Less then $500 upgrade.

[JGBerger]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to be asking, I don't know where else to go.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within a month

Budget Range: Less then $500 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Battlefield 3 and other games.

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, Win7, Case, PSU Corsair 1000w, Graphics card, CD/DVD Drives.

Parts Required: Motherboard, CPU, Ram

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, amazon.com

Country of Origin: US

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Quad Core CPU

Overclocking: No.

SLI or Crossfire: yes, in the future.

Monitor Resolution: 2048x1152

Additional Comments: Right now I have a dual core CPU and it runs at 100% on BF3, I would like to get a quad core. Right now my board is a LAG 775, but I think it would be better to upgrade the mb/cpu/ram instead of just getting a Core 2 Quad.

 

[9_breaker]

cpu
Intel Core i5-2500K
ram
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB
Motherboard
ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3
$460

 

[rvilkman]

Yes, due to other performance gains from the architecture and memory controller you will get much more improvement upgrading to sandy bridge.
Not to mention that any Core 2 Quads worth while would cost you about as much as a CPU+Mobo with sandy bridge.

CPU: i5 2500k $219.99
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen3 ~$130, Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3 ~$190
Ram: Corsair/Gskill/Kingston/Mushkin 2x4GB 1.5V CAS9 1600Mhz - Like Gskill RipjawsX ~ $52
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212+ (or EVO) $27-35

Even with the high end that's less than (219.99+190+51+35 = $497) $500.

 

[JGBerger]

Best answer selected by JGBerger.

 

[JGBerger]

Thank you both very much.

 

[9_breaker]

he just wrote what i wrote

 

[triplej]

I just bought an i5-2500k, z68ma-d2h-b3, corsair vengeance 8 gb today. it's running windows 7 64 bit with no video card and stock fan at 1080p with temps 34-40 C. i haven't tried playing a game on the intel graphics yet but i'm running prime95 with the stock fan while writing this, the temps are in the 70s. using price match with microcenter, it was $375 after tax and i have $25 in rebates to mail in.