First time CPU buyer, please help! :D

[maddi123]

Hello guys! This is my very first time buying a processor and I really need a lot of help! My goal in buying this processor is to be able to stream any game on ULTRA settings on 1080! So I really need a good one! :P My budget is about $557 to $657 and it needs to include the CPU, motherboard, and installation. Thanks in advanced for taking your time to help me!

My current setup is a AMD Phenom II x4 955 with a GTX 470 graphics card. I have 8 Gigs of RAM and a sexy black case! I was thinking of getting a i7 2700k or i7 2600k! Which motherboard should I get? Which processor should I get? What do the "K"s and "S"s mean at the end of the processor's number? Thanks again for your help and please give me any information that can help me buy the best processor for my goals!

I am very worried that my GPU would be a better thing to upgrade for more performance than my CPU, could that be a possibility? Should I upgrade my GPU over CPU?

[BicycleMafioso]

The K means it has unlocked multiplier, meaning you can set the multiplier from, f ex 34 with the i7 2600K and make it 47 instead. The CPU is then running at 4700 MHz instead.
The S means it's a low TDP CPU. Meaning, it draws less power, but is clocked lower.

Your motherboard should be named Z68 and Z77 and it will fit.
Your CPU choices should be between the i5 2500K and the i5 3570K. There's not a whole lot of difference, just pick whichever.

(And moved you over to build help)

[maddi123]

Thanks! May I ask why the i5 over the i7? Is the i5 better or something?

[BicycleMafioso]

No, the i5 is not better than the i7.
It's just not any worse in any way at all (except the 100MHz difference).
But, there is a rather large price difference, so there's no point in going for the i7 when the i5 is equal in performance.

[Deleted]

(I might be totally off here but I think that this is accurate.)

Doesn't the i7 support hyperthreading while the i5 does not? Which does in fact mean that while there's no notable difference between the 2 currently that is simply because we're are not using hyperthreading yet? Which would mean that in case you won't change the CPU for a while it might be worth the extra investment, although I really doubt that's the case.

Just my 2 cents, not really anything important but might be noteworthy.

[BicycleMafioso]

That is true. But for now, games are, and likely will keep being, poorly multithreaded for a few years yet. I'm thinking it'd be time to change CPU before the games start to hit either way, and by then, it would finally utilise a quad. Having eight threads would be a bit superfluous even then, albeit somewhat beneficial.

[maddi123]

So if I buy a new GPU will it help me stream better than buying a new CPU? Thanks!

[BicycleMafioso]

I'd say no. But you also say you want to stream any game. There are cpu bound games and there are gpu bound games. With streaming, I'd choose the cpu though, as your gpu would have an easier time tagging along.

[Lunareste]

Great advice, Tetris. maddi123 I have a i7 2600k and I'm able to stream WoW, SC2 and League of Legends at max settings using Game Source capture with Xsplit. Hope this helps, the i7 is a BEAST processor!

edit: minus max shadows, of course.

[RaZz0r]

I'm currently running a I5 2500k OCD to 4,3 GHz ( the K series CPUs are easily OCD ) with a 560 TI gfx card and 6 gigs of ddr3 1600 ram ( + the 1GB GDDR5 from the gfx card ).
And i can stream in full HD on pretty much max settings i might have to drop my shadows slightly for it to be smooth but keep in mind to stream in full HD you need a good upload speed.
You can have gods own beast of a pc and still not be able to steam in HD due to poor upload speed

[Tanthalus]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

for gaming , in some cases the i5 is actually faster than the i7

[maddi123]

Thanks guys! For you guys who stream, what kind of graphics card do you have and how much does that affect your stream quality?