Ivy Bridge i5 or i7 -- Upgrading from AMD

patrickmcnelis

Distinguished
Jul 11, 2009
11
0
18,510
I am currently in the planning stages for upgrading my computer. I built my current PC in August of 2009, and while still quite capable of running many games at high setting, like Skyrim at High settings, or Witcher 2 at Medium - High (no Ultra), I sense it is beginning to feel its age.

Current CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz Black Edition

I am looking at Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs. Having been an AMD purist for the past few PC builds, I am not well versed of the benefits of one Intel CPU over another when they are in the same family.

After reading some of the reviews, it seems the better bang for the buck would be the Ivy Bridge i5 3570K. While obviously not as robust as the i7 3770K, it seems that the differences for a PC builder and part-time gamer like myself are negligible (while being a significant improvement over my current AMD CPU).

Does anyone have an opinion either way that could help me to decide. Currently I am leaning towards that i5, but a compelling enough argument could get me to spend an additional $100 for the i7.
 

wr6133

Guest
Feb 10, 2012
2,091
0
19,960
+1 on the i5, i7 is overkill in that the return you would see from it is not really worth the added cost you would see better putting the extra cash on a better GPU.

Avoid FX if you can its just not good for its price and loses out to older Phenoms in many things.
 


Hi :)

My shops used to sell those a couple of years ago...mid range card THEN .... low range card now....

Thats your problem in games. NOT the cpu.....buy a big new card now and try it, you can always upgrade the rest later and take the card into the upgraded machine, although I doubt you will bother to upgrade if you put a big card in...

All the best Brett :)