Is my i3 3220 holding my 7850 2GB back?

[Martini1991]

Depends on your budget and requirements really.
But I'd still wait for Haswell, even if it's just for a few percent gain, it's still performance.

 

[Drake5]

How long till Haswell though?

 

[Yamahahahahaha]

3+ months. Not going to be an amazing upgrade in terms of gaming either: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/core-i7-4770k-haswell-performance,review-32651.html

I went from an i3 2120 to an i7 3770K and the difference was immense. I thought my system was quite balanced but moving to an i7 really let the 6850 stretch it's legs.

 

[THFC]

I just want to get the i5 3570k and the Z77 but am I wasting my money...

The i5 3570k will be future proof won't it? and I can always overclock it.

So the 2 benifits will be overclocking it and my GPU won't be getting bottlenecked?

If you feel like your wasting your money - Keep an eye out on the members market for the cpu and mobo, they appear quite often

I may be interested in the i3 if you sell up

 

[BAMBI]

I just want to get the i5 3570k and the Z77 but am I wasting my money...

If the only game you want to play is sleeping dogs then Andantech would say you are wasting your money: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6934/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-single-multigpu-at-1440p/8

SD appears to be very GPU intensive.

Skyrim seems more CPU insensitive but Tom suggests you shouldn't be struggling with you I3 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html

Were you struggling with FPS in Skyrim? Or was it just the GPU usage you are worried about?

 

[wazza300]

a z68/2600k/2700k is a good cheaper alternative,no difference in gaming from ivybridge