Looking to upgrade system for gaming, need advice.

[adam_x_brookes]

Hello everyone at Tom's. I'm coming into some money soon and have decided that it's time to update my machine. I use the machine for developing software/games and also do all my gaming on it. My computer still games well at my resolution but I've noticed it struggling with newer dX11 titles. My current specs are as follows:

AMD phenom 955 BE @3.9ghz
Bigwater A80
4gig G.Skill 1600mhz duel channel DDR3 ram
XFX HD 5870 1GB gfx card
500W Corsair Builder Series psu
gigabyte UD3H MB
Corsair Force Series GT 60SSD
3 x 600GB HD's.
24inch samsung syncmaster BX2335 1980 x 1080 monitor.

I was thinking of just upgrading my cpu, gfx card motherboard and possibly Ram?. I have no real preference on the make of parts, but was leaning towards an Intel processor. My budget will be around £400, but will be willing to stretch a bit more if there is a clear benefit in doing so. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks for your time, Adam

 

[yasserBasha]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£89.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus P8H77-M PRO Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£94.62 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£52.22 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£140.05 @ Dabs)
Total: £401.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-09 11:09 BST+0100)

Is this good ?

 

[adam_x_brookes]

Would that i3 be faster than my current processor? tbh I was thinking more of an I5 - I7?

 

[yasserBasha]

yes it will be ...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=677

most of the charts are "lower is better" ... plus it's powerful one, uses less power and have great upgradability in future