CPU buying advice.

[Rejusu]

Well, I'm looking to replace my ageing Lynnfield i7 860 CPU. And having previously tried (and failed) to get good performance on Dolphin out of it I'm now looking for something that'll fit the bill. Naturally I'm only looking at Ivybridge K models, and so my considerations are thus:

Should I just get an i5 3570k? Or is it worth springing for the i7 3770k?

Also since we're only about 4 months off Haswell, should I just wait for that instead?

Things to note:

• While I don't want to spend more than I have to, my budget is fairly flexible.
• Ideally I want to limit how much I overclock, primarily so I don't need a hefty cooler and can keep noise levels down.
• I'm looking to run Wii (and possibly GC) games at 1080p with good performance. As an idea of the kind of games I'm interested in playing the main contenders are Skyward Sword, Xenoblade, and The Last Story.
• I'm in no particular rush.

For reference my current specs are:
2.8GHz i7 860
12GB RAM
4GB GeForce GTX 570

[DefenderX]

Get the i5-3570k + a good CPU cooler. The i7 has HyperThreading and Dolphin doesn't benefit from it.
Your GPU is strong enough for 4x IR (more than 1080p).

A good setup so far

[LordVador]

(02-07-2013, 05:04 AM)Rejusu Wrote: Should I just get an i5 3570k? Or is it worth springing for the i7 3770k?

3570k is currently the best choice. 3770k is fine too but you won't get a better performance.

(02-07-2013, 05:04 AM)Rejusu Wrote: Also since we're only about 4 months off Haswell, should I just wait for that instead?

Depends on if you're able to wait or not

[AnyOldName3]

I'm waiting for Haswell myself, but my CPU is a whole generation newer than yours, so I've probably got a better chip than you to start with.

[NaturalViolence]

I would wait for Haswell as well, if you can.

[Rejusu]

Well as I said I'm in no rush so I'm able to wait. I'm just wondering if there's much of a point to waiting. Haswell is undoubtedly going to be more expensive than current Ivy bridge chips, and I'm not sure if it's going to offer a big performance gain. Alternatively waiting until Haswell will likely bring the pricing on Ivy bridge down, but again is that price drop worth waiting for?

[ExtremeDude2]

(02-07-2013, 10:42 AM)Rejusu Wrote: Well as I said I'm in no rush so I'm able to wait. I'm just wondering if there's much of a point to waiting. Haswell is undoubtedly going to be more expensive than current Ivy bridge chips

No it won't, you don't know intel :3

(02-07-2013, 10:42 AM)Rejusu Wrote: Alternatively waiting until Haswell will likely bring the pricing on Ivy bridge down, but again is that price drop worth waiting for?

Same as above

[admin89]

Quote: I'm not sure if it's going to offer a big performance gain

i5 4670k @ 3.8GHz ~ i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz ~ i5 2500k @ 4.5 or 4.6GHz

Haswell +Turbo Boost is fast enough (note that 3.8GHz is single core turbo , CPU clock speed should stay around 3.6-3.7GHz). Overclocking is not necessary (except for The Last Story - Lazulis/ruli city)

[AnyOldName3]

For more clarification, Intel normally sell new chips at the price of the chips they're replacing. I think this is so that you don't buy the older chip as the new one's the same price, and better, and they get maximum return on investment on each new generation at release.

[NaturalViolence]

AnyOldName3 Wrote:I think this is so that you don't buy the older chip as the new one's the same price, and better, and they get maximum return on investment on each new generation at release.

You're correct but dig a little bit deeper. They also switch sockets with new cpus (usually) which means that the older cpus that they are still producing are mainly intended as upgrades for older systems. Thus people will buy them even if the performance per dollar is lower because it saves them from having to buy a new motherboard. Therefore this maximizes profit from sales on both platforms.