Considering upgrading my CPU

[Brids17]

So currently I have an i5 760, which isn't nearly powerful enough for the games I'm trying to run. I want to upgrade but I don't really know a lot about CPUs and what's good. Price range I don't want to spend more than $250 and even that's pushing it. I've heard a lot about the i5-3570K and the Xeon E3-1230 v2, both of which are in my price range but I don't have the slightest clue which is better or if there's a better alternative. Any help would be appreciated. Oh and I don't have any plans to overclock, so keep that in mind when suggesting something. Thanks in advance for any replies. =)

 

[PP Mguire]

Your 760 is more than enough to run current games. What is your current RAM and GPU setup?

 

[Brids17]

8gb Ram and an HD 7850. It's not that I can't run games, I'm sure I can probably run just about everything, it's just that some games, especially CPU intensive ones, are borderline unplayable. Planetside 2 is a good example, I love the game but I'm getting 25-30fps in large battles on the lowest graphics settings. I can't even up the draw distance in GTA IV without getting constant stuttering. Maybe it's poor optimization on the developers part but that doesn't really help me any. =\

 

[PP Mguire]

Not sure about Planetside but in GTA4 draw distance relies completely on VRAM.

3 weeks ago I was using a stock i5 750 with a single 580 running absolutely everything maxed. It's not your CPU.

 

[Brids17]

What else would it be then?

 

[PP Mguire]

Straight up GPU. GTA4 for sure is VRAM.

Reason I'm saying this is because since you already have a quad then grabbing an i3 3220 is only a side step rather than a step forward or backward. The cheaper i5 worth grabbing is the 3330 but that's 189 and if 250 is pushing it then the CPU alone is kind of capping the budget.

 

[Yevrag35]

As far as Planetside 2 is concerned, a number of forums say that this game is CPU intensive but it can't fully utilize the power of core-series CPU's.

I was reading this (The Complete Guide to better fps in planetside 2 - Steam Users' Forums), and the guy said even oc'd i5-2500k's @ 5+GHz couldn't even keep 40fps (albeit idk what gpu's they were using)!

If not being to only play Planetside 2 was your original reason (you'll probably need a better one for GTA4 though), I suggest you read and try some of the fixes he suggestes in his post, before buying a new GPU just yet (I've never played PS2, so I can't try them out for you).

 

[PP Mguire]

For my own educational purposes I tried to play the game but it kept saying my SN was taken YET I have never played it.....

I doubt seriously it taxes that bad. Farcry 3 actually utilizes up to 100% of 6 cores but when I dropped the clocks and downed the cores to 2 it made no FPS difference.

Edit: Installing now. 7+GB.....I'll be back in a few hours lol.

 

[Yevrag35]

For my own educational purposes I tried to play the game but it kept saying my SN was taken YET I have never played it.....

I doubt seriously it taxes that bad. Farcry 3 actually utilizes up to 100% of 6 cores but when I dropped the clocks and downed the cores to 2 it made no FPS difference.

I may just have to try it when I get home...who knows...it may be fun. I also didn't know it was free-to-play.

Learn something new everyday.

 

[PP Mguire]

I may just have to try it when I get home...who knows...it may be fun. I also didn't know it was free-to-play.

Learn something new everyday.

I'm only installing it so I can better recommend parts for people who do want to play it. Plus I'm curious at how a F2P game is so "resource" hungry. It doesn't look that great in screenshots.