Core i5 3570K - Should I Upgrade?

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muzicman82

Weaksauce
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Mar 17, 2010
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Hi all,

I have a Core i5 3570K in a Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI motherboard. It's a couple years old, sure. Just out of curiosity I went looking around for CPUs and it seems the Ivy/Sandy bridge stock is largely gone. There's a bunch on eBay (and I know that's tricky), but I'm wondering if I should bother sticking a Core i7 in this sucker.

I build this small PC as a HTPC a couple years ago, and it was fantastic for that. I took over it and turned it into a Hackintosh for a brief time for a recording project where the musicians were using Logic Pro. I use Cubase so I could care less whether I'm on Windows or OS X. I'm done with that project, and generally prefer Windows.

Given I do a good amount of recording, video editing/rendering, CAD, and other CPU intensive work, will I benefit with a Core i7 noticeably?

I keep saying, one day, I'll build a dual Xeon system again...

BTW - I replaced my HTPC with an Intel NUC and absolutely love it. Soo fast and cute.
 
for any of those CAD, Video Editing/rendering.. etc.. any i7 will be a noticeable and considerable upgrade, in the range of 35-45% depending on the program and how much are you able to overclock, so it really worth, but as all in the world, it depend on the prices, as actually you can find amazing deals of i7 4790K+Z97 Mobo in a microcenter, reuse the ram, and everything else. so, what I would do?. sell your actual mobo+Processor and look for a deal for a newer i7 4790K which also will be a even bigger upgrade, it just depend on how much you want to spend and how much you can receive for your machine.
 
So tempting. I'm actually fairly happy with the motherboard despite limiting my ability to get a better processor.

I'm thinking if I can get a 3770 for $250 or under it may be worth it. This Gigabyte was well reviewed at the time for being feature packed, small form factor, and only around $130 I think.

My full size desktop hasn't been touched in years, and still has a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 8GB RAM, and a Geforce 570. I'd say its dated, but... it boots!? Did NOT enjoy the NVIDIA chipset in it though, despite my love for NVIDIA GPUs.
 
Later nVIDIA chipsets were fairly... problematic. Definitely sullies the reputation of nForce as a whole, coming off the legendary nForce 2 400 and 4 series, which were tip-top for their time.

That said, $250 isn't bad for an i7 3770, considering when I was shopping for an i7 2600 in February they were still fetching $230 on eBay. You may find a better deal here on the forums in FS/FT. I cannot recommend an i7 enough especially for use cases like yours where the software will reach into all eight threads. Also if you still game, a GeForce GTX 960 makes a great upgrade from the 5x0 series. Coming from a 560Ti it was a "holy shit" difference.

The legendary Q6600... Great CPU that is unfortunately nearing the end of its useful life.
 
I would love to game more and make a nice gaming rig... Just... no.. time.. I did see Guild Wars has a new expansion coming out.

The 2nd dilemma is what to do with the Core i5 3570... I wonder if it is an easy sell at this point given the price for the Core i7 3770.

I don't have discrete graphics on this Mini-ITX system. It may be too big and/or put off too much heat. I might try to take the 570 out of my Q6600 system if I retire it, but I'd have to change the block back because it is current on water with the Q6600 and chipset.

I gotta say, my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop with a Core i7 4500 is blazing fast.
 
If the recording, video editing/rendering, CAD, and other CPU intensive work is important to you and your success, I would go with a 5920K or better on the X99 platform. Sell any parts you aren't using here on [H] in FS/FT!
 
Watch the for sale forums on here. People sell 3770 and 3770k for pretty good prices from time to time. You could even get a 2600 or 2600k for a bit less and they would both be an upgrade for many of the multi-threaded applications you would be using it for. Then sell your chip and it won't cost you much out of pocket.
 
I did a upgrade from Micro Center for $354.98 (including $10.00 MB rebate) i7-4790K & a Gigabyte GA-Z97MX Gaming 5 (great MB BTW) It was worth it for me as I had an older system (AMD X4 970 Phenom CPU) Might be worth it if you don't upgrade (like me) all of the time.
 
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