Worth upgrading from G860?

[kipland007]

Hey all,

I've been looking at my current setup and wondering if it is worth upgrading my CPU. From my understanding it is the most likely component to bottleneck the system, but I'm not sure how much more I can expect.

Current setup:
G860 Sandy Bridge 3.0 GHz
Crucial Ballistix 8GB
ASRock B75M-ITX
Samsung 840 EVO 256GB
Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Sapphire Radeon HD7750 1GB LP
Rosewill 300W PSU

At this point, the CPU seems like the only thing I can really upgrade since my power supply isn't strong enough for a different video card and my case is low profile. So, the questions I have are:

- Would an i3/i5 give me a noticeable performance upgrade, particularly if I'm playing a relatively high-end game at 1920x1080 (this is the only area where I really notice that performance struggles)?
- Would power consumption be any different/would I have to worry about my power supply?
- Are Sandy Bridge chipsets going to be cheapest now (due to Haswell) or should I wait?

Below is a list of supported processors for my motherboard if that helps:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B75M-ITX/?cat=CPU

Thanks

 

[CaedenV]

A CPU upgrade would do nicely for you. Any i3/i5 2000 (Sandy Bridge) or 3000 (Ivy Bridge) series CPU will work nicely without any need for a firmware update. Being a B75 chipset you cannot overclock the system (which is fine) so stay away from any of the K processors (like the i7 2600K, or i5 2500K), but other than that you can take full advantage of just about anything. I would highly suggest a simple quad core i5 processor if you can afford it; something like an i5 3470 can be picked up at Microcenter for $170 which is a respectable CPU for most games. Looking at used parts you may even find something cheaper.

You will eventually want to upgrade your PSU and GPU, but that can wait for a good sale. Plus next gen GPUs coming out this year should show less power usage, and start introducing GDDR6 which should have some nice advantages over today's chips, so it is probably good to wait at this point anyways.

 

[kipland007]

A CPU upgrade would do nicely for you. Any i3/i5 2000 (Sandy Bridge) or 3000 (Ivy Bridge) series CPU will work nicely without any need for a firmware update. Being a B75 chipset you cannot overclock the system (which is fine) so stay away from any of the K processors (like the i7 2600K, or i5 2500K), but other than that you can take full advantage of just about anything. I would highly suggest a simple quad core i5 processor if you can afford it; something like an i5 3470 can be picked up at Microcenter for $170 which is a respectable CPU for most games. Looking at used parts you may even find something cheaper.

You will eventually want to upgrade your PSU and GPU, but that can wait for a good sale. Plus next gen GPUs coming out this year should show less power usage, and start introducing GDDR6 which should have some nice advantages over today's chips, so it is probably good to wait at this point anyways.

Thanks. This is actually my secondary machine (I know, I have a problem) so I'm kind of looking to get it running at a good level for the next few years, then probably just replace most of it with a combination of new and old components from my main computer, if that makes sense. I checked out Newegg's i5 section and both the i5-3570 and i5-3350P look promising... any thoughts between the two of those?

 

[CaedenV]

If memory serves correctly the P chip is one without an onboard GPU which may be a good catch if it is any cheaper. Outside of that there would be minimal performance difference between them

 

[beyondlogic]

Hey all,

I've been looking at my current setup and wondering if it is worth upgrading my CPU. From my understanding it is the most likely component to bottleneck the system, but I'm not sure how much more I can expect.

Current setup:
G860 Sandy Bridge 3.0 GHz
Crucial Ballistix 8GB
ASRock B75M-ITX
Samsung 840 EVO 256GB
Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Sapphire Radeon HD7750 1GB LP
Rosewill 300W PSU

At this point, the CPU seems like the only thing I can really upgrade since my power supply isn't strong enough for a different video card and my case is low profile. So, the questions I have are:

- Would an i3/i5 give me a noticeable performance upgrade, particularly if I'm playing a relatively high-end game at 1920x1080 (this is the only area where I really notice that performance struggles)?
- Would power consumption be any different/would I have to worry about my power supply?
- Are Sandy Bridge chipsets going to be cheapest now (due to Haswell) or should I wait?

Below is a list of supported processors for my motherboard if that helps:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B75M-ITX/?cat=CPU

Thanks

i5 3350p would be better suited i would suggest upgrading the psu if possible to least 400w as thats the recomended requirement of a 7750
you would get better performance in quad related games like bf4

if you can get a better case so you can support better cards there are plenty of mini itx cases that support better cards

id recomend

HAF Stacker 915F
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119292

with a 7790 or 7850

 

[jb6684]

Run a few gaming & graphics benchmarks. Then compare your FPS / results with published reviews. That gap is the MOST improvement you can hope for by changing CPU only.....

+1 on getting a new case, power supply, and more powerful GPU card as the way to REALLY crank up your FPS.....