Need assistance on choosing a CPU

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OHL

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 21, 2001
Messages
336
I have not been actively following the current CPU news and benchmarks so I thought I would come hear and ask for advice. I am currently using a very outdated machine which is made up of a Q9550 with a ATI HD7850, 8-Gig of memory which plays most games without to much of a problem.

My question is currently what is the best processor as far as the bang for the bunk goes? Is it possible to get a decent motherboard and CPU for about $400.00? Or should I just go with the same setup?

Thanks
OHL
 
It all depends on what your needs are. What do you use your computer for?
 
i5 4670k/4690k, a sub-$150 Z97 motherboard, and existing RAM (if it's DDR3) should last you quite a while. If you have DDR2 (and are inclined to wait), I would wait for Skylake with DDR4 to come out.
 
Best bang for buck I think is a G3258, but that wouldn't be much of an upgrade for you. As it's only dualcore.

I'd go I5-4690K And you'd still have more than enough for a decent board.
 
The primary enthusiast CPU to buy is the Intel i5-4690k. If you want high end performance without sacrificing value, this is the best chip. It is $225 at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KPRWB9G/?tag=pcpapi-20

As for motherboards, anything Z87 should be fine. You can find them under $100. A higher end motherboard might have a couple more features or better overclocking headroom.

As for Z87 vs Z97, Z97 comes with a couple small upgrades that most people won't care about.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/What-is-new-in-Z97-and-H97-561/

If you don't want to think, just get this motherboard:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D12OBEA/?tag=pcpapi-20


tl;dr
Intel i5-4690k
MSI Z87-G41
 
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Which games are you playing now and/or looking forward to playing. You said it plays most everything well, in which case - why upgrade?
 
Personally, I'd go with a GPU upgrade now (and I'd probably wait for GTX 980 just around the corner then try to score a $400 deal on a new or lightly-used 780ti or 290x) then upgrade my CPU+MoBo when Broadwell or Skylake releases.

However, if you want a new CPU+MoBo now, then i5-4690K and a decent Z97 board.
 
First off thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Here is a list of the games that play on occasion and can currently play all of them on high or ultra settings.. Before anyone asks no I did not purchase all of these games. I belong to a game CO-OP where a group of about 15 of trade games back and forth which allow us to play most of the current game. I personally like MMORPG games the most so I do buy them. Being 63 years old and retired it gives something to do in the winter time.

I forgot to mention that just traded for a matching 7950 and the motherboard will need to be crossfire compatible so I know that will narrow the list down. Plus I have always had great results with Asus boards.

gamelist.jpg
 
If you're happy with the settings you're playing at, don't upgrade. DDR3 is approaching EOL, and if you don't already have DDR3, it's a bad investment at the moment.
 
Well heck, since you have a second 7950, that opens up a few more avenues.

1. Get a XFire Z97 MoBo and i5 to run both GPU's.

2. Sell both GPU's (around $130-150 each) and buy a single current gen flagship.

3. Sell you GPU's, CPU, and MoBo then upgrade everything.

I'd probably go the route of #1 or #2 then upgrade when Broadwell or Skylake hits shelves. #3 might be pushing over the budget, even with an extra $400 added to the money from selling everything.
 
I want to thank everyone that offered a suggestion, this is why I come to [H}ardocp when I have a question to be answered. When I get everything sorted out I will let you know what I went with.
 
You look like a gamer with very long upgrade cycles, and that tends to upgrade VGAs more often than CPUs.
this is very close to the optimum strategy money wise, which is why i advice you to consider going with a DDR4 based build:

-going DDR3 now would let you with one more piece of hardware to buy on the next upgrade cycle.

-choosing a DDR4 based system would grant you a very long upgrade cycle CPU wise.

-The big gaming quality gain is not coming from faster CPUs, but from higher resolutions monitors. Consider your budget to include a 1440p or 4k monitor as soon as possible. As you said, for now your system games just fine.
 
DejaWiz said:
Personally, I'd go with a GPU upgrade now (and I'd probably wait for GTX 980 just around the corner then try to score a $400 deal on a new or lightly-used 780ti or 290x) then upgrade my CPU+MoBo when Broadwell or Skylake releases.

However, if you want a new CPU+MoBo now, then i5-4690K and a decent Z97 board.
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From my own experience with a C2Q the CPU was a far bigger bottleneck than the graphics card. I upgraded from a Q6600 running at 3.2 to an i5-2500k and picked up 20-25fps in most games, if not more, on an HD5850.

The 7850 is a bit faster than the 5850 already, and the 5850 was cpu limited. I think the best bet would probably be picking up the i5-4690k - a GTX980 would probably be fairly dissappointing with your current cpu.\

Do you have a 7850, or a 7950? There is conflicting info in your posts.

Crossfiring the 7850's with a new i5 and motherboard would give you performance comparable to a 7970/r9-280x/gtx 770 in games that support Crossfire.

If you have 7950's, your crossfire performance would be at or greater than 780ti/980/r9-290x level anyway, and it would make no sense whatsoever to buy a new video card at this point.

Early adopter tax is no fun- people buying a new intel platform using ddr4 are going to be dealing with expensive memory, potential new chipset/cpu errata and bios problems, etc. With how small a performance increase the last 3 generations of cpu's have been over each other, going with a Devils Canyon Haswell and proven/tested motherboards should last you a long while.
 
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Briguyatx said:
1. From my own experience with a C2Q the CPU was a far bigger bottleneck than the graphics card. I upgraded from a Q6600 running at 3.2 to an i5-2500k and picked up 20-25fps in most games, if not more, on an HD5850.

2. Crossfiring the 7850's with a new i5 and motherboard would give you performance comparable to a 7970/r9-280x/gtx 770 in games that support Crossfire.

If you have 7950's, your crossfire performance would be at or greater than 780ti/980/r9-290x level anyway, and it would make no sense whatsoever to buy a new video card at this point.

3. Early adopter tax is no fun- people buying a new intel platform using ddr4 are going to be dealing with expensive memory, potential new chipset/cpu errata and bios problems, etc. With how small a performance increase the last 3 generations of cpu's have been over each other, going with a Devils Canyon Haswell and proven/tested motherboards should last you a long while.
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1. Did you see my follow-up post? My #1 suggestions was getting an XFire Z97 MoBo and an i5.

2. The concern becomes games that will scale well with multiple GPU's. A single faster card is almost always better than two slower cards so scaling issues never have to be encountered. But, this comes at a hefty price...

3. I agree that it makes no sense to upgrade to a DDR4 supported platform right now because of the inflated costs of the motherboards, processors, and especially the newly-released memory. It makes sense to either stick with a DDR3 supported platform or wait a year or two until DDR4 platforms mature and pricing for memory comes down.
 
My advice is jump on someone upgrading to a new LGA2011-3 system. If they are willing to sell you a complete setup for under $600-700 shipped you`re ahead of the game.

i5 is great for gaming but, you seem going Xfire which would better suited by a LGA2011 system. Plus the additional cores allow you to upgrade vertically rather then horizontally.
 
samm said:
My advice is jump on someone upgrading to a new LGA2011-3 system. If they are willing to sell you a complete setup for under $600-700 shipped you`re ahead of the game.

i5 is great for gaming but, you seem going Xfire which would better suited by a LGA2011 system. Plus the additional cores allow you to upgrade vertically rather then horizontally.
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The IPC increase going from a Q9550 to an i5-4690K is going to be significant, and that's not even factoring in the higher operating frequency of the newer generation processor. This would not be a "lateral" upgrade, but instead quite a big leap. Besides, there isn't a whole lot on his game list that will benefit from 6 (or more) cores vs 4. On top of that, most games are GPU bound, so anything more than a 4 physical core processor is typically a huge waste.

OHL's best route to take is getting a new Z97 MoBo that supports XFire and an i5.
Next would be go get an SSD to help with boot and load times (if he hasn't already).
After that, then replace the two 7950's with a single faster GPU, but that can likely be put off for quite some time since 3GB 7950's in XFire should be sufficient for single-monitor gaming for quite some time.
 
The games you listed you play look to me like they'd be just fine with a dual core.

Buy the combo kit from micro center for $100 and 8GB DDR3 from the for sale section here and you're done for around $150.
 
mope54 said:
The games you listed you play look to me like they'd be just fine with a dual core.

Buy the combo kit from micro center for $100 and 8GB DDR3 from the for sale section here and you're done for around $150.
Click to expand...

I just did this upgrade over a 9450, let me tell you the upgrade is significant. I have mine oc'd to 4.5 even though it was stable at 4.8.

The best thing about this upgrade is later down the road you can stretch is legs by dropping an i5 or i7 in off the used market and nothing else.
 
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