Want to upgrade from my Phenom II x4 955, but I may opt with Ivybridge

As the title says, I wish to upgrade my CPU/Mobo in the near future. However, I'm considering just going with Ivybridge. First of all, it is slightly cheaper and from what people have said on here, Haswell doesnt really perform that much better. Also the Ivybridge doesnt consume as much power as Haswell. 

What do you guys think?

Also, could I keep my RAM? I have Kingston Hyper X 1600MHz DDR3 modules. Also if I still have all the parts for it, I could resuse my Corsair A50 cooler couldnt I? though I would like to overclock

Thanks in advance :)  

As the title says, I wish to upgrade my CPU/Mobo in the near future. However, I'm considering just going with Ivybridge. First of all, it is slightly cheaper and from what people have said on here, Haswell doesnt really perform that much better. Also the Ivybridge doesnt consume as much power as Haswell. 

What do you guys think?

Also, could I keep my RAM? I have Kingston Hyper X 1600MHz DDR3 modules. Also if I still have all the parts for it, I could resuse my Corsair A50 cooler couldnt I? though I would like to overclock

Thanks in advance :)  

Chris_53

Im in the same boat as you with an overclocked 955, and a gtx 560ti I would say wait until you decide to upgrade that gpu too. Because with that combo right now your only going to see specific gains with upgrading to a intel quad. but if your dead set to scratch that upgrading itch, I would say might as well go haswell, since its 10-15% faster then Ivy, and the only reason why haswell runs abit warmer then ivy is because of the higher based clock, and better IGP.

Im in the same boat as you with an overclocked 955, and a gtx 560ti I would say wait until you decide to upgrade that gpu too. Because with that combo right now your only going to see specific gains with upgrading to a intel quad. but if your dead set to scratch that upgrading itch, I would say might as well go haswell, since its 10-15% faster then Ivy, and the only reason why haswell runs abit warmer then ivy is because of the higher based clock, and better IGP.

04dcarraher

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]

Im in the same boat as you with an overclocked 955, and a gtx 560ti I would say wait until you decide to upgrade that gpu too. Because with that combo right now your only going to see specific gains with upgrading to a intel quad. but if your dead set to scratch that upgrading itch, I would say might as well go haswell, since its 10-15% faster then Ivy, and the only reason why haswell runs abit warmer then ivy is because of the higher based clock, and better IGP.

Chris_53

Upgrade your CPU and mobo first.  You are going to get more out of your GTX 570 than you think if you just upgrade your CPU.  I was in more or less the same boat several months ago.  I had a 3.7ghz 955 and a GTX 560 Ti SOC, which I still have.  I got a 3570k, slapped my Hyper 212 Plus on it, clocked it to 4.5ghz, and my performance has gone up big time in quite a few games.  Even at stock speeds, the 3570k was giving me a nice improvement over the overclocked 955.  I'm sure you will want to upgrade your GPU fairly soon as well, but I highly recommend that you go for the CPU/mobo first.  

As far as Haswell vs Ivy Bridge... tough call.  I say go for Haswell.  It's slightly faster clock for clock and uses a new motherboard socket type, which you may or may not be able to use for your next CPU upgrade.  If you get an Ivy Bridge/LGA 1155 board, you're at a definite dead-end when it comes to upgrading your CPU without replacing mobo.  

Tough choice, All depends on what gpu your planing on getting. If your upgrading a gpu it needs to be at least a GTX 670 or GTX 760ti / AMD equal or better to see any real gains over what you have have now. So its a toss up at this point in time. So its whatever you want to do. But I would do a cpu upgrade first because you can see some good gains even with your current gpu.

Upgrade CPU first, because if you upgrade GPU you will still be held back in many games. That is what happened to me when I first upgrade from a 6870 to a 7970. Frame rates were still kind of low in games until I changed from a Phenom II x4 965 to an i5 3570k.

Upgrade CPU first, because if you upgrade GPU you will still be held back in many games. That is what happened to me when I first upgrade from a 6870 to a 7970. Frame rates were still kind of low in games until I changed from a Phenom II x4 965 to an i5 3570k.

pawq4

Also folks, what about my cooler? when I upgrade should I stick with my corsair A50 or get the Coolermaster hyper Evo 212 and get two fans for a push pull setup?

If I went for haswell, would I need one that supports 1150 or would one that supports 1155 work? 

[QUOTE="pawq4"]

Upgrade CPU first, because if you upgrade GPU you will still be held back in many games. That is what happened to me when I first upgrade from a 6870 to a 7970. Frame rates were still kind of low in games until I changed from a Phenom II x4 965 to an i5 3570k.

Chris_53

Also folks, what about my cooler? when I upgrade should I stick with my corsair A50 or get the Coolermaster hyper Evo 212 and get two fans for a push pull setup?

If I went for haswell, would I need one that supports 1150 or would one that supports 1155 work? 

Chris_53

As far as I know 1155 and 1150 are the same dimensionally. So a 1155 cooler will work on a 1150 socket.

Also for air coolers like the hyper 212, Cougar fans have the best all around static pressure and airflow

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553006

[QUOTE="Chris_53"]

Also folks, what about my cooler? when I upgrade should I stick with my corsair A50 or get the Coolermaster hyper Evo 212 and get two fans for a push pull setup?

If I went for haswell, would I need one that supports 1150 or would one that supports 1155 work? 

04dcarraher

As far as I know 1155 and 1150 are the same dimensionally. So a 1155 cooler will work on a 1150 socket.

Also for air coolers like the hyper 212, Cougar fans have the best all around static pressure and airflow

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553006

If you have the right fittings keep the corsair cooler, there won't be a huge difference between the two. If not, the 212+ is a good value option.

You should be able to reuse your ram if it's DDR3, meaning you only have to replace CPU and motherboard.