Better CPU or another GPU

[Feverila]

Hi. in couple weeks i will upgrade my pc and i still have some questions to ask:d

specs:

i3 3220

r9 270x 2gb

8gb ram

 

I can go two ways about it.

get a I7 4790k/z97-a motherboard

or 

get a i5 4690k/z97-a motherboard and another r9 270x (crossfire) - and yes i know it works great and upgrade my power supply to a 750..

can you show me some psu's cheap and good?

or maybe a cheaper motherboard and not and overclockable procesor? help me:D

 

which one should i do... is enough i54690k for gaming?.. i play on 1980 1080... i'd love to play gta 5 and other games.

[techguru]

option 2

i5 and board and 270x

could also get a 4460...h97 and a better gpu..like a 280x or something

sell the old parts to get a some extra cash

[Feverila]

option 2

i5 and board and 270x

could also get a 4460...h97 and a better gpu..like a 280x or something

sell the old parts to get a some extra cash

2x 270 are better...i.ve been searching

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Hi. in couple weeks i will upgrade my pc and i still have some questions to ask:d

specs:

i3 3220

r9 270x 2gb

8gb ram

 

I can go two ways about it.

get a I7 4790k/z97-a motherboard

or 

get a i5 4690k/z97-a motherboard and another r9 270x (crossfire) - and yes i know it works great and upgrade my power supply to a 750..

can you show me some psu's cheap and good?

or maybe a cheaper motherboard and not and overclockable procesor? help me:D

 

which one should i do... is enough i54690k for gaming?.. i play on 1980 1080... i'd love to play gta 5 and other games.

 

As long as you are using it for gaming the i5-4690k and the 2x graphics card sounds pretty sweet.

[Feverila]

As long as you are using it for gaming the i5-4690k and the 2x graphics card sounds pretty sweet.

How about video editing/streaming... 4690k is not good enough?

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Hi. in couple weeks i will upgrade my pc and i still have some questions to ask:d

specs:

i3 3220

r9 270x 2gb

8gb ram

 

I can go two ways about it.

get a I7 4790k/z97-a motherboard

or 

get a i5 4690k/z97-a motherboard and another r9 270x (crossfire) - and yes i know it works great and upgrade my power supply to a 750..

can you show me some psu's cheap and good?

or maybe a cheaper motherboard and not and overclockable procesor? help me:D

 

which one should i do... is enough i54690k for gaming?.. i play on 1980 1080... i'd love to play gta 5 and other games.

 

I think the i5-4440 should be powerful enough for you

 

here is a guy that has xfire 270x doing some benchmarks comparing the i5-4440 and the i7-4770k (close to a 4790k).

 

 

which means you could do something like this...

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JsWFMp

 

Switch out the motherboard and PSU as you see fit of course.

[techguru]

2x 270 are better...i.ve been searching

yea...the 280x was only an example

a 970 would be a CF 270 tho

[vSyNd1c4t3]

How about video editing/streaming... 4690k is not good enough?

oh man, hmmm... Do some research?

 

Most people that do streaming and video editing get the Multithread Technology, because it's really good for those applications.

 

I will just say no, to be on the safe side, but if you can do it with the i5-4440 I wouldnt expect the best quality stream, you can probably push 720p 30fps, but you may get bottleneck from cpu in gaming/streaming. idk...

 

I'll take a look around.

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Here is another hidden/secret option.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7ZPZD3

 

It's an Intel Xeon e3 123x v3 3.3GHz quadcore w/Multithread Technology. so 4 cores 8 threads

 

1. you wont be able to overclock it

 

2. I believe the max memory speed it can run is 1600hz

 

3. It doesnt have integrated graphics (so you have to use a graphics card)

 

4. might need to update your Bios before the chip works. (need confirmation on this, I could be wrong here.)

 

when compared with the 4770k or 4790k it's about $100 less.

[Anarchyz11]

2x 270 are better...i.ve been searching

 

If what you're playing has a decent crossfire profile.  Your risk, but I'd recommend an i5 (or Xeon), sell the 270x, and buy a better single card. 

[Feverila]

If what you're playing has a decent crossfire profile.  Your risk, but I'd recommend an i5 (or Xeon), sell the 270x, and buy a better single card. 

i cannot sell it with more then 80$ in my country:) so i will go for crossfire

[Anarchyz11]

i cannot sell it with more then 80$ in my country:) so i will go for crossfire

 

Then as a fair warning, a lot of AAA games take months to get decent crossfire performance.  You'll probably be fine, but it's not unreasonable given GTA4's optimization to say that you may be forced to run GTA5 on a single card for a while. 

 

$80 for a 270x resale is pretty standard for the U.S. as well, so my suggestion still stands all the same.

[JetPowerss]

The Intel i5 4690K will be fine for gaming as games require more GPU power. A single GPU is much better than a multi GPU configuration as some games aren't designed to use multi GPUs. I'd recommend saving for a GTX 960 or R9 280X (or similar) as they will play 1080p at 60FPS on high to max settings. With DirectX 12 round the corner, your CPU will get better. I currently use a AMD Athlon X4 750K with a GTX 960 and can max most games at 1080p@60FPS. An i7 would only be good if you were getting someone like a GTX 980 ( or higher) or an AMD R9 290X ( or higher), or if you were going to be doing heavy work loads like rendering where those 8 threads would be helpful.

[Feverila]

Then as a fair warning, a lot of AAA games take months to get decent crossfire performance.  You'll probably be fine, but it's not unreasonable given GTA4's optimization to say that you may be forced to run GTA5 on a single card for a while. 

 

$80 for a 270x resale is pretty standard for the U.S. as well, so my suggestion still stands all the same.

i dont mind the problems

[CalumGiff]

Hi. in couple weeks i will upgrade my pc and i still have some questions to ask:d

specs:

i3 3220

r9 270x 2gb

8gb ram

 

I can go two ways about it.

get a I7 4790k/z97-a motherboard

or 

get a i5 4690k/z97-a motherboard and another r9 270x (crossfire) - and yes i know it works great and upgrade my power supply to a 750..

can you show me some psu's cheap and good?

or maybe a cheaper motherboard and not and overclockable procesor? help me:D

 

which one should i do... is enough i54690k for gaming?.. i play on 1980 1080... i'd love to play gta 5 and other games.

Deff option 2 especially if ur a gamer

[vembutech]

I will choose second option.

[191x7]

Why not an i5 or i7 on the MBO you allready have?

And then a 1440p monitor?

[SteveGrabowski]

I wouldn't buy another 270x. I'd go i5+Z97. What do R9 290s go for in your country and what do 270x's sell for? Because if you can sell your 270x for $80 and the difference in price is only $100-$120 or so like it is in the US, I'd much rather get the R9 290 and have more VRAM and not have to deal with waiting for Crossfire profiles.

[SteveGrabowski]

Why not an i5 or i7 on the MBO you allready have?

And then a 1440p monitor?

 

True. Since the op isn't dead set on overclocking, an i5-3570 or a Xeon E3-1230v2 (make sure it's v2) on the current board would be huge upgrades. Then with the money saved on the board plus the $80 he could sell his 270x for plus the cost of a new 270x he might be able to afford a GTX 970.

[Feverila]

True. Since the op isn't dead set on overclocking, an i5-3570 or a Xeon E3-1230v2 (make sure it's v2) on the current board would be huge upgrades. Then with the money saved on the board plus the $80 he could sell his 270x for plus the cost of a new 270x he might be able to afford a GTX 970.

I'm not planning on upgrading my PC this year after that... so i thought after everyone told me.

i'l buy a 4690k/z97-a - - save some money for not buying i74790k and sell the 270x... should be enough to get the gtx 970... would that be enough for gaming in general? or should i wait and and get a better cpu?

will 500W be enough for this? some sites say yes... some no...

[Faceman]

I'm not planning on upgrading my PC this year after that... so i thought after everyone told me.

i'l buy a 4690k/z97-a - - save some money for not buying i74790k and sell the 270x... should be enough to get the gtx 970... would that be enough for gaming in general? or should i wait and and get a better cpu?

will 500W be enough for this? some sites say yes... some no...

Buy a better CPU that works with your current mobo. Those CPUs are still plenty strong, and going from 3rd Gen to 4th Gen Intel is not that much of an improvement. Sell the GPU, buy a GTX970. It's low power consumption paired with a non-overclocked CPU will be fine on 500W as long as it's Bronze certified.

[Feverila]

Buy a better CPU that works with your current mobo. Those CPUs are still plenty strong, and going from 3rd Gen to 4th Gen Intel is not that much of an improvement. Sell the GPU, buy a GTX970. It's low power consumption paired with a non-overclocked CPU will be fine on 500W as long as it's Bronze certified.

I rather spend a good amount on my CPU so it dosen't bottleneck... i dont want to have to change it in 4 months or so... that's why i want the 4690k... i might be able to use it for 1 year 2 with overclock... you know if i5 3rd gen can keep up with the new game that will come?

[Faceman]

I rather spend a good amount on my CPU so it dosen't bottleneck... i dont want to have to change it in 4 months or so... that's why i want the 4690k... i might be able to use it for 1 year 2 with overclock... you know if i5 3rd gen can keep up with the new game that will come?

A 3rd gen i5 is only 8-10% slower than a 4th gen 5.  The only difference is being able to overclock.  What motherboard do you currently have? If you have a Z series mobo, no reason to invest into 4th gen.  Heck, even a stock 3rd Gen i5 is plenty strong and will last you a long time.  You could even buy a 3rd gen i7 and get a lot of years out of it.  You won't be able to overclock, but strong single core performance and 8 threads will keep it relevant for years to come.

 

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Even this supposedly very good multi-threaded game, Call of Duty:Advanced Warefare runs better on an i3 than an FX9

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Really pitiful when modern games are playing so much better on an i3 than an FX9.

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You have to OC an FX8 to 5Ghz just to match an i5-4440 at stock in BF4 multiplayer with an R9 290X.

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Even Mantle doesn't bridge the gap.  Too bad they don't show the minimums in this above graph.

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This one above is Witcher 2

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Above are some benchmarks.  3rd Gen is i5-3570k or i7-3770k.  You can probably do a base clock OC for an additional 100-300Mhz, which will further boost performance.  If at all possible, I think an i7-3770 or i7-3770k, even if used, will be the best low-cost long-term option that will last you for 5+ years and won't bottleneck high end GPUs.

 

All that said, if you have to money, and are willing to spend it, by all means, go for Z97 and an i7-4790k.  It will last you a long time, 5+ years.

[SteveGrabowski]

I rather spend a good amount on my CPU so it dosen't bottleneck... i dont want to have to change it in 4 months or so... that's why i want the 4690k... i might be able to use it for 1 year 2 with overclock... you know if i5 3rd gen can keep up with the new game that will come?

 

Click the link in my sig to get an idea of how a 3.3 GHz Sandy Bridge i5-2500k stacks up. An overclocked CPU will perform a lot better in ridiculously CPU bound games like the Total War series and Arma III. And then Crysis 1 from 2008 runs one thread to 100%, one to 50%, and the rest at 0%, so my 4.4 GHz Pentium G3258 stomped my 3.6 GHz Xeon E3-1231v3 in that one game. Dying Light was insanely CPU bound at release, as you can see in the benchmark I referred to above, but within a couple of weeks they patched it to run much better than those benchmarks show. That one you still might be just under 60 FPS minimums with a locked Ivy Bridge i5/Xeon E3. Crysis 3 you won't stay at 60 FPS locked Very High in the Welcome to the Jungle level with an i5, it wants moar corez. But even then a single GTX 970 will have a tough time staying above 60 FPS unless you can get a really nice overclock on it.

 

With every other game I can think of though, overclocking should get you more frames per second, but we're talking 100 FPS instead of 90 FPS. So something you won't see without a 120Hz monitor. Since you seem to be looking towards future proofing, an i7-4790k might be your best bet without spending the big money X99 would require. Lots of games are using 8+ threads now, in fact, almost everything released in 2014 (source). But you'll still run across those games like Dying Light, Arma 3, and Total War that want monster single core performance, though Dying Light very rarely drops below 60 FPS on my 3.6 GHz locked Xeon E3-1231v3, and probably never would if I disabled HT in the BIOS. It's one of the few games of the last year that doesn't make use of the extra threads on an i7/Xeon E3.

 

I think any i5, i7, or Xeon E3, Ivy Bridge included, should be an awesome gaming CPU for the next couple of years bare minimum. After that, who knows? Intel's quadcores all the way back to the Core 2 Quad Q6600 from 2007 have had great shelf lives though for gaming.

[Feverila]

my motherboard is h61m-ds2 ..

 i bought it 2 years ago...