looking to upgrade, help please.

[kingkung]

Hi, i am fairly new to the computer world and i need some advice on an upgrade on my currently system. My currently system is running:

AMD Athlon II X 3 450(stock speeds, with 4th core unlocked)
ATI Radeon HD6870 GPU
Seasonic x750 gold 750 w
Asus M4A79XTD-EVO Mobo
2x 2gb g. skill 1600 RAM
Coolmaster HAF-922 tower
Coolmaster hyper 212 plus cpu cooler w/ 2x 120mm fans.

I have been told that with my current set up i am bottle necking due to my cpu being too slow for my GPU. So i am looking into upgrading my cpu. My budget is to stay under $300 for a motherboard cpu bundle. I see that micro center is having a deal on the i5 3570 Ivy bridge for 189.99, but going with this deal i would need to buy a new motherboard since my current board is a socket AM3. Micro center also has a deal on an AMD Phenom II x 4 965 for $99. I am debating on witch processor would best for what i do on the computer. If i upgrade to the i5 3570, The only motherboard i can afford would be the Asrock Z77 PRO3, but if i go with the AMD Phenom II x 4 965 i can use my current motherboard or if i get a new one i will have $200 to put twards it. I was told that If i go with the i5 then my system would be bottle necking due to the i5 3570 being too fast for the GPU. I am mainly using this system for gaming, but the only game i play are diabo 3 and League of legends. I enjoy playing these games in max settings. I don't know which processor would be best for my situation and for what i use the computer for.

FYI: I don't plan on going to X-fire, I plan on staying with only 1 gpu. Although I may upgrade later in the year to a PCI-e 3.0 GPU.

Thank you for your feed back.

 

[fralexandr]

bottlenecking it at what?

there really shouldn't be a need to upgrade if you're only playing diablo 3 and LoL
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/diablo-iii-performance-benchmark,3195-6.html
diablo III is far more taxing, and runs well on a phenom II x4 clocked at 2.0GHz...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/diablo-iii-performance-benchmark,3195-5.html
the 6870 should max diablo III at 1080p, 60 fps

D3 beta runs at pretty much max settings on my 5770 at 1080p

i would think it'd be better to get an SSD if you don't already have one, hah

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if for some reason you still want to upgrade:
i'd first recommend trying to overclock your athlon II, you should be able to get it to ~3.7-3.9GHz without spending anything. (nice choice of CPU HSF and PSU, by the way )

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if you feel uncomfortable doing that, of the listed choices i'd go with the core i5 + asrock z77. This way you won't need to upgrade the CPU for a while (assuming no drastic/out of the ordinary changes in CPU requirements).
you don't need an expensive motherboard unless it has a specific feature you need, or are heavily overclocking it.

the phenom II x4 will be considerably slower than the i5 and would be an ok upgrade from the athlon II ($ wise) if you keep the AMD mobo (I would recommend going with a Phenom II x6 with plans to overclock if needed, esp since you can find them for <$150, currently Phenom II x6 2.7 @amazon for ~$135)
phenom II x4 965 vs i5 2500k (which is a tad slower than the i5 3570)

phenom II x4 965 vs athlon II x4 645 the athlon II x3 (+1) 450 should be similar to the athlon II x4 645 (3.2GHz 1.5MB L2 vs 3.1GHz 2MB L2)

athlon II x4 645 vs i5 2500k

 

[mfenn]

Your CPU is clearly the slowest part of your machine and that's what you would benefit the most from upgrading. Since you have $300 to spend and are close to an MC, then you should definitely jump on the i5 3570K and Z77 Pro3 deal. That should be right around $250-$300.

That being said, while your CPU is theoretically the bottleneck, I agree with fralexander that you should still be seeing good performance in the games you're interested in. What's driving the desire to upgrade?

 

[kingkung]

Just thought i would see a noticable improvement in gameplay, but it seems that the 3750 i5 and phenom ii 965 would run the game with no noticable difference. I think i might just go with the phenom ii and a 120gb ssd. I see that there is the a phenom ii 975, and 980. Is the only difference between thesr 3 processors the factory set speed?

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[itzbiff]

I would try to get my hands on a cheap 955BE or 965BE and overclock it to 4.0ghz. With that Hyper 212+ im sure you can reach 3.8ghz easy

 

[mfenn]

I don't think that I'd drop any more than $70 on a Phenom II. Above that and you'll get better gaming performance from an i3.