GTX570 or i7-2600K?

[Kobalt Kour]

I'm currently planning to build my first PC. I am planning to use this PC for gaming (Battlefield 3, Skyrim), as well as general work use (Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite).

The parts I am currently planning to buy are as follows:
CPU: Intel CPU Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V DDR3 Intel 1155pin Motherboard
HDD: Seagate 3.5" Barracuda 1TB ST31000524AS SATA3 7200RPM 32MB HDD
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 219L BK OEM DVD RW
RAM: 8G Kit 1600 Patriot Gamer2
Graphics Card: Asus nVidia GTX560 Ti 1GB
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 – PSU Included
Monitor: Asus 23" ML239H IPS LED Backlight LCD Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder-V2 Infrared Gaming Mouse
OS: Microsoft Windows Premium, Service Pack 1, 64-bit - OEM

Feel free to make any suggestions for the PC as a whole but my main concern between the CPU and Graphics Card. My friend recommended I exchange the i7-2600K for an i5-2500K and the GTX560 Ti for the GTX570. I'm not willing to spend the money for both i7 and GTX570. So my question is which combination would benefit me more? GTX560 Ti + i7-2600K or GTX570 + i5-2500K? I wish to play Battlefield 3 on high settings.

As this is my first PC, I will likely be using this forum frequently as I run into problems (cables >.<).
Thanks in advance!

 

[joeblogs]

I5 2500K and gtx 570 will give u the highest FPS. Because your gaming using the 2600K will be waist of almost 100 dollars. May i advise though going for a 6970 instead of the 570. However if ur a Nvidia Guy Still get the 570 and i5 2500K combo as it will give you the best resuluts . I hope this is what u where looking for

 

[Kobalt Kour]

I5 2500K and gtx 570 will give u the highest FPS. Because your gaming using the 2600K will be waist of almost 100 dollars. May i advise though going for a 6970 instead of the 570. However if ur a Nvidia Guy Still get the 570 and i5 2500K combo as it will give you the best resuluts . I hope this is what u where looking for

Thanks! Yes, this does answer my question. Damn! I was looking forward to that i7 but I guess it's not worth it.

 

[AxemanACL]

I'm confirming Joeblogs suggestion, i5 and 570/6970 is a better combo.

 

[Kobalt Kour]

I'm confirming Joeblogs suggestion, i5 and 570/6970 is a better combo.

After looking at some charts I see the 6970 is much better than the GTX570 even though they are the same price. Would you recommend I buy a Asus 6970 or Gigabyte 6970? Gigabyte is $12 cheaper.

 

[AxemanACL]

What is your power supply? I'm not seeing it. You are probably going to want a good 550W to 650W power supply for a 6970. I can't find your case with it including the power supply. In general though the ones included are not powerful enough to power a real gaming rig.

Asus and Gigabyte are both fine. Do you want to deal with overclocking? If not, is one factory overclocked? Or if you do, choose the one with the best cooling, (even if you don;t overclock, more cooling never hurt anyone).

 

[FtsArTek]

After looking at some charts I see the 6970 is much better than the GTX570 even though they are the same price. Would you recommend I buy a Asus 6970 or Gigabyte 6970? Gigabyte is $12 cheaper.

Trust me here: The ASUS is more than worth the extra $12.... Cooler, more OCable, quieter... The benefits are endless

 

[Kobalt Kour]

What is your power supply? I'm not seeing it. You are probably going to want a good 550W to 650W power supply for a 6970. I can't find your case with it including the power supply. In general though the ones included are not powerful enough to power a real gaming rig.

Asus and Gigabyte are both fine. Do you want to deal with overclocking? If not, is one factory overclocked? Or if you do, choose the one with the best cooling, (even if you don;t overclock, more cooling never hurt anyone).

Yeah, I just realized my PSU that comes with my Case is only 500w. I'm not sure if investing in a 650w PSU and 6970 is worth it, or just go with the 560 Ti and be done with it.

 

[AxemanACL]

Yeah, I just realized my PSU that comes with my Case is only 500w. I'm not sure if investing in a 650w PSU and 6970 is worth it, or just go with the 560 Ti and be done with it.

Copy Pasted from the Power Supply portion of the forums.


Radeon HD 6970

Core Engine Clock: 880 MHz
Stream Processors: 1536
Memory Size: 2GB GDDR5
Memory Clock: 1375 MHz
Interface: 256-bit
Max Power Consumption: 287 Watts
Average Consumption: 157 Watts
Idle: 22 Watts
http://www.amd.com/PublishingImages/Restricted/Photograph_ProductShots/PNG/device_6970_242W_lo_res.png

A 550 Watt unit with one 8 pin PCI-E connector is recommended. Power supply should have at the very least 38 Amps on the 12 volt rails combined.

Check your power supply, you may just make it ok.

Also, this link

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-21.html

shows a system with a 6970 using 325W to 350W under load. I may have overestimated the power required.

 

[waxy_27]

Remember if you go for AMD you can not use the Physx technoloy used in games such as Arkham City.
Myself personally choose Nvidia over Amd because of that

 

[vitornob]

Show us the exactly PSU model.
And I agree with waxy_27, physx is not that widely used, but is a nice addon!

 

[ilysaml]

Regarding the CPUs, if you're mainly gaming then the i5 2500K has an identical performance of the i7 2600K, if you're using heavy and multi-threaded applications then the i7 2600K is the sweet choice. the "K" represents the unlocked multiplier for Overclocking Potentiality.

Either GTX 560ti or GTX 570 will play the BF3 and some other games @ ultra quality 1080P more than fine with playable FPS.

The PSU that came with the Elite 430 is a cheap nasty one, it doesn't even have the PCIE connectors for the GPU not even recommended for gaming systems, Also you might consider a proper case for extreme cooling and air flow which is found in the Cooler Master HAF series.

So you will have about $150 in hand when you pick the i5 2500K and change the case. I would Invest them in a better PSU like This
and a case like This .

Also, I would put more money for the PSU for a better "Modular" one and a superior case.

 

[Kobalt Kour]

Best answer selected by Kobalt Kour.