So, I have a 3770 (non k) on it's way to me, so long as the order does in fact go through like it is supposed to.
What I am trying to figure out is if the performance gain from overclocking a 3570k or 8350 would be worth worrying about trying to sell my 3770 (non k). My primary purpose is playing games. I already have a Zalman CNPS9900A cooler, and either way I will have to get a new MOBO.
I have a 7950 as my GPU, so i'm not worried about it holding me back. So.....input please?
Additional information that's not necessary below**
I don't stream content, so that benefit of multiprocessing better that AMD brings to the table isn't as attractive, but I have never had a bad experience with AMD. I've never actually had an Intel. and all of the Intel fanboyism is quite annoying to me, which is part of why I don't want an Intel. But none the less, I after performance.
The 3770 won't hold you back in any game. As far as I know you can even overclock non k processors a little bit but don't quote me on that it's mostly a rumour I heard. For gaming purposes as of today you'll be best served with an i7 processor as the per core performance is outstanding. Rendering and streaming etc is another story but as you just want to game: no worries. As of now it isn't necessary to overclock your processor. So the gain would be zero I'd say.
Huh, I kinda figured with all of the "3570k is best ever OC and dreams come true" talk that I would be told that to not get it and OC it is tantamount to....self castration. So then the 3770 (non K) is roughly as capable as a lightly OC'd 3570k as far as games are concerned then?
Ya I would still use the cooler to keep it running nice and cool and also quiet. Just set your CPU multiplyer to 3.9 and it will just always run on its boost clock then. Its still going to kill the 3570k in multithreaded apps with ivy bridge I have heard you gain the most performance between the stock clock and about 4.2ghz and after that the increase is not as great so you wont be missing out on much performance. you also wont need to worry about the high heat that can come with overclocking ivy bridge cpu's
considering that he already bought the 3770, I really don't think he's gonna see enough performance gain to warrant selling off the i7....
if he hadn't ordered yet, i'd say the same, but really, the actual performance increase in games is not going to be THAT noticeable, if he's not streaming.
You should be able to return the i7 under consumer Ecommerce law. I believe there is a 7 day period. The i7 offers no real performance advantage in gaming. The i5 is a much more balanced choice, and with the K edition, the higher overclocking capability will help your minimum frames.
Worse case scenario, you can just keep the i7. It is a good enough CPU
i would stay with the i7 because you can also overclock the non K processor, if you know what you doing. this cpu has a locked multiplier, but you can overclock it playing with its bus speed and the voltage. if you have a decent mobo who can do this stable and safe.the i7 3770 is still a great performing cpu. and overclocking is totaly not needed with that i7, because on stock it will perform great.
but hey if you return the cpu, why wouldn´t you go for the 3770K then? its $10 more. if you realy like the overclockability, and you have a decent mobo for it, then its worth the 10 extra dollars.
Ok, in light of all of the great comments, thanks by the way guys, I think some more information may assist.
The reason i got the 3770 is because I was able to purchase (though it still hasn't' been delivered yet, still waiting...) it for $170. This is a better price than ANY of the processors mentioned, although only narrowly a better price than the 8350 can be had for. I figured worst case scenario, I can sell the 3770 for $250 at the least, and buy whatever other CPU i wanted with the money and put some of the profit towards the mobo.
As for which Mobo, I don't have one that will work for any of the CPU's mentioned. I will have to buy one, so whichever way I go, I'll need a new one of those. Again, ultimately, my main concern is gaming, now and in the future. Commissar has a good point in that the CPU's in xbox and ps4 will be AMD, so they are quite likely to run much better on AMD cpu's, especially since they will now start to take advantage of more cores far more frequently (or so i assume). So I heard....basically all 3 opinions.
In light of all of this info, any additional thoughts? And if the consensus is to stick with the 3770, I'm going to need a mobo to go with it. I prefer one that can perform a bit of an overclock on both my processor and my GPU if possible all by itself, as i'm not increidbly savvy with that side of things, the most i've ever done is increase the multiplier and unlock the 4th core on my ahtlon x3 720 black edition. Outside of that, I don't really know what i'm doing, and don't want to spend hours on top of hours fine tuning an OC to the nth degree. If there is a great mobo that can do that for me, and is a fantastic mobo overall, thats what I would like. about $200 is my price max, although value is my most favorite consideration :D
Anyone else haev any motherboard suggestions? So far only one (which i'm researching currently btw, thanks for the input).
I'm seeing a lot of good feedback on the Sabertooth, on top of which I know the tek has had ASUS in video's a few times in teh past, so i presume they have a good relationship. Anyone able to validate that? Not to mention a longer warranty*
Both the Sabertooth and the Mpower are very good mobos. Seeing as how ou won't be able to overclock though, I don't see much reason to spend a lot on the motherboard aside from the feature set and warranty. You'd be better off getting a cheaper mobo and spending the savings on an ssd or gpu or something.
My understanding was that it can still be overclocked, just not via an unlocked multiplier, and it would be a much more conservative overclock in general. Having said that, I agree that it doesn't make sense to spend a large amount on an OC'ers mobo when my OC'ing options aren't very powerful on the CPU, however, i do have a 7950 MSI TWin Frozr III. Would the mobo in any way play a part in how well I can OC that GPU? Because I thought it did. I'm also quite interested in the OCing software, if it in fact would be able to OC for me, since (as i'm sure you may have figured out by now) I'm no pro.
Thanks again for the input guys, it's greatly appreciated.
The mobo does not realy effect the overclockability of the GPU. in my opinnion.
The Msi mpower is just a great board which has everything you want but offcourse its not that cheap.. its one of the best overclockers boards to get, and its cheaper then the sabertooth. notice that you cpu is still overclockable, if you play with bus speeds and voltage. so if you want to try some overclocks, i would realy recommend it. But if you not plan to overclock then the Msi Z77 GD65-Gaming or the Msi Z77 G45-gaming is also a very nice mobo, with some cool gaming feutures.