Phenom II 970 + 6850 or I5 2500k + 5770

[angelo88]

Hey guys, I need some advice on my next move. My current build is a phenom II 720 and a HD 5770. Because of circumstances, I have the option to either get a Phenom II 970 and a Radeon 6850, or stay with my 5770 and get an i5 2500k. Since I'll mostly be gaming, what would be a better move? I'll have to shell out a bit more for the core i5, but would it be better in the long run?

Note: if I get the Core i5, i probably won't be able to upgrade my vid card in a loooong time(because, again, of circumstances). I game at 1680x1050 only though, if that helps any. But i really want to max out my gaming as much as possible.

Thanks in advance!

 

[o1die]

My vote is for the 2500K. It's about fourth down on the list of fastest tested cpus in recent benchmarks. And go with 16 gb of identical ram sticks; you can order two 8 gb kits, such as these http://www.frys.com/ads/page11/ kingston 1600.

 

[vitornob]

I think that if u want to max out ur gaming as much as possible u could stick with the Phenom II X4 970 + Radeon 6850.
With a lot eye-candy the workload shifts from CPU to GPU (Still some games still gets huge benefits from intel core 2nd generation, like starcraft 2, even with all settings maxed)
Btw, why not get a Phenom II X4 955 and OC it (955=underclocked 970). And spend more money in VGA or some other stuff?

 

[de5_Roy]

Hey guys, I need some advice on my next move. My current build is a phenom II 720 and a HD 5770. Because of circumstances, I have the option to either get a Phenom II 970 and a Radeon 6850, or stay with my 5770 and get an i5 2500k. Since I'll mostly be gaming, what would be a better move? I'll have to shell out a bit more for the core i5, but would it be better in the long run?

Note: if I get the Core i5, i probably won't be able to upgrade my vid card in a loooong time(because, again, of circumstances). I game at 1680x1050 only though, if that helps any. But i really want to max out my gaming as much as possible.

Thanks in advance!

from the info you've given, phii 970(or 965 be) with hd 6850 will perform in gaming better than the 2500k+5770 combo.you might be able to get a lot out of a 6850 at your res. imo the i5 2500k + hd 6850 might be more powerful than phii 970+6850 but it will cost more.here's a comparison between the 970 and the 2500k.

 

[vitornob]

@angelo88
Just checked, AMD 5770 is not far from the AMD 6850. U SHOULDN'T do this upgrade. It will make minor differences.
(http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/22/ati-radeon-hd-6850-review/5)

Or u get a 955 + a better VGA (like the 6950 from AMD or Nvidia GTX 560Ti)
Or stick with the Core i5 2500k

 

[vitornob]

from the info you've given, phii 970(or 965 be) with hd 6850 will perform in gaming better than the 2500k+5770 combo.you might be able to get a lot out of a 6850 at your res. imo the i5 2500k + hd 6850 might be more powerful than phii 970+6850 but it will cost more.here's a comparison between the 970 and the 2500k.

WOW, never saw it..
It's a HUGE difference between this 970 II X4 and the 2500K in games.
2500k is 40% to 50% faster than 970 II X4 with the same VGA in the games that were tested.

 

[de5_Roy]

WOW, never saw it..
It's a HUGE difference between this 970 II X4 and the 2500K in games.
2500k is 40% to 50% faster than 970 II X4 with the same VGA in the games that were tested.

here's a comparison between 5770 and 6850. i noticed that in the cpu comparison the gfx card or cards used in the chart wasn't given except in the power consumption comparison. and in this gpu comparison chart there's no mention of the cpu used. i assume they used the same 5870 in the cpu chart and the same cpu in the gaming chart.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Why are you looking to upgrade?

 

[pell380]

i have currently buyed core i5 2500k with intel dh67cl board working very fine and i havent seen my cpu usage graph more then 75%

and i5 2500k with 5770 will be able to run any game in medium to high setings depending upon game an resolution

so i will say u to for an intel i5 2500k u can also overclock it


and what will be your motherboard,ram?

 

[de5_Roy]

a little more details. it's lynnfield vs ph ii 970.
and
5770 vs 5850 (according to gfx hierarchy 5850 is a bit better performing than 6850).

edit: @op; if money is tight, save it for now, try to hold out till new radeon hd 7xxx, nvidia 6xx, ivy bridge has come out. if the cpu and gpu prices drop when they are released you can buy your prefered parts at lowered price.

 

[davcon]

Hey guys, I need some advice on my next move. My current build is a phenom II 720 and a HD 5770. Because of circumstances, I have the option to either get a Phenom II 970 and a Radeon 6850, or stay with my 5770 and get an i5 2500k. Since I'll mostly be gaming, what would be a better move? I'll have to shell out a bit more for the core i5, but would it be better in the long run?

Note: if I get the Core i5, i probably won't be able to upgrade my vid card in a loooong time(because, again, of circumstances). I game at 1680x1050 only though, if that helps any. But i really want to max out my gaming as much as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Go with the 2500K and source a 6790 which is a bit better then a 5770/6770.

 

[theuniquegamer]

Get the 955 be instead 970 because it is good for gaming and get a amd 6950 or nvidia 560 ti to play your games at max settings at your resolution.

 

[simon12]

I suggest you keep your current CPU (maybe overclock it a bit) and get a 6950. Your current CPU will not be holding back your 5770 so getting a 2500K will not help gaming performance at all and getting 1 extra core with a 970 will not give a massive boost.

 

[angelo88]

Actually, the thing is, im getting the phenom as a gift. But i could opp to sell it, add a few more bucks(ok, alot more) and then get the core i5. That would mean buying a new board, which is fine since I was really planning to upgrade my board to begin with(my old MSI 785 gt does not overclock too well).

But I thought of that too: sell the 970, get a 955 and use the extra cash for a good vid card. You think that would do better in gaming than a i5 2500k and a radeon 5770?

On a side note, what do you think of the core i5 23xx chips? Its cheaper than the 2500k, and somewhat still in my price range. How do you think that would fair?

 

[davcon]

Dude the 2100 beats any phenom x4 cpu in gaming performance.
If you have a decent cpu, and AMD quads are very good, i agree with the other guys.
Buy the best gpu you can afford and keep your current platform.

 

[angelo88]

Allright, I guess hold on to the 970 and save up for a better gpu then. Thanks, appreciate it!

 

[008Rohit]

Dude the 2100 beats any phenom x4 cpu in gaming performance.
If you have a decent cpu, and AMD quads are very good, i agree with the other guys.
Buy the best gpu you can afford and keep your current platform.

Thats because very few games are optimized for quad core scaling.

@ OP

Either get a 955BE, OC it and get a 6870/6950 with it. Otherwise the i5 2500K + 5770 is a better option at your res.

 

[de5_Roy]

@angelo88: looks like your motherboard (msi 785 gt) supports only ddr2 and am3 cpus. if you upgrade to bulldozer(am3+) or intel sandy bridge you'll need a new cpu and a new motherboard anyway.
so keep the 970 now, use the 5770 with it. the 5770 should be capable enough to play latest games with lowered settings until you have to upgrade.
within 6-7 months new ivy bridge cpus, amd's new trinity apus, possibly a revised fx, amd radeon hd 7xxx, nvidia's 6xx cards should be out. the new cpus and their motherboards will support pcie 3.0. most the new gfx cards will be pcie 3.0.
when upgrade time comes, you can sell/recycle stuff from your current build and get a whole new system. with ivb and trinity out sandy bridge prices might get lower so you will be able buy those too( but without a pcie 3.0 capable z68 motherboard you might have to settle for pcie 2 card - which is not a bad thing imho).
the money you save now might come in handy later.

 

[gnomio]

Get the 955be/965 and the 6970 the price difference between the 6970 and the 6950 is very small but the performance eclipse that amount. So the 6970 is better bang for buck.

A cpu will not give you better performance especially in dx 11 In fact the cards don't even need the cpu anymore to fetch data out of the ram. They got a DMa enabled DC chip on them.