Have a c2d 8400@ 3.9 and need an upgrade

[Melhisedek]

Hello there folks, my CPU is starting to show its age. I can't really enjoy BF3 even at low settings among others and I have waited for Ivy for the upgrade but it looks like I waited for nothing :)

Now I wonder what real life performance I would see from going 3770k @ 4.2 (always have bad luck in o/c) I mean gaming only? GPU is 560ti for now.

Also should I be looking into 3570 perhaps? Like I said I only do gaming on this rig.
Also I feel like going 2500k would be best bang for the buck but than I would be kicking myself for not doing it sooner :)

Any ideas or advices folks?
Thank you for your time!

[QuadDamage]

Massive difference to put it simply. Go for the 3770K and pair it with an Z77 mbo from Asus. Be warned though - it runs very hot, the 3770K i mean.

[mondena]

Since your primary use is gaming, i would not go with a 3770/2600/2700, you just don't need HT. So, if i was you, i'd grab the 3570/2500/2550. If you don't expect a massive overclock, than you are certainly better off with Ivy Bridge as you get a little more power per clock speed.

[Melhisedek]

So HT doesn't help with games?

[mondena]

No, HT does not help with games.

[Flare]

Another vote for i5 3570k! Why waste 100 bucks for HT when you can invest that 100 bucks into video card instead and get a HD 7950 instead of that GTX 560Ti

[QuadDamage]

No, HT does not help with games.

Nonsense. HT is well worth extra money plus the 3770K has larger cache : 6MB vs 8MB.

[Melhisedek]

Any reviews showing difference with HT off and on?

[jblaze2]

Everything I have seen shows that HT on is actually worse for quad core CPU's. I was digging deep yesterday and from what I read from several different googled reviews is that HT on or off makes almost no difference but quite a few games min fps actually went down with HT on. They also say that the CPU runs 10C cooler with it off, allowing for more frequency and ultimately more FPS.

I turned mine off for shits and gigs and I can't say I notice a difference either way. Although a strange issue I was having in modern warfare 3 where if nades went off I would get a stutter.... yeah that went away when I disabled HT...

[QuadDamage]

rofl, maybe you should go back to single core CPU's. Imagine how cool it will be. Like i said HT is worth it, maybe it doesn't always help in console ports but it does boost everything else and by quite a bit not to mention the 3770K has larger cache.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages...review,12.html

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/ar...2009-4-p1.html