How to upgrade Ivy Bridge i5-3570K: OS reinstall required?

[LW_Black4]

Hello,
I have a Z77 chipset board with a i7 2600K running on it.

I intend to swap the processor for an i5 3570K instead to make it a 3rd gen PCIe 3.0 system, primarily for gaming.

Is it as simple as swapping the processors and turning it back on, or am I going to need to reinstall the operating system (Win 7 64-bit)?

 

[rolli59]

It is that simple, motherboard change would call for a reinstall but not CPU. But really it is a downgrade since the 2600K is the better CPU and you will not see noticeable performance increase with PCIe 3.0.

 

[jitpublisher]

Agree with above, that change would actually be a slight downgrade from what you have now. In my opinion, keep what you have, there is absolutely no advantage to making this change. If you want to game, and you feel that you need a bit more CPU power for gaming (although a 2600K will drive any game out there full tilt no worry) you can disable hyperthreading in your BIOS and that will improve gaming very, very slightly. And as mentioned, going for PCIe 3 won't do anything you will notice.

 

[geofelt]

Hello,
I have a Z77 chipset board with a i7 2600K running on it.

I intend to swap the processor for an i5 3570K instead to make it a 3rd gen PCIe 3.0 system, primarily for gaming.

Is it as simple as swapping the processors and turning it back on, or am I going to need to reinstall the operating system (Win 7 64-bit)?

I can speak with experience.
That is exactly what I did.
Yes it is as simple as that.
First, make certain that your motherboard will recognize the 3570K. It might need a bios update to do so.
Then, just swap the cpu chips and you are done. As I recall, I did not need to install any drivers, or even to reactivate windows.

Why did I do it?
I was an early adopter, and bought the 2600K, largely on the basis of the extra cache.
The extra $100 was not that important to me.
It turns out that I rarely used all 4 cores, so I turned hyperthreading off.
I sold the 2600K for about what a new 3570K cost me.
The 3570K runs equally cool, and now runs at a conservative OC of 4.3, compared to 4.0 for the 2600K.
Was it worth it?
For me, yes. I like the latest and greatest.

For most, probably not.
And, pci-e 3.0 is a really tiny reason to change. the impact on graphics cards is very minimal.

 

[LW_Black4]

I can speak with experience.
That is exactly what I did.
Yes it is as simple as that.
First, make certain that your motherboard will recognize the 3570K. It might need a bios update to do so.
Then, just swap the cpu chips and you are done. As I recall, I did not need to install any drivers, or even to reactivate windows.

Why did I do it?
I was an early adopter, and bought the 2600K, largely on the basis of the extra cache.
The extra $100 was not that important to me.
It turns out that I rarely used all 4 cores, so I turned hyperthreading off.
I sold the 2600K for about what a new 3570K cost me.
The 3570K runs equally cool, and now runs at a conservative OC of 4.3, compared to 4.0 for the 2600K.
Was it worth it?
For me, yes. I like the latest and greatest.

For most, probably not.
And, pci-e 3.0 is a really tiny reason to change. the impact on graphics cards is very minimal.

This information is really helpful, and I appreciate it. I should be able to swap the CPU, confirm the settings in POST and have it boot properly into the operating system without other setup. This is great!

To all those who provide great comments, I realize the i7 2600K is the better processor, and the swap is a slight downgrade on that count. However, I want to upgrade my video card as well to take advantage of PCIe 3.0 and VirtuLogic, and need a 3rd Gen processor to do that.

I am tailoring the computer for Battlefield 3 as I don't use it for much else, intend to trade up to a GTX 680 card at the same time and really don't need the incremental processor strength of the i7 2600K. I have overclocked the processor, but there's more benefit with this game leaving the processor at it's stock setting and overclocking the card instead whenever I'm getting in game.

Does this sound right?

 

[geofelt]

Sounds right.
For single player BF3, the GTX680 is the right upgrade. Perhaps not really worth that much more than a GTX670, but if you have the extra $50 why not.

For BF3 multiplayer, the cpu becomes much more important.
And in that environment, the 3570K should be superior.
If you only use a conservative overclock(no voltage adjustment) you should oc about as high, and the superior ivy bridge efficiency per clock will make up the difference.

If the game does not know how to handle hyperthreads, it can dispatch important work on a hyperthread which is about the strength of 1/4 of a full core. I have no idea if this is true for BF3.
I think you are safer without hyperthreading.

 

[LW_Black4]

Sounds right.
For single player BF3, the GTX680 is the right upgrade. Perhaps not really worth that much more than a GTX670, but if you have the extra $50 why not.

For BF3 multiplayer, the cpu becomes much more important.
And in that environment, the 3570K should be superior.
If you only use a conservative overclock(no voltage adjustment) you should oc about as high, and the superior ivy bridge efficiency per clock will make up the difference.

If the game does not know how to handle hyperthreads, it can dispatch important work on a hyperthread which is about the strength of 1/4 of a full core. I have no idea if this is true for BF3.
I think you are safer without hyperthreading.

Perfect geofelt, this is great info.

 

[nbelote]

True multi-threaded games are coming (more than 2 cores) but they'll probably be holding at 3-4 cores' usage for a while before they move on to 4+. The higher clock of the i5 is the better choice if you're a gamer, and will last you until that whole 4+ core usage deal.

 

[LW_Black4]

Best answer selected by LW_Black4.