[kidnova]

So, I built my current rig in 2012 and it has an MSI Z77 mobo, i5 3550 CPU, and am MSI 660ti.  I'm getting the itch to upgrade, but after reading a bit about Intel's recent CPU offerings I'm having a hard time justifying the expense to upgrade the mobo and CPU.  The GPU is a much easier decision as I can pick up a GTX 970 for less than I paid for my 660 ti and the performance increase is substantial.  

 

My question is as stated in the title.  Is there a compelling reason to upgrade the mobo/CPU combo?  Am I missing something?  I primarily game with this setup and I can't think of any specific examples of where I've been CPU bottle necked.  Thanks for your opinions in advance. 

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Best Answer

Gday kidnova.

​I think you are pretty right with you thinking with regards to a CPU MB upgrade, just not worth the expense for the performance gain.

Switching to a Socket 1150 will limit any upgrade as there appears to be only one further CPU release, > http://www.cpu-world...dwell_CPUs.html

> http://www.cpu-world...erver_CPUs.html

I will wait for Intel Skylake before considering an upgrade to my rig.

 

I think the GTX 970 is a good move. 

[iammykyl]

Best Answer

Gday kidnova.

​I think you are pretty right with you thinking with regards to a CPU MB upgrade, just not worth the expense for the performance gain.

Switching to a Socket 1150 will limit any upgrade as there appears to be only one further CPU release, > http://www.cpu-world...dwell_CPUs.html

> http://www.cpu-world...erver_CPUs.html

I will wait for Intel Skylake before considering an upgrade to my rig.

 

I think the GTX 970 is a good move. 

[kidnova]

Thanks for the reply.  Good to hear that my thought process is shared by others.  I'll hold off on the major overhaul until the next die shrink and just look at upgrading the graphics for now.  

 

Although it seems unfathomable to me that CPUs haven't advanced much in the last 3-4 years I guess it's good for my wallet.  I wonder if this is new norm or if the lack of competition from AMD is artificially depressing the upgrade cycle?

Edited by kidnova, 17 June 2015 - 07:21 AM.

[iammykyl]

We tend to forget that the enthusiast share of the market is quite small and those processors seem to be keeping pace with the GPU releases;  I don't think they are specifically developed, but get the trickle down effect from other class CPUs, like xeon. 

 

I think AMD does give Intel competition and that's why they have put such a big effort to compete in the other segments, ultra/notebooks etc,   They may finally also dominate with their upcoming  iGPUs as well. 

[kidnova]

We tend to forget that the enthusiast share of the market is quite small and those processors seem to be keeping pace with the GPU releases;  I don't think they are specifically developed, but get the trickle down effect from other class CPUs, like xeon. 

 

I think AMD does give Intel competition and that's why they have put such a big effort to compete in the other segments, ultra/notebooks etc,   They may finally also dominate with their upcoming  iGPUs as well. 

 

I think that's the case today because Intel has dominated the high end CPU market for so long.  That wasn't true back when AMD was giving them real competition and actually winning the enthusiast market during the netburst days. Ever since Intel moved to the Core architecture they have run virtually unopposed in the high end space.  I agree that AMD is still very competitive in the low to mid segments and has arguably been leading the integrated graphics market for quite a while, but I'm just wondering if the lack of progress at the top end is due to technological limitations or lack of competition.