles everything pretty well @ 1080, that will obviously change a bit when recording though, like I said its a difficult decision but the i5 and 7870 would be my choice...
 

paddys09

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If thats the case then theres no point spending any money now, I would just wait for haswell as its a completely different platform... whats your current system like?
 

TheScarecrow97

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I don't have one. This is my first build. My already terrible laptop crapped out on me not too long ago and I'm stuck unable to really play any games. So I'm kind of desperate which is why I don't want to wait until Haswell. Also, I probably won't upgrade the second Haswell comes out. Might upgrade anywhere between a couple months to a year later. If I wait until the latter, I'll just get intel's next gen cpu.

So to be straightforward, I don't really consider waiting an option : /

I could do something more balanced like an i5 3450 and 7850, or wait a (painful) month for a sale on a 7870, but that's about it. Another downside to that option is that when I upgrade, I'd eventually have to pay more money to upgrade both the cpu and gpu, whereas if I get a phenom 965 and 7950 now, I can stick with the gpu for a good long time and only have to really worry about upgrading the cpu in a year or so.

Also, the sapphire 7950 currently comes with an amazing deal of 3 free games and 20% off another one :)

But out of curiosity, what would the fps difference be between a 7950 with 965 and an i3 3220 with 7870?
 

paddys09

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Yea I suppose if you have to spend the money now, you'll need a new board either way for haswell or later...

Im not sure exactly how much of a bottleneck the 965 will be with the 7950, but im sure overclocking to +4.0ghz will near enough eliminate it, but will require a better board....seeing as you mentioned BF3 i think it would perform better with the extra real cores...

Its a really tough call, one you'll probably have to make yourself based on the facts