Should I upgrade to Haswell or stay on Ivy Bridge?

[Constipated Crow]

Hi there,

 

Here's my current build, before I go on with my question:

 

-XFX FX-777A-ZNF4 Radeon HD 7000 Series; AMD; Radeon HD 7770; 1000 MHz; CrossFire; 2048 x 1536 pixels; 2560 x 1600 pixels (FX-777A-ZNF4)

-Intel Core i3-3220 3300GHz 3MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Desktop CPU

-Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 8GB (1x4GB) DDR3 1333 Mhz CL9 Performance Desktop Memory Module

-MSI LGA1155 u-ATX Motherboard (Intel H61, 2x DDR3, GBE, LAN)

-500 WATT ATX POWER SUPPLY QUIET 20-24 PIN with SATA

-LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x SATA Half Height Internal DVDRW Drive

-Seagate Barracuda 3.5 inch 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB 6GB/S Internal SATA Drive

-Fractal Design Core 1000 Series Micro ATX Case

 

Firstly, I'm going to be upgrading my PSU very soon (within a few weeks), so there's no need to point that out. I will also be upgrading my GPU to a Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming at Christmas, but before that, I want to upgrade my CPU, so that it doesn't bottleneck the GTX 970. I have had lots of recommendations on staying on Ivy bridge and upgrade to the best possible 3rd generation Intel processor. Others have recommended that I should upgrade to Haswell, since there are many improvements over Ivy bridge, and that it would be cheaper. However, if I want to upgrade to Haswell, I will also have to upgrade my motherboard, which would cost even more, and I would also have to reinstall windows.

 

Others have advised me to wait for skylake and upgrade to that, but I don't know what to do. I'm also thinking about waiting for Skylake, and then upgrading to Haswell, as the release of Skylake would drop the prices of Haswell CPUs. So, what would you advise me to do in this situation? Thanks in advance to anyone who replies to help me.

 

Cheers!

[Goussy]

8GB of ram?

[Aytex]

whats your budget

[Thermal]

If you can find an Ivy bridge CPU you might as well keep your mobo and just side-grade, cheaper and the IPC improvements aren't worth the expense!

[Zayzo]

The difference between haswell and skylake will be the same old 10% improvement. Go for the cheapest upgrade path tbh.

[othertomperson]

Haswell Broadwell Skylake... as far as gaming performance goes there going to be no difference. Don't bother waiting, get which ever i5 is available when you're ready to buy.

[Senzelian]

I would definitly wait for Skylake just to see what happens to the prices.

Maybe some Ivy Bridge CPUs also drop in price.
Maybe a Haswell chips makes more sense then.
Or maybe you can even upgrade directly to Skylake.

But that totally depends on what happens with the release. - For now, just wait.

[NoMooreMercy]

Wait and see what prices are like, or see if you can get yourself a nice used i5-3570/3570k or i7-3770k/3770

[Godlygamer23]

Moved to CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory.

[othertomperson]

I would definitly wait for Skylake just to see what happens to the prices.

Maybe some Ivy Bridge CPUs also drop in price.

 

Tends not to happen tbh. Maybe you might see a sudden influx of used Ivy Bridge hitting ebay in varying states of use and misuse, but other than that I don't consider it much of an option, personally.

[Constipated Crow]

8GB of ram?

No, 4gb. Sorry, the Amazon link for the 4gb one doesn't have a URL, but when you follow that link, you can just click '(1 x 4gb)'. I only have 4gb at the moment, although I'm thinking about upgrading that to 8 soon. What are your thoughts on my CPU question?

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

whats your budget

Ah, I should have said that already. I don't want to spend any more than £200 here in the UK. Under that price would be ideal.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

If you can find an Ivy bridge CPU you might as well keep your mobo and just side-grade, cheaper and the IPC improvements aren't worth the expense!

How about the i5 3570? Would that bottleneck the GTX 970? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 ish doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

The difference between haswell and skylake will be the same old 10% improvement. Go for the cheapest upgrade path tbh.

So I should stay on Ivy bridge? How would you say the i5 3570 is? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

[Thermal]

How about the i5 3570? Would that bottleneck the GTX 970? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 ish doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

 

The 3570 is still a solid CPU, it'd be a good upgrade for you 

[Godlygamer23]

How about the i5 3570? Would that bottleneck the GTX 970? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 ish doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

In games that are CPU heavy and utilize eight threads, you would see a performance boost by going with the 3770 vs 3570. That being said, the extra money spent wouldn't be worth it.

[Constipated Crow]

Haswell Broadwell Skylake... as far as gaming performance goes there going to be no difference. Don't bother waiting, get which ever i5 is available when you're ready to buy.

So I should stay on Ivy bridge? How would you say the i5 3570 is? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

Wait and see what prices are like, or see if you can get yourself a nice used i5-3570/3570k or i7-3770k/3770

I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 doesn't seem like a smart option for me. Also, I can't get the 'K' version because my motherboard doesn't allow CPU overclocking.

 

Cheers!

[Constipated Crow]

The 3570 is still a solid CPU, it'd be a good upgrade for you 

So would it definitely not bottleneck the GTX 970? Not even a single 1%?

 

Cheers!

[Thermal]

So would it definitely not bottleneck the GTX 970? Not even a single 1%?

 

Cheers!

 

Not at all, don't worry!

[Constipated Crow]

In games that are CPU heavy and utilize eight threads, you would see a performance boost by going with the 3770 vs 3570. That being said, the extra money spent wouldn't be worth it.

Is the 3570 not a quad core anyway? I thought it was a quad core with 4 extra hyperthread cores. However, are you saying that the 3570 would bottleneck the GTX 970?

[Constipated Crow]

Not at all, don't worry!

 

 

In games that are CPU heavy and utilize eight threads, you would see a performance boost by going with the 3770 vs 3570. That being said, the extra money spent wouldn't be worth it.

Okay @Thermal , but as you see, @Godlygamer23 said that I would be better off gaming-wise going for the 3770. Does that mean that the 3570 would bottleneck the GTX 970, and that the 3770 wouldn't?

 

Cheers to both of you!

[Thermal]

Okay @Thermal , but as you see, @Godlygamer23 said that I would be better off gaming-wise going for the 3770. Does that mean that the 3570 would bottleneck the GTX 970, and that the 3770 wouldn't?

 

Cheers to both of you!

 

The 3570 is an i5 and the 3770 is an i7, if you can find a cheap i7 3770 then get that, neither will bottle neck your 970.

 

Also they are both quad cores, the 3770 has hyper threading.

[Godlygamer23]

Is the 3570 not a quad core anyway? I thought it was a quad core with 4 extra hyperthread cores. However, are you saying that the 3570 would bottleneck the GTX 970?

The 3570 is a quad core without hyper-threading and the 3770 is a quad core with hyper-threading. I'm not saying it would bottleneck the 970 - the answer is more complicated than that. It is a game-per-game basis. In CPU heavy titles where the CPU will be likely pinned to 100%, increasing CPU performance will yield a few more frames.

[othertomperson]

 

So I should stay on Ivy bridge? How would you say the i5 3570 is? Keep in mind that my MOBO doesn't allow overclocking of CPUs, and I'm going to be overclocking my GPU, so I don't want any bottlenecks. The reason why I'm asking about the i5 3570, rather than the i7 3770, is because I read in many websites that the i7 version does not offer any improvements for gaming, and that it's only good for video editing and rendering, and livestreaming (none of which I do much of). So the extra £70 doesn't seem like a smart option for me.

 

Cheers!

 

 

If you can come across that CPU in particularly trustworthy condition for cheaper than the cost of, say, an i5 4440 and an MSI H81-E34 (chosen for no other reason than it's cheapness) then sure thing. The gains made since Ivy Bridge are basically unimportant and not worth spending money on.