Upgrading i3-2120 to i5-2500 (non K) worth it for stress issues?

[k4ever]

I have it as part of a combo with a 7870 XT (tahiti). It doesnt give me problems on games that are over 3 years old, but I noticed that the cpu gets stressed too much. I maintain my computer clean and get rid of the dust periodically. My pc used to freeze many times before when playing certain cpu dependant games, but that was fixed when I unscrewed the heatsink, got rid of the dust, and reapplied thermal paste on the cpu. Temperatures have been maintaining stable, but I noticed the cpu load on both cores is almost always 100%.
Will an i5-2500 make the cpu not be under too much load, therefore reducing the stress it will have to go through and reduce the temperature as well?
Should I just buy a third party cooler master heatsink and use it instead of the stick one I got from my OEM pc? Should I buy both?
I have been checking many benchmakrs and discussions of recent games released, and it seems the i5-2500 will still perform well. Still, Im not sure if the 7870XT will bottleneck the system since it has only 2GB of VRAM. Most benchmarks these days only use radeons r9s and I have to find the equivalent for my tahiti card. The problem is that even though a 7870XT is similar to a 7950 with slightly lower clocks, the latter card carries 3GB of VRAM. Most games nowadays use that extra 1GB of VRAM for optimal performance, so Im not sure about this.
Maybe I should just keep this combo I have until I can get a new cpu and gpu at the same time?
I have an OEM HP pc and the motherboard I have doesnt let me use more recent cpus (only sandy bridge). I cant update the Bios either.

 

[Jordan Booth]

your gpu is definitely going to be the bottle neck here refer to this link http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/344953-28-will-2120-bottleneck-7870

as far as upgrading that is your up to your discretion an i5 2500 will definitely beat out the i3-2120 but your gpu cant keep up with either its like having an abundance of salt when you need sugar. However if the games are more cpu dependent than the upgrade would be worth it however for the price of the i5-2500 (unless youre getting a used one or getting a killer deal) is very expensive. Im not sure what games you play but i think it might be worth it to spend that money on a new gpu if its in your budget. like say the r9 280x but like i said im not sure what games you play so if your gpu is doing fine but cpu is struggling and you know that for a fact i would recommend an i5 3570 as it is the same price as the 2500 just newer and has higher base clock. http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-3570-Quad-Core-Processor-Cache/dp/B0083U94D8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1436038485&sr=8-3&keywords=i5+3770

 

[RaDiKaL_]

The i5 will be a nice upgrade for newer games that uses 2+ cores, its slightly higher clock will help too so go ahead with it.

As for the 7870XT... if it's truly a slightly slower 7950 there shouldn't be a bottleneck at all, since a R9 280 is a rebranded 7950, from there you could OC it to get close to the R9 280x performance, hence no sense to buy the same card rebranded.

However it all depends on how good the deal is, it'd be so much better to get the K version, that would allow the system to last much longer (in terms of being capable to handle newer games) OCing it.

 

[k4ever]

My motherboard only accepts sandy bridge cpus, so a 3570 is out of the question. If I get an i5-2500 is not going to be full price. Ill try to get one on ebay or craigslist for around $110.
The thing is that Im not looking for performance but for something I can do to make my system more stable, and not make it too hot.

 

[madmatt30]

The 2500 is still a good chip,the 7870xt is still a good card.

Of course a real 4 core is only going to push 60-70% usage as opposed to an i3 but if temps are OK then surely this is irrelevant??
The i5 is obviously a hotter chip whenbunder load anyway - temps will be pretty much the same.

The 7870 is a notoriously hot card ( meaning 90c+ under full load)

You will ALWAYS have temp issues in a bog standard HP case IMO.

 

[Jordan Booth]

My motherboard only accepts sandy bridge cpus, so a 3570 is out of the question. If I get an i5-2500 is not going to be full price. Ill try to get one on ebay or craigslist for around $110.
The thing is that Im not looking for performance but for something I can do to make my system more stable, and not make it too hot.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004FA8NNW/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1436039362&sr=8-1&keywords=i5+2500&condition=used\

amazon has used ones for around $130 that would definitely be the best way to go in my opinion.

 

[tsnor]

Going from an i3 to an i5 will not help temp issues. Many games loop at 100% rather than doing a fixed amount of processing. The i5 uses more electricity and generates more heat. Agree with the comment above that the video card is the source of heat, so would focus on case cooling, not cpu upgrades to reduce temp.

Going to the i5 should give a better gaming experience for most games (not all) and that video card is a good one. If it helps, moving from an i7-920 to an i5-4690K showed gaming improvements for me even with an HD7850 video card that is much weaker than your 7870 XT. 7870 XT is a really sweet card.

To get temp improvement add case fans!! you can insert them even in OEM cases, just look for mounting places. At the front blowing air in is a great place, so is a side mount if you can find a way to attach a fan. You can also add rear fans pulling out or a PCI bracket fan that pull air in or out of the case by using a pci slot. Increases airflow will make a huge difference. Odds are your 7870 XT dumps its hot air in the case using an open card design vs a blower that pushes air out of case thru the vents at the pcie slot. Adding cases fans will fix this at the cost of extra case fan noise (the total pc noise may be reduced as the cpu fan and video card fans get to spin lower thanks to cooler ambient temps from better case ventilation)

 

[D BIIJOU]

Regarding your heat issues, the i5 will not help in this regard as it is the same generation and has a higher TDP. As a solution I would recommend investing in a aftermarket CPU cooler such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, it's a really popular choice within air coolers. I have 212 installed in my case, cooling the i5-2500k overclocked to 4.5Ghz. My CPU never exceeds 60 degrees Celsius and if your exhaust case fans are to the top of your case, the heat from your CPU should be dissipated out of the case quickly.
Regarding performance, I previously used an i3-3220 and swapped it out for the i5-2500k and i haven't been bottlenecked since, performance is great... i was gonna go for atleast an i7 Sandy bridge, but i was able to get the i5 for £70!, so keep looking and maybe you'll find a better deal also.