CPU and Upgrade options/opinions

[Dorac]

I currently have i5 750 2.6GHz OC @ 4GHz and a Geforce GTX 470. I wanted to upgrade for BF4 since my hardware was struggling in beta and to upgrade for the future since I've had those for about 3 years. I couldn't even run Crysis 3.

I was thinking of going to a i5 4670k and possibly a GTX 760 (GPU still kind of up in the air with the release of AMDs new cards.)

I'm just looking for some other opinions maybe.

[yurano]

My i7-4770K + 760 can do Crysis 3 on High or so at ~70 FPS. I don't remember clearly, but I think I get 40-50 FPS on full Ultra.

The 760 is solid, but maybe consider the 770 if you predominantly play GPU bound games.

[Deleted]

4670k + R290/R290X/GTX770 should play most games easily. Just remember to:

1) get a Z87 chipset board to overclock; and
2) get an aftermarket cooler and quality thermal paste.

[Toffie]

If you're planning to play BF4 then grab a 280X specifically the Asus DC2T.

Battlefield 4 is a gaming evolved title which means it will have proper support on AMD hardware as you can see in the review below.
Notice how the frame latency is much better on the 280X, this without mantle which should provide a huge benefit for that game.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...lefield-4.html

[yurano]

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...lefield-4.html

Not sure how much the BF4 Beta results can be trusted because the 770 is barely better than the 760 at 1080p. All 4 cards tested seem to have similar FPS at 1080p.

Plus, the tested R9-280X was a factory overclocked ASUS DCUII card (1070 Mhz core, up from 850 Mhz core; 6400 Mhz memory, up from 1500 Mhz) where as the 770 was a less overclocked Palit JetStream (1150 Mhz core, up from 1046 Mhz; memory frequency unchanged).

[The King in Yellow]

4670k + R290/R290X/GTX770 should play most games easily. Just remember to:

1) get a Z87 chipset board to overclock; and
2) get an aftermarket cooler and quality thermal paste.

This, just this.

The 4670K is an amazing processor, especially combined with the EVGA GTX 780, the overclocks are amazing. although the more budget ones so to say are excellent too.

As an aftermarket cooler I would suggest Corsair's hydro series, especially the H100 and the H110, but that is just my own experience.

[Hottage]

As an aftermarket cooler I would suggest Corsair's hydro series, especially the H100 and the H110, but that is just my own experience.

Dem closed loop coolers be ballin'. Installed one for a friend and love them, definately not going back to standard fans for my next PC.

[Toffie]

Not sure how much the BF4 Beta results can be trusted because the 770 is barely better than the 760 at 1080p. All 4 cards tested seem to have similar FPS at 1080p.

Plus, the tested R9-280X was a factory overclocked ASUS DCUII card (1070 Mhz core, up from 850 Mhz core; 6400 Mhz memory, up from 1500 Mhz) where as the 770 was a less overclocked Palit JetStream (1150 Mhz core, up from 1046 Mhz; memory frequency unchanged).

A 770 is already a beefed up 680 while the 280X is 20MHz higher than that of a 7970GHz. It's a fair comparison.
The results are valid, nvidia cards was choppy & was stuttering all over the place.

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Battl...review/?page=3

"The NVIDIA results, on the other hand, are quite different. The GTX 770 broaches the 30 FPS barrier many times in the same seven minutes, with a 1% frame time of 36.9ms, which works out to 27 FPS. This difference is apparent when you play the game; the NVIDIA cards seem to hitch and stutter randomly. "

Another review here.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/...ance_preview/4

"After logging hours of play time in Battlefield 4 Beta using both the Radeon R9 280X and GeForce GTX 770, the AMD Radeon R9 280X appears to deliver a far superior gaming experience compared to the NVIDIA GeForce 770 GTX no matter what the framerate graphs show."

[yurano]

A 770 is already a beefed up 680 while the 280X is 20MHz higher than that of a 7970GHz. It's a fair comparison.

R9-280X's factory overclock was significantly higher than the 770's factory overclock. Thats inherently biased.

The results are valid, nvidia cards was choppy & was stuttering all over the place.

I would buy that if only the 760 wasn't within 5-10% the performance of the 770 (5%), R9-280X (10%), and 7970 Ghz (10%) at 1080p when both the 770 and 7970 Ghz should be ~20% faster.

"The NVIDIA results, on the other hand, are quite different. The GTX 770 broaches the 30 FPS barrier many times in the same seven minutes, with a 1% frame time of 36.9ms, which works out to 27 FPS. This difference is apparent when you play the game; the NVIDIA cards seem to hitch and stutter randomly."

"After logging hours of play time in Battlefield 4 Beta using both the Radeon R9 280X and GeForce GTX 770, the AMD Radeon R9 280X appears to deliver a far superior gaming experience compared to the NVIDIA GeForce 770 GTX no matter what the framerate graphs show."

Beta is only loosely indicative of release and subsequent performance.

BF4 could be another Tomb Raider 2013 fiasco where Nvidia was kept in the dark until a week after the game was launched. Yes, Nvidia is still weaker at Tomb Raider, but the difference wasn't as large as reported by pre-release benchmarks.

[Toffie]

When you are giving advice for him to purchase a 770 that cost 100$ higher than the 280X when battlefield 4 is AMD optimized and mantle is primarily battlefield 4 optimized it really shows that you're biased Yurano.

[yurano]

When you are giving advice for him to purchase a 770 that cost 100$ higher than the 280X when battlefield 4 is AMD optimized and mantle is primarily battlefield 4 optimized it really shows that you're biased Yurano.

Because his original selection was a Nvidia card. Maybe he's interested in something Nvidia offers beyond performance/price for one single unreleased game. There's nothing stopping BF4 from being BOTH a GE and TWIMTBP game like Bioshock Infinite.

Non-stop AMD only recommendations based solely on performance per price is an inherently biased view. Gamers are looking to buy a superior experience, not just higher FPS.

[Deleted]

Non-stop AMD only recommendations based solely on performance per price is an inherently biased view. Gamers are looking to buy a superior experience, not just higher FPS.

So you're arguing that we shouldn't go for the best performance per Dollar? Or that we should? This statement makes no sense.

[Toffie]

Non-stop AMD only recommendations based solely on performance per price is an inherently biased view. Gamers are looking to buy a superior experience, not just higher FPS.

Yet I linked you countless reviews stating the 280X proved a much better gaming experience.

[Dorac]

This, just this.

The 4670K is an amazing processor, especially combined with the EVGA GTX 780, the overclocks are amazing. although the more budget ones so to say are excellent too.

As an aftermarket cooler I would suggest Corsair's hydro series, especially the H100 and the H110, but that is just my own experience.

I was possibly seeking to buy one of the Corsair hydro coolers. I currently use Prolemitech's Megahelms with 2 of the Sythe ULTRA KAZE fans in a push pull. These things move ALOT of air but the noise is getting a bid out of hand when I up the speeds past 50%.

I will still be playing WoW as well. But yeah I wanted to keep the graphics card absolutely no more then 300$ but I do want it to last a good few years just like my GTX 470 did. I've never used an AMD card before but I have heard good stuff about the new series that just launched. Im hoping to maybe wait for some black friday deals if I see the right price or boxing day.