Want to upgrade my CPU. which one to get?

[topeira]

hi everyone.

I had my Q6600 2.4ghz for 5 years now. it's time for the upgrade.

my needs are both intensive photoshop work, Flash work and a lot of gaming, since im a heavy gamer.

so the question is - which CPU should i upgrade to if i want to run the games that are likely to come out to PC from the next-gen cycle?
i dont know if i should go for an i7 or an i5? and which model? cuz i read that certain i7 processors are not as fit for gaming as certain i5 processors....

i am not a performence whore who is trying to run games on 2000X1200 pixels or whatever. im almost never going over 1920X1080 and i dont mind 60fps. no need to aspire to 120fps. i just want a CPU that can hold for as many years as my previous CPU.

also, since i will need to replace my mobo, i'd like to hear what mobo i should get. i wish to keep my GPU (which is HD6870 1gb vram) and my DDR3 memory stick and my HDD and my PSU (550W), if possible. will such components and PSU fit?

thanks for any recommendations or help, guys.

 

[nickbits]

I just picked up a 4770K and GA-Z87X-UDH3 to replace my Q9300 (which is about the same as the Q6600).

 

[Bacstar]

I went with the ASUS Maximus VI Hero and 4770K. A much cheaper stripped down version of the Maximus VI Extreme.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Are you overclocking? If not, a Xeon E3-1230 V3 will get you hyperthreading for cheaper than an i7, and you can put it in an inexpensive board.

 

[NTMBK]

The Xeon E3-1230V3 is a good shout. The "V3" on the end is important though, make sure you look out for it- V1 was Sandy Bridge, V2 was Ivy Bridge, and V3 is Haswell.

(Actually more sensible than the naming on the consumer side, but let's not get into that...)

The only downside is that its iGPU is disabled, so you'll need to buy a discrete GPU. (And the iGPU won't be available for OpenCL acceleration, or QuickSync.)

 

[lehtv]

OC -> 4670K or 4770K with a standard z87 board
no OC -> Xeon E3-1230 V3 with at least a B85 board

If your current DDR3 is 1.65V it cannot be reused on LGA1150 unless you downvolt it to 1.5V at expense of speed and latency

The only downside is that its iGPU is disabled, so you'll need to buy a discrete GPU.

He has a 6870

 

[BallaTheFeared]

If your current DDR3 is 1.65V it cannot be reused on LGA1150 unless you downvolt it to 1.5V at expense of speed and latency

Why not, I've run mine as high as 1.86v?

 

[Nirvanaosc]

I think that an AMD processor will be more than enough for him and they have better performance / price. I would recommend an FX-8150. I have a friend that has one and plays at 1080p and is more than happy. Furthermore, with that graphic card you could even stay with a lower processor because the GPU will always be the bottleneck.

Not sure about what motherboard tho, but one similar to the Gigabyte Z87X-D3H will be more than enough(the equivalent for the FX-8150 of course)

 

[Geforce man]

I think that an AMD processor will be more than enough for him and they have better performance / price. I would recommend an FX-8150. I have a friend that has one and plays at 1080p and is more than happy. Furthermore, with that graphic card you could even stay with a lower processor because the GPU will always be the bottleneck.

Not sure about what motherboard tho, but one similar to the Gigabyte Z87X-D3H will be more than enough(the equivalent for the FX-8150 of course)

You are recommending a terrible processor that isn't even up to date why? Do not get a 8150. An i5 4670k or 4770k if over clocking, or the Xeon if not is the soundest advice in this thread

 

[Enigmoid]

I think that an AMD processor will be more than enough for him and they have better performance / price. I would recommend an FX-8150. I have a friend that has one and plays at 1080p and is more than happy. Furthermore, with that graphic card you could even stay with a lower processor because the GPU will always be the bottleneck.

Not sure about what motherboard tho, but one similar to the Gigabyte Z87X-D3H will be more than enough(the equivalent for the FX-8150 of course)

The 8150 is the ugly duckling CPU of the last few years. And no, it doesn't turn into a swan.

There is no reason to recommend the 8150 with the 8350 near or at the same price.

OP, i5 and i7 will perform pretty much the same with the i7 inching ahead in games that use more than 4 threads. For photoshop work the i7 will be a solid 10-25% faster than the i5 depending on what you are doing with it.

 

[Dave3000]

An i7-4771 is a good choice if you don't plan on overclocking. It's a better choice that the i7-4770k if you are not going to overclock because of TSX instructions which my be beneficial in the future in multi-threaded programs. I7 is a tiny bit faster than i5 in gaming, of the same series. With future games coming out like Watch Dogs and BF4, I think it's a good idea to go with i7 if you can afford it.

 

[Maximilian]

The 8150 is the ugly duckling CPU of the last few years. And no, it doesn't turn into a swan.

There is no reason to recommend the 8150 with the 8350 near or at the same price.

OP, i5 and i7 will perform pretty much the same with the i7 inching ahead in games that use more than 4 threads. For photoshop work the i7 will be a solid 10-25% faster than the i5 depending on what you are doing with it.

But but but microsoft will patch the scheduler to make it work better and future games will use moar cores! etc etc *fanboy ramblings*

 

[Leyawiin]

FX-8320 and a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P. $250 for both. You could shave $45 off that total by going with a Biostar TA970. I own it and its a solid board if you're not going off the deep end with overclocking (the Gigabyte has 8+2 power phase, the Biostar 4+1).

 

[Headfoot]

4770k with Z87

 

[DominionSeraph]

An i7-4771 is a good choice if you don't plan on overclocking. It's a better choice that the i7-4770k if you are not going to overclock because of TSX instructions which my be beneficial in the future in multi-threaded programs.

Xeons have that for less. E3-1230 V3 is $245 at Superbiiz inc shipping and only gives up 200MHz to the $320 i7-4771. E3-1240 V3 is $266 for 100MHz less.

 

[topeira]

thanks for all the advices, guys.

here are some follow up questions -

i dont think i will be OCing. i tried it before with my Q6600 and it didnt yield good results. probably cuz i dont put money into cooling and voltage. so i guess im not gonna OC....

i wish to have a future proof processor that will hold when games on next gen platforms start to really utilize all the cores, physical and virtual ones.

1) i can assume that hyperthreading will be important since the xbox1 and PS4 have a 8 core processor (i assume this is 4 cores and 4 vituals,or so i understand from this: CPU: low power x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores), so maybe hyperthreading capabilities ARE important for the future of PC ports? what to you think?
maybe since these console's clock speed is so low (i think it's less than 2ghz) than any CPU i get will be enough... though i would assume i'd need some speed headroom to compensate for some crappy optimization on the development side)

2) so is it the i7 4770 or i5 or the Xeon E3-1230 V3?
among the i7 and i5, if im not OCing, does the clock speed matter the most? will a 4ghz i5 outperforms a 3ghz i7, for example?

3) i dont know the xeon processors. are these some specific i7 types?
and since i couldnt find a e3-1230V3 in my country i could only find this:
http://adscomp.co.il/he/product_h.php?idn=21525&zap=1
and i dont know if it's considered a V3 or less.
what is the "v" thing? how much does it matter?

4) among the i7s i could find in my country i didnt find the 4771, only the 4770. i couldnt find one that is called 4770k. only 4770. does that matter?
is the K only important for OCing?

5) will overcloacking the 4770 slightly be possible even without fancy cooling?

6) how do i know what mobo fits what cpu? and how does the mobo matter? isnt it just a board that connects it all together and just needs the right sockets for everything?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

i wish to have a future proof processor that will hold when games on next gen platforms start to really utilize all the cores, physical and virtual ones.

1) i can assume that hyperthreading will be important since the xbox1 and PS4 have a 8 core processor (i assume this is 4 cores and 4 vituals,or so i understand from this: CPU: low power x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores), so maybe hyperthreading capabilities ARE important for the future of PC ports? what to you think?
maybe since these console's clock speed is so low (i think it's less than 2ghz) than any CPU i get will be enough... though i would assume i'd need some speed headroom to compensate for some crappy optimization on the development side)

Get the i7, then. Being in Israel won't help your case, but that seems to be the most reasonable path.

2) so is it the i7 4770 or i5 or the Xeon E3-1230 V3?
among the i7 and i5, if im not OCing, does the clock speed matter the most? will a 4ghz i5 outperforms a 3ghz i7, for example?

i5 won't have hyperthreading - it's a very capable quad-core, but that's pretty much what you already have. But hyper-threading is only available on i7 CPUs, not i5's. You want eight cores, you either get the AMD 8350, or go for i7. I doubt the server market is big enough to justify low prices for Xeons in Israel...

3) i dont know the xeon processors. are these some specific i7 types?
and since i couldnt find a e3-1230V3 in my country i could only find this:
http://adscomp.co.il/he/product_h.php?idn=21525&zap=1
and i dont know if it's considered a V3 or less.
what is the "v" thing? how much does it matter?

You already had the answer in post #5, read it again. The V3 uses Haswell technology: it uses less energy to do the same tasks, which means less heat.

4) among the i7s i could find in my country i didnt find the 4771, only the 4770. i couldnt find one that is called 4770k. only 4770. does that matter?
is the K only important for OCing?

Yes. "K" indicates "enthusiast-level" overclocking friendliness.

5) will overcloacking the 4770 slightly be possible even without fancy cooling?

Won't happen. Newer Intel "non-K" CPUs don't allow overclocking. The most gain you will see is 100 Hz. Not worth it risking your system over it.

6) how do i know what mobo fits what cpu? and how does the mobo matter? isnt it just a board that connects it all together and just needs the right sockets for everything?

This is a much more complicated subject, and frankly, considering your needs, I'd have thought you'd be familiar with it by now.

Do a bit of searching on the net and learn about chipsets. Wikipedia is a good place to start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_chipsets

Your CPU and motherboard absolutely must the same socket (which may be used over several compatible chipsets) - and if you want the computer to last a long time, you should probably choose one which will still be used for a while, like Intel LGA 1150 or its immediate predecessor 1155 (which will be cheaper), on the blue side, or the AM3+ (AMD 990FX), on the red side.

 

[lehtv]

Why not, I've run mine as high as 1.86v?

Just because you can run it at higher than 1.5V doesn't mean it's a good idea. The CPU on-die memory controller is designed for 1.5V - using higher voltage voids the warranty and can damage the memory controller.

 

[Yuriman]

@OP, there's no performance reason to go with an i5 over an i7. An i5 is basically an i7 with some cache and hyperthreading disabled. The only reason you would pick an i5 over an i7 is cost.

4770K vs 4770, the K model supports overclocking while the non-K model does not. If you get a K model, you need a motherboard with a Z87 chipset. If you get the non-K model, you can get a cheaper motherboard.

__________

I might have missed something, but you can't reuse RAM from your Q6600, as it uses DDR2 and won't fit in a Haswell motherboard.

 

[Nirvanaosc]

Seems that no one here reads anandtech reviews, what a shame being this the anandtech forums...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7189/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-september-2013/10

Recommending a processor that is 2-3 times more expensive that is not going to yield that much real world performance is fanboism.

I bought an i5 4670k to OC it and get that 10% more extra real world performance and I am aware that I'm paying a lot more money than if I'd go for the best performance price (OCable CPU, good cooler, good motherboard, good PSU, etc) but I wouldn't recommend anyone to do the same if they want something good for the price, because obviously this isn't. Plus also my situation is not the same as his situation.

He's going to stay with his HD6870 and play at 1080p, an i7 is throw away the money, even thinking in the future.

Seems that everyone here likes big e-penis, oh well..

 

[topeira]

the matter of motherboards is a much more complicated subject, and frankly, considering your needs, I'd have thought you'd be familiar with it by now.

Do a bit of searching on the net and learn about chipsets. Wikipedia is a good place to start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_chipsets

Your CPU and motherboard absolutely must the same socket (which may be used over several compatible chipsets) - and if you want the computer to last a long time, you should probably choose one which will still be used for a while, like Intel LGA 1150 or its immediate predecessor 1155 (which will be cheaper), on the blue side, or the AM3+ (AMD 990FX), on the red side.

i know that i need the same socket. i assumed any LGA1150 will fit any i5 or i7 processor. i actually didnt consider AMD CPUs since im not really familiar with them.
if im getting an i5 or i7 than can i just look for a LGA1150 or LGA1155 mobos and be done with it?! or do i need to look deeper into the details?

Recommending a processor that is 2-3 times more expensive that is not going to yield that much real world performance is fanboism.

I bought an i5 4670k to OC it and get that 10% more extra real world performance and I am aware that I'm paying a lot more money than if I'd go for the best performance price (OCable CPU, good cooler, good motherboard, good PSU, etc) but I wouldn't recommend anyone to do the same if they want something good for the price, because obviously this isn't. Plus also my situation is not the same as his situation.

He's going to stay with his HD6870 and play at 1080p, an i7 is throw away the money, even thinking in the future.

first - i am sticking with the HD6870 for now since it's not as sub par as my CPU. i will upgrade the GPU in a year or so when the prices of the proper GPUs go down a bit.

second - i didnt get what you said, even though i read the article u linked to (thanks, by the way (-: )
you got the i5 to OC it but you are recommending not to do that? i dont follow.
i dont think i am going to OC my CPU for two reasons -
1) im not a tech savvy and kinda afraid to take risks with my hardware.
2) i think it wont be necessary. if my CPU is much stronger than the next-gen consoles than the requirements of the game wont be that much higher than the console's CPU (which, as far as i understand, is 8 core [hyperthreading] 1.75ghz or so...) which is likely to mean i will have some headroom anyway.

correct me if im wrong....

and if im not that much into OCing than is the i7 4770 a better or worse idea than the i5 4670? (not the K series)

the difference in price between these two is 100$ it seems and i wouldnt mind paying the extra cash if you think that the i7, with its hyperthreading, will yield better results in future games that are based on the console's hyperthreading.....

 

[Nirvanaosc]

Hi again topeira,

I am not going to quote you because I'm writing this from my mobile phone and it is a bit annoying with such small screen.

First of all I'd like to say that next gen consoles don't have hyperthreading. Long story sort, hyperthreading is an Intel thing that makes one core able to execute two threads but they have the same hardware. As result, the 4 cores (or whatever it physically has) are used more and better if the tasks is designed to run heavily threaded because they can handle 8 threads.

AMD, in the other hand, don't have such thing. They have a completely different architecture. Their processors have 8 actual integer cores and 4 floating point cores (in the case lo the latest FX processors). They say they have 8 cores because they have 8 integer cores, but this is a marketing thing. This means that an AMD processor has twice integer cores as intel ones, but the overall performance for single threaded applications are worst than an Intel processor (at this moment at least).

That said, new generation consoles don't have hyperthreading, they are able to execute 8 threads because they have 8 integer cores.

In the future probably (because of this) games will be designed to run more threaded to take the most of those 8 integer cores. This will make Intel processors with hyperthreading perform better than the same intel processor without hyperthreading ($100 difference), but also run better in AMD processors. In fact the FX-8350 has similar performance in heavily threaded applications as the Intel i7-4770K because. An example of this is Battlefield 4 that is heavily threaded and performs the same in a FX-8350 as in the Intel i7-4770K.

I ran out of time so. I'll keep with this later if I consider this is not a waste of time.

 

[topeira]

thanks for elaborating, nirvana

so i guess you, like me, think that a i7 4770 is a more future proof CPU than the i54670 because of the hyperthreading issue?

anyone else agrees or disagrees?

 

[DominionSeraph]

Seems that no one here reads anandtech reviews, what a shame being this the anandtech forums...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7189/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-september-2013/10

Why would we bring up an article on only gaming when he says, 'intensive photoshop work'?

Seems that some here don't read the OP in the anandtech forums. What a shame being this is the anandtech forums.

 

[Nirvanaosc]

Why would we bring up an article on only gaming when he says, 'intensive photoshop work'?

Seems that some here don't read the OP in the anandtech forums. What a shame being this is the anandtech forums.

Well, he said he wants it for gaming too because "he's a heavy gamer", plus that article is not just focused on gaming, it has up to 12 non gaming tests that is pretty much all you need to know to have an idea of how good it'll be in photoshop and flash work.

Too bad that you don't read the whole article.

I pass.