I've got myself confused over what to go for. I use my pc for work stuff, gaming and the very (very) occasional video making. Most of my gaming time is taken up with Eve Online, which I run multiple clients across 2 x 24" screens. I don't generally overclock and going by the way I've done things in the past I don't tend to upgrade components - apart from the graphics card my current build is the same as when I put it together. My current cpu (E8400 in case you can't see my sig) seems to cope ok but an occasional and random hardware fault somewhere has got me thinking it's time to spend some money. I'm wondering what's the minimum cpu I can get away with and then take things from there. Looking at the Scan best sellers list, can I use an i3 3220 or and i3 2100 or do I need to go quad core (i5 2400/2500)? While trying to keep the price down I don't want to cut too many corners either so I'm trying to find a balance.
If you decide to go for a quad, I'd recommend the i5 3570k (the k-version will overclock and even if you won't, it'll retain its resale value better). However, the i3 3220 will still be an upgrade over your current Core2 Duo.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-3570K+@+3.40GHz&id=828 Yup the i5 is a great CPU
If your current dualcore handles multiboxing fine, there's no reason an i3-3220 wouldn't. I do think that an i5 will handle that even better. My suggestion is to go for the quad. While the i3 will still be an upgrade, it won't be a big one, and it makes little sense to sink money into something that's only slightly faster. Make sure you also get decent RAM and Mobo. If you'll give us a budget (and maybe a preferred retailer) we can recommend some options for you.
Personally I'd go for quad core anyway, just for the sake of future proofing, assuming you will play other games too. Multi-core support is becoming a pretty standard feature now, most modern games will run better on four cores than two - gone are the days of anything more than two resulting in half the processor sitting idle.
Thanks for the help. While I don't have a fixed budget I was hoping to come in around £250-£300 for a processor, motherboard and ram and then try and cannibalize the rest from my current setup, which will probably just end up being the 5850. Assuming then, that I go for the i5 3570k, I'll be looking at about 8Gb ram and a motherboard that can support an SSD that I'm hoping to include in there somewhere so SATA 6Gb or can I use a 3Gb board? I've been out of the loop for a while as far as these things go
SSDs will work on SATA 3Gbit/s but that will limit their speed. Luckily all 7 series chipsets have SATA 6Gbit/s ports so you don't have to worry about that. How about the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H?
as an ex EVE Player myself i know going from duel to quad helped alot when multi boxing ( 4 accounts at same time ) if you can pick up something like a 2500k cheaply ( they were £144 on scan the other day ) Paired with a decent mobo and you have a very powerful system for very little cash. You should be able to get an 2500k + mobo and 8gb ram for under £280 which is not alot for the performance you will gain then at a later date you could add a custom cooler and overclock the 2500k very easily.
There doesn't seem to be much difference in price between the 2500k and the 3570k. This is where things creep up as you start thinking that if you just spend another £20... I think if I go quad core then it'll be the 3570k and while I could get away with the 3220, it's likely I'll regret not having the overhead. The Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H looks good. Is there a recommended mATX board for the 3570k? As I said, by the time I get round to thinking about adding more ram, things have moved onto the next gen and the ram I need is hugely expensive so I may not need the expansion a full size board gives - assuming it comes in cheaper than a decent full size board of course.
