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An upgrade to GTX970

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moomphas

Hi there. I'm thinking about upgrading my current rig:
Asrock P67 Pro3 (socket 1155)
i3 2120
GTX660Ti
8GB RAM
Chieftec 500W
The two parts I'd like to change are the CPU and GPU. GPU is an easy choice - GTX970. When it comes to CPU I can only choose between i5-3570 and i5-3570k. I haven't found any other reasonable CPUs for this old socket. Here come the questions: will i5-3570 bottleneck GTX970? Is it worth paying about 70 EUR* more to get i5-3570k? Isn't it a little bit risky that I won't be able to overclock it well enough? The "no-k" version has "boost" to 3.8Ghz anyway. Will that old power supply be enough? And above all - is it worth getting GTX970 while being limited to CPUs for socket 1155?

*25 EUR for "k" and 45EUR for a good cooler

9 years ago*

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18 Comments
Jasonwsc

I don't think the CPU will be bottlenecking the GPU. i5s are actually very capable of playing games.

Also, it is not worth it to get the K version, since they are usually only for overclocking and I doubt it's worth the extra cost.

9 years ago
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cowbell

The K version is always worth it. Though I don't see why it costs so much more for that CPU, but paying more for everything is a European thing. Getting another GHz on a quad is enough to last you four or so generations and CPU specs no longer matter. The GPU will always be the bottleneck. You might as well find a different seller.

9 years ago
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madjoki

Europe has very high taxes (20-25%) compared to US, where taxes are from 0%-10%

9 years ago
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cowbell

I would love to pay 10% in taxes. Alas.

9 years ago
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HillaryClinton

8.75 here in NYC, not that it matters since everything is outrageously priced...

9 years ago
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moomphas

are you saying it's pretty certain it will be overclockable to ~4,3Ghz?

9 years ago
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PPG113

Its always a toss up, but its very common to to get to 4ghz on the low end, with many getting to 4.5 with the right cooling solution.

9 years ago
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cowbell

All computers act different, but it is possible. My 2500k hits 4.2 without problems.

9 years ago
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Relysis

I run an i5 3570k and it's completely stable at 4.2 with stock voltage. If you're well-cooled and don't mind adding some power, it could easily go beyond that. Disclaimer about all builds being different of course.

9 years ago
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Alteria

You should be fine with the i5-3570.

9 years ago
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PPG113

Might as well do a wait for xmas and do a full upgrade and recoup some cost by selling your old parts. The new 5th gen intel processors are out or comming out very soon, DDR4 was released. Price of the 970 and 980 will also drop some, not much but some, by xmas with maybe Nvidia offering game coupons as well.

9 years ago
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moomphas

That's interesting, I didn't know about new CPUs.

9 years ago
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BahDerb

To counterpoint PPG, the new processors are likely to be expensive so if budget is important, its something to consider. When new processors are first released they tend to be over $300 US and with new tech like DDR4, that may drive the cost up even further. The one aspect of his suggestion is that when the new ones come out, the old ones should go down in price.

The i5-3570 should work well with the GTX970. Heck, Game-Debate rates the 3570 a 10. I dont know about the 3570k but go over to CPUBoss and do a comparison. It will probably tell you the differences. As for power supply, the minimum requirement for the 970 is 500W so you would be G2G on that.

It really depends on your budget and how patient you are. He has a good point about the holidays and Id imagine NVidia will have something along the lines of free game promotions with the GPU.

9 years ago
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PPG113

Intel tends to keep their processors at the same price. The 5th gen cpus are the same price point as the 4th gen was at release with the added bonus of lower power usage and better performance. On board video is also very much upgraded. I of course wont argue against picking up 3rd or 4th gen cpus or the lower gen gpus at a much reduced cost. DDR4 is extremely expensive though, almost double the cost of its DDR3 brother, which is a shame, but wont last forever, hopefully.

9 years ago
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moomphas

I'm afraid they might actually stop producing CPUs for my socket. So I doubt the price would drop. I think I will first wait a week because as of now only a couple of shops have GTX970.

9 years ago
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HillaryClinton

No, it will not bottleneck with that one bit, the way I see it is CPU's are way above GPU's at the moment, yes even the GTX970 which is really impressive for the price.

You will max everything with those for a nice amount of time if you are at 1080p and you should be good even with the Oculos(Above 1080p and needs like 70fps to look right) if you are waiting for that to release.

9 years ago
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VeniVidiVici

The $180 Core i5-4430 looks great, offering performance close to more expensive options that cost well over $200.
This is a sexy CPU man, even if you will to spend more to get a new gen CPU or even an i7 from previous gens, you are not getting a relevant performance improvement IN GAMES, if you need/want to stream, decode video, and gaming at the same time, yes you need a far more expensive CPU.
Check this thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

9 years ago
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moomphas

I understand that i5-4430 is cheaper, but it would require changing my motherboard so it doesn't make sense in my case

9 years ago
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