Need advice for upgrading from AMD to Intel CPU/Mobo (Gaming Rig)

[StormHertz]

Hello, Tom's Hardware!

It's close to the Christmas season, and I've been looking at upgrading my ol' gaming rig. Currently, I run an AMD/ASUSTek CPU/Mobo combo that came pre-built when I first bought my PC, however, I feel like what I have is acting as a bottleneck on my GPU (Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC). As a heads up, I do run a 3 monitor setup at 1600x900 each, in case that conflicts with any of the products I found.

Here is my Speccy for some reference of what I'm currently running:

Right now, I'm looking at buying:
MOBO: Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155
COOLING: Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler with 4 Direct Contact Heatpipes

I've done a bit of research, and I found these to be fairly decent. The price of these combined on Amazon is pushing my budget to it's absolute limit, but I would like to hear advice to whether or not these are smart purchases, and whether or not I could get more bang for my buck.

Thanks!

 

[logainofhades]

You could save some and go with an Asrock z77 extreme4 like mine. Do you happen to live near a microcenter?

 

[beyondlogic]

Hello, Tom's Hardware!

It's close to the Christmas season, and I've been looking at upgrading my ol' gaming rig. Currently, I run an AMD/ASUSTek CPU/Mobo combo that came pre-built when I first bought my PC, however, I feel like what I have is acting as a bottleneck on my GPU (Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC). As a heads up, I do run a 3 monitor setup at 1600x900 each, in case that conflicts with any of the products I found.



Here is my Speccy for some reference of what I'm currently running:

Right now, I'm looking at buying:
MOBO: Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155
COOLING: Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler with 4 Direct Contact Heatpipes

I've done a bit of research, and I found these to be fairly decent. The price of these combined on Amazon is pushing my budget to it's absolute limit, but I would like to hear advice to whether or not these are smart purchases, and whether or not I could get more bang for my buck.

Thanks!

i5 is way more then enough

the heatsink on the top of that board looks weedy

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128580&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

use what you save to get a better cooler

as that cooler t4 is a joke the paste the supply is crap and tends to be very watery

zalman cooler
http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-LED-Aluminum-Cooling-CNPS9700/dp/B000JSFZPS/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1385509273&sr=1-2&keywords=zalman+cooler

1 cm smaller fan but has 6 heatpipes compared to the t4 much better for occing

 

[StormHertz]

You could save some and go with an Asrock z77 extreme4 like mine. Do you happen to live near a microcenter?

Unfortunately, the nearest one is a whole state over, none in my state.

I would prefer to keep my purchases on Amazon though, so would this be the one you're talking about?

http://www.amazon.com/LGA1155-CrossFireX-Motherboard-Z77-EXTREME4/dp/B007KTY4A6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1385509587&sr=1-1&keywords=Asrock+Z77+Extreme4

 

[logainofhades]

Yes, that is the one I have. Newegg is selling it for $99.99 right now.

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/Nov-0-2013/BF-Preview-25/index-landing.html

 

[StormHertz]

Ah, that's quite the deal. Any savings are good savings, thanks for the suggestion.

I think I'll settle with your Motherboard then, the i5 3570k, and I think I'll grab that Zalman fan, since it has a good amount of high reviews.

Thanks to the both of you.

 

[beyondlogic]

Ah, that's quite the deal. Any savings are good savings, thanks for the suggestion.

I think I'll settle with your Motherboard then, the i5 3570k, and I think I'll grab that Zalman fan, since it has a good amount of high reviews.

Thanks to the both of you.

no problem good luck with your build also for better performance with the zalman cooler if in your budget grab mx4 paste otherwise zalmns stock is fine as its usually only a 5 c drop with mx4 paste