Phenom II x4 955 vs i5 2500k big difference for gaming?

SO lately I have been thinking of upgrading my CPU to an i5 2500k but I am wondering if I will see a big difference in games. I know the intel CPUs are generally much better and in other CPU intensive tasks it would walk all over the 955. But is there much of a difference gaming wise? Currently running my 955 with an Asus GTX 670, but I don't want to splash lots of money on an i5 and a new mobo if the increase isn't going to be a lot better.

AMD have terrible drivers. Go Intel or you will end up suffering.

I don't think you'd see an appreciable enough difference for the cost to be honest. I'd wait until at least Haswell roles around before upgrading.General_X

That's what im afraid of. It's a lot of money for a small increase in FPS.

[QUOTE="General_X"]I don't think you'd see an appreciable enough difference for the cost to be honest. I'd wait until at least Haswell roles around before upgrading.seanmcloughlin

That's what im afraid of. It's a lot of money for a small increase in FPS.

AMD have terrible drivers. Go Intel or you will end up suffering.

jakes456

[QUOTE="jakes456"]

AMD have terrible drivers. Go Intel or you will end up suffering.

General_X

[QUOTE="General_X"][QUOTE="jakes456"]

AMD have terrible drivers. Go Intel or you will end up suffering.

MonsieurX

In most games, the answer is no. With cpu intensive games, though, the difference will probably be noticeable (but not huge).

In most games, the answer is no. With cpu intensive games, though, the difference will probably be noticeable (but not huge).

Lox_Cropek

Yeah I ordered a cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler and it should be here in a few days so I will see if I can OC a bit with that first and maybe hold off on a new CPU for a while.

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]

In most games, the answer is no. With cpu intensive games, though, the difference will probably be noticeable (but not huge).

seanmcloughlin

Yeah I ordered a cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler and it should be here in a few days so I will see if I can OC a bit with that first and maybe hold off on a new CPU for a while.

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]

In most games, the answer is no. With cpu intensive games, though, the difference will probably be noticeable (but not huge).

seanmcloughlin

Yeah I ordered a cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler and it should be here in a few days so I will see if I can OC a bit with that first and maybe hold off on a new CPU for a while.

Get the i5, there is no need to go AMD at this moment in time unless you are on a really tight budget. I have a 940 x4 which is very similar to the 955, mine is OC to 3.6Ghz and I get games like Dirt 3 which really kick my CPUs ass and bring down my framerates.V4LENT1NE

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]

In most games, the answer is no. With cpu intensive games, though, the difference will probably be noticeable (but not huge).

04dcarraher

Yeah I ordered a cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler and it should be here in a few days so I will see if I can OC a bit with that first and maybe hold off on a new CPU for a while.

Yeah just checked and it has a stepping version of 3 and a revision of RB-C3 so that sounds good then. And it seems overclocking is a far more cost effective strategy right now. I'm looking at like 300 euro for a new mobo and 2500k, but 36 euro for an aftermarket cooler :P

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"][QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

Yeah I ordered a cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler and it should be here in a few days so I will see if I can OC a bit with that first and maybe hold off on a new CPU for a while.

seanmcloughlin

Yeah just checked and it has a stepping version of 3 and a revision of RB-C3 so that sounds good then. And it seems overclocking is a far more cost effective strategy right now. I'm looking at like 300 euro for a new mobo and 2500k, but 36 euro for an aftermarket cooler :P

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"] You should download cpu-z and see what stepping "revision" is your 955. Because you can with the C3 version overclock the cpu to 3.6 ghz easily without having to touch the voltage. But with a little trial and error you can get it to 3.8 or better. Lox_Cropek

Yeah just checked and it has a stepping version of 3 and a revision of RB-C3 so that sounds good then. And it seems overclocking is a far more cost effective strategy right now. I'm looking at like 300 euro for a new mobo and 2500k, but 36 euro for an aftermarket cooler :P

True dat :P

in most games it is definitely a big jump in gaming. However, it doesn't really mean its necessary to have an i5 to game. Most of your games are fine with the 955 so no need to change it until it starts to really chug.

I'm using an fx6100, it's benchmarked a bit higher than the phenom. A friend of mine has a 2500 and we sit both systems side by side often and I've actually done better then him in some games when it comes to the FPS. Both using radeon 6850's. Like I said the 6100's benchmarks are a bit better than the 955, but I don't think you'll see a huge drop in fps compared to the 2500k... not for the money anyway

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

Yeah just checked and it has a stepping version of 3 and a revision of RB-C3 so that sounds good then. And it seems overclocking is a far more cost effective strategy right now. I'm looking at like 300 euro for a new mobo and 2500k, but 36 euro for an aftermarket cooler :P

seanmcloughlin

True dat :P

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]And you can also keep the cooler for your future processor

04dcarraher

True dat :P

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]And you can also keep the cooler for your future processor

04dcarraher

True dat :P

Well the cooler seems to be pretty flexible with socket types

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"][QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

True dat :P

seanmcloughlin

Well the cooler seems to be pretty flexible with socket types

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"] *If the cooler has a bracket for new socket types*Lox_Cropek

Well the cooler seems to be pretty flexible with socket types

Believe me I won't be getting Haswell :P they will be over my price range when they come out. It will be sandy bridge if anything

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

Well the cooler seems to be pretty flexible with socket types

seanmcloughlin

Believe me I won't be getting Haswell :P they will be over my price range when they come out. It will be sandy bridge if anything

IMO Sandy Bridge isn't a worthwhile upgrade for gaming when you already have a 3ghz+ Phenom II X4 or X6. You should be able to get that 955 up to 3.6- 4ghz, which will give you a decent boost. I'm waiting for Haswell or Piledriver. Well, really I'm waiting for some games that I play to really punish my 3.7ghz 955. So far it hasn't happened. I'm sure it will within the next couple of years.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]Intel's Haswell won't use the current socket (LGA1155). But I think Piledriver will still use AM3+, so the 212 will work with them.

hartsickdiscipl

Believe me I won't be getting Haswell :P they will be over my price range when they come out. It will be sandy bridge if anything

IMO Sandy Bridge isn't a worthwhile upgrade for gaming when you already have a 3ghz+ Phenom II X4 or X6. You should be able to get that 955 up to 3.6- 4ghz, which will give you a decent boost. I'm waiting for Haswell or Piledriver. Well, really I'm waiting for some games that I play to really punish my 3.7ghz 955. So far it hasn't happened. I'm sure it will within the next couple of years.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="Lox_Cropek"]Intel's Haswell won't use the current socket (LGA1155). But I think Piledriver will still use AM3+, so the 212 will work with them.

hartsickdiscipl

Believe me I won't be getting Haswell :P they will be over my price range when they come out. It will be sandy bridge if anything

IMO Sandy Bridge isn't a worthwhile upgrade for gaming when you already have a 3ghz+ Phenom II X4 or X6. You should be able to get that 955 up to 3.6- 4ghz, which will give you a decent boost. I'm waiting for Haswell or Piledriver. Well, really I'm waiting for some games that I play to really punish my 3.7ghz 955. So far it hasn't happened. I'm sure it will within the next couple of years.

Good point. I will wait and see how things pan out but for now Im going to overclock rather than replace.

Will I need dual fans on the Hyper 212? I know it will help but how good is it on one fan?

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

Believe me I won't be getting Haswell :P they will be over my price range when they come out. It will be sandy bridge if anything

seanmcloughlin

IMO Sandy Bridge isn't a worthwhile upgrade for gaming when you already have a 3ghz+ Phenom II X4 or X6. You should be able to get that 955 up to 3.6- 4ghz, which will give you a decent boost. I'm waiting for Haswell or Piledriver. Well, really I'm waiting for some games that I play to really punish my 3.7ghz 955. So far it hasn't happened. I'm sure it will within the next couple of years.

Good point. I will wait and see how things pan out but for now Im going to overclock rather than replace.

Will I need dual fans on the Hyper 212? I know it will help but how good is it on one fan?

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

IMO Sandy Bridge isn't a worthwhile upgrade for gaming when you already have a 3ghz+ Phenom II X4 or X6. You should be able to get that 955 up to 3.6- 4ghz, which will give you a decent boost. I'm waiting for Haswell or Piledriver. Well, really I'm waiting for some games that I play to really punish my 3.7ghz 955. So far it hasn't happened. I'm sure it will within the next couple of years.

General_X

Good point. I will wait and see how things pan out but for now Im going to overclock rather than replace.

Will I need dual fans on the Hyper 212? I know it will help but how good is it on one fan?

If you want to avoid bottlenecks, get that i5, I did and I have no regrets, in fact, I don't want an AMD cpu for high end gaming anymore, AMD cpus sucks for that now. I could imagine a massive bottleneck when I get my 2nd 670 soon.:lol:

If you want to avoid bottlenecks, get that i5, I did and I have no regrets, in fact, I don't want an AMD cpu for high end gaming anymore, AMD cpus sucks for that now. I could imagine a massive bottleneck when I get my 2nd 670 soon.:lol:

mitu123

Well my GPU gets over 90% usage in something like BF3 so I doubt it's being bottlenecked just yet.

[QUOTE="General_X"][QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

Good point. I will wait and see how things pan out but for now Im going to overclock rather than replace.

Will I need dual fans on the Hyper 212? I know it will help but how good is it on one fan?

04dcarraher

I have the corsair 600t white edition case so it's pretty spacious inside and has big fans too so it should be ok

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

If you want to avoid bottlenecks, get that i5, I did and I have no regrets, in fact, I don't want an AMD cpu for high end gaming anymore, AMD cpus sucks for that now. I could imagine a massive bottleneck when I get my 2nd 670 soon.:lol:

seanmcloughlin

Well my GPU gets over 90% usage in something like BF3 so I doubt it's being bottlenecked just yet.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

If you want to avoid bottlenecks, get that i5, I did and I have no regrets, in fact, I don't want an AMD cpu for high end gaming anymore, AMD cpus sucks for that now. I could imagine a massive bottleneck when I get my 2nd 670 soon.:lol:

mitu123

Well my GPU gets over 90% usage in something like BF3 so I doubt it's being bottlenecked just yet.

Of course. I won't have it by this time next year I'd say but for now Im glad to keep it

Ha, ha, well yeah. It's just when I upgraded to that i5 I saw performance increase that my AMD cpu couldn't do even though I overclocked the f*** out of it!

AMD have terrible drivers. Go Intel or you will end up suffering.

jakes456

that is the most stupidest thing i ever read.

Ha, ha, well yeah. It's just when I upgraded to that i5 I saw performance increase that my AMD cpu couldn't do even though I overclocked the f*** out of it!

mitu123

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

Ha, ha, well yeah. It's just when I upgraded to that i5 I saw performance increase that my AMD cpu couldn't do even though I overclocked the f*** out of it!

04dcarraher

If you want to avoid bottlenecks, get that i5, I did and I have no regrets, in fact, I don't want an AMD cpu for high end gaming anymore, AMD cpus sucks for that now. I could imagine a massive bottleneck when I get my 2nd 670 soon.:lol:

mitu123

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"][QUOTE="mitu123"]

Ha, ha, well yeah. It's just when I upgraded to that i5 I saw performance increase that my AMD cpu couldn't do even though I overclocked the f*** out of it!

mitu123

Here's an example of what I mean. Once you hit past a certain resolution in a single gpu setup with a Phenom 2 past 3.4 ghz isnt going to hold you back that much compared to an i7.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7970_cpu_scaling_performance_review,9.html

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"] Your forgetting the fact that you were running two gpu's in SLI totally different conditions for a cpu load for gpu's. Even with a Phenom 2 X4 955 you still see 98% gpu usage with a GTX 670 at 1080 with BF3. And above 60 fps the point is moot. 04dcarraher

Here's an example of what I mean. Once you hit past a certain resolution in a single gpu setup with a Phenom 2 past 3.4 ghz isnt going to hold you back that much compared to an i7.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7970_cpu_scaling_performance_review,9.html

I agree with the point that you're trying to make. However, I don't think you'd see a performance increase with a 9800gtx in most modern games if you went from a 1st-gen i5 to a 2500k:P. Not if you're playing at a decent resolution and with details turned up. That would be a very GPU-bound situation.

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]

[QUOTE="mitu123"] Yet my FPS increased a lot going with the i5, it's the main reason why I went with it, if AMD was doing fine I would had stuck with it. And BF3 wasn't the only game that got an increase, the Crysis games, Witcher 2, Metro 2033 and others also did.

hartsickdiscipl

Here's an example of what I mean. Once you hit past a certain resolution in a single gpu setup with a Phenom 2 past 3.4 ghz isnt going to hold you back that much compared to an i7.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7970_cpu_scaling_performance_review,9.html

I agree with the point that you're trying to make. However, I don't think you'd see a performance increase with a 9800gtx in most modern games if you went from a 1st-gen i5 to a 2500k:P. Not if you're playing at a decent resolution and with details turned up. That would be a very GPU-bound situation.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]for tribes ascend yeah http://www.techspot.com/review/522-tribes-ascend-performance-test/page5.html04dcarraher

also true warriors play on nintendo ds graphics config

at at 1024x768 so gota have them 300fps

all cpu

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"] Your forgetting the fact that you were running two gpu's in SLI totally different conditions for a cpu load for gpu's. Even with a Phenom 2 X4 955 you still see 98% gpu usage with a GTX 670 at 1080 with BF3. And above 60 fps the point is moot. 04dcarraher

Here's an example of what I mean. Once you hit past a certain resolution in a single gpu setup with a Phenom 2 past 3.4 ghz isnt going to hold you back that much compared to an i7.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7970_cpu_scaling_performance_review,9.html

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]

[QUOTE="mitu123"] Yet my FPS increased a lot going with the i5, it's the main reason why I went with it, if AMD was doing fine I would had stuck with it. And BF3 wasn't the only game that got an increase, the Crysis games, Witcher 2, Metro 2033 and others also did.

mitu123

Here's an example of what I mean. Once you hit past a certain resolution in a single gpu setup with a Phenom 2 past 3.4 ghz isnt going to hold you back that much compared to an i7.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7970_cpu_scaling_performance_review,9.html

Running two gpu's even though slower then your 670 now, those 460's in sli created more work for your cpu.