Significant upgrade on a budget?

[dqniel]

I got an ASRock Extreme6 and an Intel 3570k from Microcenter for $255.58 AFTER tax.

With that kind of a bundle price, I don't see why anybody would currently go for AMD if they're gaming or plan on gaming in the future... assuming they have access to a Microcenter, of course.

That said, if you don't plan on ever going beyond WoW in terms of gaming, upgrading what you have seems pointless anyway, beyond getting an SSD. An SSD is awesome performance upgrade for everybody. You'll notice the difference whether you're gaming, browsing the internet, or using demanding programs like photo or video editors.

 

[JimmyH]

Bottom line is no cpu out there can run constant 60fps in wow 25m raids. A quick glance at mmo champion builds shows a huge preference for oc'd i5s. If your running 25m raids w/ lotsa mods (eg recount, dbm), get an i5 and overclock the snot out of it. I run 10m raids and going from a i5 2400 ~ 3ghz to my i5 3570k @ 4.4ghz is noticeable difference. At 4.4ghz still drops well below 40fps in 10m raids at times. I'd avoid any i3 for raiding because it simply is clock locked WAY to low.

On the video side a 570 is good at 1080p but not sure about ultra settings. I came from 6870 (lil slower 570), that ran ultra no problem in Cataclysm. Mists had it pegged and I can now hear the fans. New 7950 is crushing 1080p and quietly. If u want 1080 ultra in 25m raids and large battlegrounds a 570 will be stressed at points. A 670 or 7950 should max 1080p ultra but your 570 w/ tweaked settings is best bet and easier not get caught standing in wrong place because ultra has so many effects going on in raid.

 

[entropism2]

JimmyH, I'm not looking for a constant 60FPS, but dipping down to 5 during Sha of Anger kills me. Anything over 25FPS (arbitrary number) at a low seems like it would be fine. Honestly, after running everything on low for years on my 8800GT, even running at "high" is fine. Ultra is gravy.

 

[Yuriman]

Bottom line is no cpu out there can run constant 60fps in wow 25m raids. A quick glance at mmo champion builds shows a huge preference for oc'd i5s. If your running 25m raids w/ lotsa mods (eg recount, dbm), get an i5 and overclock the snot out of it. I run 10m raids and going from a i5 2400 ~ 3ghz to my i5 3570k @ 4.4ghz is noticeable difference. At 4.4ghz still drops well below 40fps in 10m raids at times. I'd avoid any i3 for raiding because it simply is clock locked WAY to low.

On the video side a 570 is good at 1080p but not sure about ultra settings. I came from 6870 (lil slower 570), that ran ultra no problem in Cataclysm. Mists had it pegged and I can now hear the fans. New 7950 is crushing 1080p and quietly. If u want 1080 ultra in 25m raids and large battlegrounds a 570 will be stressed at points. A 670 or 7950 should max 1080p ultra but your 570 w/ tweaked settings is best bet and easier not get caught standing in wrong place because ultra has so many effects going on in raid.

There must be a huge difference between Pandaria and Cataclysm, I was able to max the game with consistent 60+ on an HD4870 and my Ivy Bridge, so long as I left AA off (VRAM limitations). The CPU bottleneck in this game is (was) huge.

 

[Hubb1e]

If he's hitting 5fps in raids an i3 won't be THAT much better than his Core 2 Duo at 3.3ghz. 50% more performance is only 8fps which isn't enough. You said you were getting some stuttering. I'd take a look at the network card first. Do you have any old network cards around? Or can you plug in via ethernet or wireless to change up the internet connection?

 

[dqniel]

If he's hitting 5fps in raids an i3 won't be THAT much better than his Core 2 Duo at 3.3ghz. 50% more performance is only 8fps which isn't enough. You said you were getting some stuttering. I'd take a look at the network card first. Do you have any old network cards around? Or can you plug in via ethernet or wireless to change up the internet connection?

The performance increase when his FPS dips that low probably isn't linear. If it was, that would mean a 4.4Ghz i5 is 800% faster than a C2D at 3.3Ghz (5fps min vs 40fps min.) I doubt that's true for most situations.

That said, I don't think the "upgrade" to a locked i3 is worth it in his situation, either. If I was going to go through the hassle of a new mobo, CPU, and RAM I'd take a bigger step up in the CPU department.

 

[Denithor]

Agreed, for a WoW player I'd even suggest an AMD quad over an i3 simply because that particular game definitely takes full advantage of the extra cores and it makes a HUGE difference in fps/smoothness.

 

[pyjujiop]

If you think the motherboard is going bad, don't throw good money after bad and try to upgrade that old rig. If the board was good, I'd say go for a Q6600 and overclock it, but sinking money into 775 when you're going to need a new motherboard makes no sense. Retire it, and sell the DDR2 and e7300 for what you can get out of them. You can use the cash from the sale to fund option C, and get the 3570K setup. That will last you just as long as your 775 rig obviously has.

I like AMD, and use a Piledriver system myself, but I don't think it makes any sense unless you get the best CPU they have available and overclock it. Even then, the FX-8350 only matches a 3570K in heavily threaded workloads. You could get by with a FX-6300 or even an FX-4300 for WOW, but the system wouldn't last as long, and I suspect that might be important to you.

 

[entropism2]

I think at this point I'm going to go with the 3570K, and use the extra cost rational as not having to upgrade sooner. I'll cut back in other areas to kind of offset that, such as 8gb of ram instead of 16. Now I just need to find a decently priced, reliable OCing motherboard from Microcenter.

By the way, I'm not sure if I said it before, but thanks for all the help & advice. Truly appreciated.

 

[entropism2]

You said you were getting some stuttering. I'd take a look at the network card first. Do you have any old network cards around? Or can you plug in via ethernet or wireless to change up the internet connection?

The stuttering isn't a network issue. It's not a network/connection stutter, but more like... And I'll try to explain this as best I can: The system will crawl for like half a second, randomly. The sound will distort into a digital/robotic mess, and then it will come back again like nothing happens. It's literally for fractions of a second each time, but it's annoying as all hell. At first I thought it was because my MB drivers have no Win8 version, but the Win7 drivers SHOULD be compatible. Even tried grabbing audio drivers right from realtek, but it didn't help.

 

[dqniel]

I think at this point I'm going to go with the 3570K, and use the extra cost rational as not having to upgrade sooner. I'll cut back in other areas to kind of offset that, such as 8gb of ram instead of 16. Now I just need to find a decently priced, reliable OCing motherboard from Microcenter.

By the way, I'm not sure if I said it before, but thanks for all the help & advice. Truly appreciated.

Like I said above (not sure if you saw it) they had the ASRock Extreme6 + 3570k bundle for $240 + tax last week. It's worth checking to see if that bundle is still going on, because getting that combo for $240 + tax is incredible.

 

[entropism2]

I actually tried jumping on that when it was going on, but it sold out in minutes. Pretty sure they were clearing out old stock.

 

[dqniel]

Ahh, that's too bad.

There was still a huge stack of them in stock at the one by me. I already had a 3570k but wanted to upgrade my motherboard... so it was a great excuse for me.

 

[tweakboy]

A: the problem I see here is length of use, you won't get that much more out of 775... it will improve WoW now, no WoW later.

B. Decent choice, except you can get an FX8150, with your choice of:
ASRock 990FX Extreme4
MSI 990XA-GD55
Biostar TA990FXE

At the same price... well, maybe $10 more ($290 - $310... so, $310 to $332 after tax? assuming 7%)

C: Best choice... *right now*... however:
1. By the time you can save up for that, Haswell might be here (?).
2. It's way more than you need, which is good... longer time before upgrade, but more than WoW needs. i3 would work. (and be about the same as your B.)

So... I would highly advise C. but you are probably better off which B.

Why you telling this guy to buy cheapish motherboards. From MSI to Biostar,,,, give me a break. And who you calling a As*hole lol !

Dude I had a Q6600 and played BO2 and I get 39fps avg. I slapped on a new CPU and now instead of 39fps its 43fps avg. I gained 4fps from going from a Q6600 @3.7Ghz to what I have now. Just grab a Q6600 for 80 bucks and you will thank me later. no need to waiste money on Ivy at this point. Ivy E is coming out 6 to 12 cores Q3 2013. thx gl

 

[entropism2]

Well, tax return came through so I'm going tomorrow to pick up my new rig. Anyone have any issues with the following?

I5 3570K
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (If I can get the $50 bundle discount on an open-box, I'll try for the UD5H which is $20 less than the new UD3H)
Samsung 840 240GB SSD

This is based off the Paterson NJ stock. The Yonkers NY location (about 30 minutes further) has the ASRock Extreme6, but it's listed at $160 on the site, plus tax is 1% higher and the tolls would be an extra $16. Not sure if it's worth it honestly.