Upgrading, need advice

[duomaxwl]

Hey, right now this is my setup:

CPU: Phenom II x4 955 OC @ 3.6Ghz
GPU: nVidia GeForce 560 Ti
RAM: 8GB Gskill 1600
PSU: 750w PC Power and Cooling
HDD: Crucial M4 SSD 64gb (x2)
OS: Windows 7 Professional
Headset: Logitech g930

and I'm contemplating replacing the motherboard and processor.
The motherboard is going to be some form of the z77 (I had the ASRock Extreme4, but that's out of stock at the moment, so I'll see what happens.)

My main question is: Should I go with the i5-3570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116504

or the i7-2600k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

Right now, the price difference is only $50. I plan on overclocking (I have a Hyper 212+ with the push/pull configuration.) I wanted the i5 Ivy Bridge at first, but I'm afraid that it may be limited in the future because it doesn't have hyper threading. I just don't want to feel the same way I do now having spent the money on the AMD and having cruddy performance, and since I don't know when the next time I'll be able to afford an upgrade, I want something that will last (hence why I'm looking at the sandy bridge, because I know the differences between SB/IB isn't a huge bit.)

I mostly play games, though sometimes I do record using Dxtory (and editing in Vegas, but not that much,) and I know the more cores, the better that'll go. Sorry that this is dragging on, but thanks for any advice you can give to sway me.

[Vancha]

Gaming-wise, hyper-threading is unlikely to become useful. In fact, I seem to remember the i7s can actually end up having worse performance than their i5 counterparts (albeit nothing really significant).

That said, it sounds to me like you already want to buy the 2600k. If that's the case, decide whether $50 is worth avoiding potential purchaser regrets.

[duomaxwl]

Thanks for your input on it. I'm going with the i5. No need to waste the money if hyper-threading won't become very useful for gaming.

[Rbstr]

3570.
It consumes less power by nearly 20W and it's cheaper.
(it' even got better graphics capability, not that it matters)

I haven't gone digging for benchmarks but, in games, I wouldn't be surprised if the i5 wins by a small margin.

[duomaxwl]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

3570.
It consumes less power by nearly 20W and it's cheaper.
(it' even got better graphics capability, not that it matters)

I haven't gone digging for benchmarks but, in games, I wouldn't be surprised if the i5 wins by a small margin.

Did you mean the i5-3570K or the actual i5-3570? Unfortunately the i5-3570K is sold out at NewEgg right now, so I guess my plans are on hold until next week (which works I guess, the motherboard I wanted is out of stock too, and I'm not sure if I want to step down the AS Rock Z77 Extreme3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157330

I really can't get a good answer on if the Phase Power design thing really matters that much (It's 8+3 instead of 8+4 on the Extreme4.)

I guess I could get the i5-3570, but I'd imagine OCing would be a bit more time consuming without the unlocked multiplier.

[Rbstr]

Yeah, I meant the 'K'. If you want to overclock that's where you need to go...I don't think there's a non-k 3570, I think it's a 3550

As far as motherboards...what are you going to miss if you go lower?

[duomaxwl]

Nothing really, I just heard a bunch of stuff about the 8 + 3 Power Phase and how it wasn't as good as the 8 + 4, but I think I'm just going to get that motherboard and call it a day. All the fancy power phase stuff is above my head anyway. I found the processor on Amazon the same price it was on Newegg, and I'm going to do pull the trigger on that one. Thanks for the advice guys!

[Vancha]

Try getting the 3570k at a Micro Center if you can. They seem to have silly low prices for CPUs.

[duomaxwl]

I've checked, but there aren't any down here. The closest is Texas. =\