Time to upgrade my i7-870?

[bjoeg]

Would like suggestion from some better knowing people (rather than myself), whether it is time for an upgrade for me, or should I wait some more years.

 

Right now I am running with following:

i7-870 (stock speed 2,93Ghz)

P55A-UD7 motherboard

8GB Corsair Vengeance (1600Mhz)

GTX770 2GB

 

Why I ask if I need an upgrade, is due to BF4. I really dont feel like I am reaching the FPS range I see in benchmarks.

Playing the game on Ultra setting at 1920x1080 and I hit 30-50fps. Playing with custom settings where most is set to high AF&AA off, I tend to have 40-60fps.

 

For everything else I do on the computer, the current system is satisfactory.

 

So if we say I had the money (which I have) would I feel any difference if I invested in a 4770K setup? Or would I be better off waiting for 5th or even 6th generation of i7?

[flexwave]

If you can cope with that fps for a bit more wait for broadwell I think, otherwise go for it, why i7 and not i5 out of interest? 

[Saladin]

Wait until broadwell and then pick up a cheap haswell cpu/mobo.

[Akolyte]

An upgrade is not about whether you are not getting the best for your buck or the highest fps.  Getting an upgrade should be because you want to upgrade or you are uncomfortable.  However from my true gutts I'm saying, wait it out a little bit until AMD and Intel release their new Processors and you see what gain you will get,  However I wouldn't say you should upgrade though.  The clock speed isn't bad (the turbo one) its got 4 cores which bf4 handles nicely and its got 8 threads, Only upgrade if you know you will get a significant boost, because right now your frames are alright, they are still better than a console either way.

[N00B_person]

Wait until you find something thats really worth your bacon. In the meanwhile, If you do more than just game, how bout some moar rams?

[bjoeg]

If you can cope with that fps for a bit more wait for broadwell I think, otherwise go for it, why i7 and not i5 out of interest? 

 

Simply because my emotions say it get a little more oomph from i7 rather than i5.

[flexwave]

Simply because my emotions say it get a little more oomph from i7 rather than i5.

what do your emotions tell you about the £100 difference for that little oomph?

[paulsterio]

Overclock your 870 for some extra oomph, a good air cooler will last you for multiple upgrade cycles and will easily get that up to 4.0 GHz and beyond.

[bjoeg]

what do your emotions tell you about the £100 difference for that little oomph?

TBH and not to sound demeaning in any way, I could afford the extra £100 for HT.

[flexwave]

TBH and not to sound demeaning in any way, I could afford the extra £100 for HT.

that's fine but do you need HT, games don't use it

[SkilledRebuilds]

Would like suggestion whether it is time for an upgrade for me, or should I wait some more years.

Hello, Welcome to the Forums, There are a few things you could do, without spending a lot of moneys to up the minfps your getting.

Invest in Better cooling if not already and Overclock.

 

But first a trick a LOT of people have used to reduce BF4 stutters and performance variability on a whole range of hardware.

 

Disable core parking (BF4 is close to the only thing that benefits from non-parked cores,for now at least)

http://bitsum.com/about_cpu_core_parking.php

Core Parking is a sleep state (C6) supported by most newer x86 processors, and newer editions of Windows. Core Parking dynamically disables unused logical cores, turning them back on as the load on the CPU(s) increases.(While BF4 is intensive, it may not be intensive enough to UNpark the parked cores) This technology is very similar to frequency scaling, in that it seeks to throttle the CPU's power consumption when idle.

Unfortunately, Window's default power profiles are far too aggressive when it comes to parking, especially on workstations. A large number of complex parameters control when a core is parked, so it is not hard to imagine these being less than ideal in many situations. And, Yes, core parking is enabled by default even in the High Performance power profile.

 

 

Your CPU unparked does not create any extra heat/lag/problems or void anything, its a power saving feature that is always on, that you disable.

 

Invest in a good CPU cooler and add a few hundred mhz on top, maybe even more than that (3.4ghz VS your 2.93ghz will bring your MINFPS up)

If your sitting around 3.2-3.6ghz and under 70*c with your new cooler your good to go. (70*c is my preference, not the actual MAX it can go)

 

HT is a gimmick for those who DO NOT Render or Create 1080p or higher content.

It comes into play, but investing in more real cores is ideal for the usage case.

An i5 will sit so close to an i7 of equivalent speed in gaming you'd be hard to notice the difference.

Time will tell about multithreading in gaming but for now... I'd Overclock or add some free performance, and IF that still has you feeling like you need more for your gaming, then maybe consider upgrading.