Upgrading from Intel i5 750 for gaming

[letired]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently running an Intel i5 750 @ stock speeds.

I've got 4GB Ram, and a 1 GB Radeon 4870, which I will be replacing with a 3GB Radeon HD 7970.

I'm thinking I might just retire this current system and hand it over to my girlfriend mostly intact, but am I going to see a noted improvement over the i5 750 in gaming/general performance?

I play the following games @ 1920x1080

WoW
Guild Wars 2
Skyrim
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Team Fortress 2


Thanks for your help!

 

[Durvelle27]

yes you will see a good improvement especially in skyrim ?

 

[letired]

yes you will see a good improvement especially in skyrim ?

I've been out of the game for quite a while, any suggestions on where the sweet spot is in price/performance these days?

 

[RussianSensation]

i5-3570K + OC will improve performance in all of those games. Pretty much every single one of those games is going to improve from higher CPU speed. At the same time i5 750 + HD7970 will still be playable in those games. But if you want more frames, i5 3570K + OC, OR you could buy a $20 heatsink and OCed that i5 750 to 3.5-3.8ghz, then wait until Haswell (April 2013) and give this setup to your gf. Next generation Intel architecture and new socket 1150 is just 6-7 months away. Something for you to think about before dropping $.

Also, HD7970 is a huge overkill for those games. Why not HD7870 for $230-240?

I say get the 7970, grab a $30 heatsink and OC that i5 750 and hold out for another 6 months for Haswell (unless your gf needs a new PC --> then i5 3570K or i5 3470 if you don't intend to OC later, but i highly recommend the K option since that's 4.3-4.5ghz overclocking potential).

 

[birthdaymonkey]

I'd also recommend overclocking that i5 750. Mine very easily hit 4 GHz with a Hyper 212+ and has been stable at that speed for at least a year.

The i5 750 was one of the most ridiculously underclocked chips ever, considering how easy it is to get a 40 - 50% OC. At 3.8 or 4 GHz, the 750 will be as fast as or faster than a stock Sandy or Ivy.

 

[biostud]

Overclock it. You can easily hit 3.6-3.8 without any problems. (see sig)

 

[boxleitnerb]

Overclock it. You can easily hit 3.6-3.8 without any problems. (see sig)

This. Everything else is money down the toilet. If you want to upgrade, you should wait until you get more perf/$.

 

[letired]

i5-3570K + OC will improve performance in all of those games. Pretty much every single one of those games is going to improve from higher CPU speed. At the same time i5 750 + HD7970 will still be playable in those games. But if you want more frames, i5 3570K + OC, OR you could buy a $20 heatsink and OCed that i5 750 to 3.5-3.8ghz, then wait until Haswell (April 2013) and give this setup to your gf. Next generation Intel architecture and new socket 1150 is just 6-7 months away. Something for you to think about before dropping $.

Also, HD7970 is a huge overkill for those games. Why not HD7870 for $230-240?

I say get the 7970, grab a $30 heatsink and OC that i5 750 and hold out for another 6 months for Haswell (unless your gf needs a new PC --> then i5 3570K or i5 3470 if you don't intend to OC later, but i highly recommend the K option since that's 4.3-4.5ghz overclocking potential).

Thanks so much for the help guys. I think I will OC this PC and get it stable, then hand it off to my ladyfriend. She hasn't had a new PC since 2004, and hers is finally dying. Video card is starting to fry...

 

[B-Riz]

O/C the chip if you have no plans to buy anything in 2013.

Get an SSD if you do not have one.

Get more RAM. Like 16GB total RAM and a 64 bit OS if you do not have one.

 

[letired]

O/C the chip if you have no plans to buy anything in 2013.

Get an SSD if you do not have one.

Get more RAM. Like 16GB total RAM and a 64 bit OS if you do not have one.

Running 64bit Windows 7 right now. More RAM seems good.

 

[letired]

Also, HD7970 is a huge overkill for those games. Why not HD7870 for $230-240?

The reason I grabbed that video card is it was on Slickdeals for $350, seemed like a super solid deal.

 

[Phynaz]

Thanks so much for the help guys. I think I will OC this PC and get it stable, then hand it off to my ladyfriend. She hasn't had a new PC since 2004, and hers is finally dying. Video card is starting to fry...

I'd advise against overclocking a PC you will be giving somebody. Too much risk of system instability.

 

[RussianSensation]

Well he can overclock the PC himself to use it for the next 6 months, then when Haswell launches, he can do a full blown motherboard+CPU upgrade and give the i5 750 to his lady friend and bring it back down to stock clocks.

Also, if an overclock is properly tested with LinX, Prime95, OCCT, then it will be rock solid. If you are overclocking it yourself, you would go through some form of stress testing anyway. So there is no need to assume that an OCed system in your own hands suddenly becomes unstable in someone else's hands. If the OC is tested with various programs and stress-testing software, it's generally stable elsewhere too. Chances are his lady friend won't be stressing the CPU 99% as Prime95, LinX and OCCT would.

 

[B-Riz]

There should be no issues upping the base clock to 166 from 133.

Same as the i7 920.

 

[Kristijonas]

I've read a little bit of this thread and I think everyone's crazy. Just use your i5 750 for now, because it can play ALL games at min 60fps (with only maybe 1 or 2 exceptions that don't really matter) so just wait one more year and then buy yourself a new Intel Haswell processor. In none of the games you play will you see any significant improvement if any at all. Overclocking it is not a bad idea though (particularly because this cpu is not very new), though I wouldn't overdo it. Trying to squeeze the last mhz won't change anything.

 

[Denithor]

If video card in gf's computer is fritzing just replace with your old 4870 (assuming PSU is up to the task).

OC your i5 750 to ~4GHz.

Enjoy your games like never before on that shiny new 7970.

And think about Haswell in 6-8 months, if your gf needs more cpu power then or you just have the itch.

 

[boxleitnerb]

Running 64bit Windows 7 right now. More RAM seems good.

4GB is sufficient, 8 is excellent. 16GB is overkill and a waste of money.

 

[letired]

If video card in gf's computer is fritzing just replace with your old 4870 (assuming PSU is up to the task).

OC your i5 750 to ~4GHz.

Enjoy your games like never before on that shiny new 7970.

And think about Haswell in 6-8 months, if your gf needs more cpu power then or you just have the itch.

Unfortunately, her system hasn't been upgraded since 2003, so her mobo and stuff are all dying, as well as completely incompatible with a newer PCI-E card.

I pulled the trigger on the whole shebang (mobo/CPU/ram/SSD/new PSU), and I'll hand over the guts to this current system to her. It may not have been the best time to upgrade, but she can't wait another 6 months, and there's always a "new" something to wait for...

 

[aaksheytalwar]

4GB is sufficient, 8 is excellent. 16GB is overkill and a waste of money.

4gb is not sufficient. Period.

 

[VirtualLarry]

4gb is not sufficient. Period.

Not sufficient for what? 3D solid modeling or 64-track audio sequencing?

For basic web browsing, and even most gaming, 4GB of RAM is quite sufficient.

Price-wise, an 8GB kit offers better bang for buck, but that doesn't mean that 8GB is required.

 

[Isura]

4gb is still plenty. You can get win 7 base ram usage down to about750 mb by removing unnecessary services and startup programs. Otoh ram is dirt cheap and 8gb is great for multitasking. Loading cached apps from ram is till orders magnitude faster than ssd

 

[RaistlinZ]

I also second overclocking your i5-750 to go along with your 7970. You'll basically have what I have now and I can tell you that it's quite fast - and I game at 2560x1600. All of your games should fly at 1920x1080.

 

[Jodiuh]

4GB is fine...ROFL. FIREFOX is using 4GB. RAM is cheap...no reason NOT to go with 16.

 

[SPBHM]

4gb is not sufficient. Period.

4GB is enough for 90% of the current games...
it's only not enough if you like doing something else while gaming, or if you happen to play one the few games that really need more than 4GB...
from the games I play, I can only notice a difference in one going from 4 to 8 (that's even with single vs dual channel!)

the games he mentioned should work fine with 4GB, but could benefit from a nice overclock.

edit: thanks Jodiuh old topic.

 

[Jodiuh]

But relevant since I'm on an i5 760 and trying to get a feel for how much better games like BF3 would be if I upgraded to Haswell. I have a 780 on the way and don't want to bottleneck it.

The 4GB is enough comment was laughable though, so I went that route first. As if I'm going to shutdown Firefox for a game...Hah!