So if you have seen my other thread on working out a computer build you know that I am planning on buying a new computer very soon. I'm buying it in anticipation of Battlefield 3 mostly, but more then that I am just feeling the need for an upgrade. My computer is about 4 to 5 years old now.

Here is what I'm running now.

Intel Quad Core 2.4 Ghz, 2 gigs of Ram and an Nvidea GTX 260.

The computer I was thinking of buying would run an

Intel Core i7 - 2600k Sandy Bridge 3.4 GH
2x 4GB Corsair Vengeance 240 PIN DDR3 1600
ENGTX570 Nvidea

I've been told though that I am spending a lot of money for not a huge performance increase. Here is what has been suggested to me

Intel i5 2500K 3.3
Nvidea GTX 460
and then if I drop the SSD I was thinking of getting to just a normal HD it would save me about $500 bucks.

So my question is, should I be bothering to upgrade in the first place? And what kind of a difference am going to see between the two upgrade choices? $500 worth?

Thanks

 

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The i5-2500K is pretty nice and the i7-2600K adds hyper threading and a little more speed and cache. For gaming alone, I wouldn't really say the 2600K is worth the extra $100 price tag. So I say the i5-2500K is the better bang for the buck for gaming.

The GTX 460 was a nice card. And it's still capable. But if you want a good card for BF3, I'd recommend the GTX 570 easily.

If these are prebuilt systems, then I'd pick the i7-2600K with the GTX 570 over the i5-2500K with the GTX 460, because the 460 is just a little to low end these days. Though I'm saying this being blind to the prices of these systems as well.

Q6600 LGA775 socket system probably not worth upgrading at this point. Time to replace it.

I don't know about the rest, but the 460 will seem perfectly fine but once BF3 and later games drop, you're going to be seeing a big difference compared to the 570. So go with the 570. I'm mulling upgrading to that from a 460 myself.

 

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It' been my experience to build it where you wont regret it later. 460 is a great card but is already a single 460 would struggle with some of the games already out there, much less a year from now.

2500 vs 2600, like RAVY said the real diff is HT, but you will only see a notable diff between the two chips when it comes to multitasking.

It really depends on what you want from your system, and how long before the next upgrade. I would go with the 570 as well. I would go for the 2600k because it will perform as well in games as the 2500, but give you the little boost when you do play a game, web surf, and watch a movie at the same time.

 

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These are not pre built system so I can pick and choose my parts. I'm not building it myself, but my local computer shop will put whatever I want into them.

I kind of figured the video card was a bit too much of a drop. I might drop the processor down to save $100, but even at that it might not be worth it in the big picture.

Thanks for the advice guys that really helped out.

 

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Get an AMD Phenom II X4 system and you'll pay even less, and will still be able to play all modern games with settings maxed out.
And for the graphic card... get yourself an ATI HD6870 or better to go with it.

 

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Phenom II X4 processors are really only for the extremely budget limited gamer since Sandy Bridge. I hear more problems from people with ATI cards vs Nvidia cards also.

Just my 2 cents.

 

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