As you can see from my specs I have an ancient CPU (it's basically a last gen C2Q). I got my tax return today and I need an upgrade badly. But I am torn between waiting or just pulling the trigger now. Thoughts? I do not upgrade often (my last video card before this one was a Radeon 4890) so I really want the best bang for buck. Everything I read says Q2 for the Broadwells which is months away.
You cant go wrong with 4690k, its a best CPU for gaming atm. I'm saying best becouse HT is overrated and wont help you getting better framerate. So getting a 4790k for 100$ more isnt really worth it. Broadwell is coming but it dosnt look like it will be much of an improvement over haswell. So if you dont want to wait just upgrade now. How big is budget for MB/Ram and CPU cooler?
RAM I have 16gb of DDR3 2133 already. It's "value" RAM but it was free from a freind who upgraded. Budget is about $400-450. I am currently thinking of an ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 for my motherboard. Edit - I currently have a Cooler Master Hyper T4. I might get the 212 EVO though.
An i5 cpu is fine... i always used the midrange cpu option and never ever have an issue in games and i am very picky
I'd get an i7 personally. Feels like more and more games benefit from HT and just handle games better than an i5. Then again, how high you clock it matters more than HT I guess.
HT is overrated, core clock is still the king. Give me an example where i7 beats i5 by a large margin clock to clock (gaming).
HT is not overrated and will become more and more an extra asset in gaming. However, that 4690k will do you nicely op. It will provide you your bang for your buck. We got a system with a stock 4670 and it plays games great. Granted, with a 290 gpu.
As I mentioned I already have DDR3. Skylake will require DDR4 and I don't want to spend another $200 in RAM. I think I will just buy the Haswell. Thanks for all your input guys.
Thought I would let you guys know I pulled the trigger. Since Intel left Broadwell desktop CPUs out of their last roadmap it looks like they are skipping them and going right to Skylake in Augest. That made this a nobrainer. I ended up with an ASUS Z97-PRO GAMER mobo because of a combo deal. It looks to be fairly new as it only had 1 review, but here's hoping for a trouble free build. Thanks for the help guys!
Nah they won't skip Broadwell, but it will have a short lifespan.. Broadwell ~May - June then 2-3months later Skylake with new chipset.
They have just one 65W K series i5 on the roadmap. I do not believe it is going to match the clock for clock performance of the current 95W Haswells. It makes no sense for them to manufacture an entire line of CPUs just to refresh them 3 months later.