Is this worth upgrading?
 

I put together an AMD machine (AM3 mobo with Phenom II x4 925) 2 years ago banking on the fact that there will be a noteworthy Bulldozer for upgrading later on. According to the reviews, the Bulldozer did not end up being as good as it was hyped up to be.

I use the machine mainly for light gaming (Heroes of Newerth mostly, and Diablo III when it comes out), which I am sure the Radeon 5850 will handle just fine. However, I have been wanting to stream 1080p or 720p smoothly and the CPU has been quite a let down.

With a Blackmagic Intensity Pro and Flash Media Encoder 3.2 (with H264), I was only able to stream 720p at 10fps with nothing else running while people with mid to high-end i7 machines can stream 1080p WHILE playing games... Anyway.

With that said, I can either get 1) an 8-core FX-8120 for around ~CDN$201 or 2) get a 2600k or wait for Ivy Bridge 3770k to come out for around ~CDN$575 (new mobo, CPU and RAM) and give my current machine to my wife (less the video card).

So my question is, do you think the FX-8120 or even a 6-core 1100T will be sufficient for what I need (stream and encode on the fly at 1080p while I play games) or do I need an i7 as multithreads really help in encoding while I play games?

I don't really want to waste 200 bucks just to have AMD disappoint me again haha. Will probably need the RS gurus and Skinnypupp to chime in here. Thanks in advance!

Here's a review done by Toms Hardware on the AMD Bulldozer FX-8150.

Im not a big AMD fan, so I didnt really read it... but it looks like it competes with the i5...

I would say to go with the i5 setup, then upgrade to the i7 cpu a year or 2 down the road...

Thanks for the article... just took at look at Skinnypupp's HCW site as well... Looks like I will just the ivy bridge when it comes out.

It's so sad that the i7 920 which was released years ago is still destroying the new Bulldozer in H.264 encoding.

You mean in couple years upgrade to i12

Honestly, any quad core processor with a decent video card is enough to game nowadays ; a Q6600 is enough for Battlefield 3 (for example)

There was an article on tom's hardware comparing a dual core with quad core for gaming and it's only a 10% difference (assuming what you are only running is the game you are playing), because no game utilizes more than 2 cores.

^ main concern is streaming/encoding on the fly at 1080p or 720p while I play games.

I was looking at the 8-core FX-81XX as well... after some overclocked, it should as good as i7-2600K stock. around $1600HKD. However, power consumption of these cpus are crazy, you need at least a good 1000w to power one.

Waiting for Ivy Bridge would be a good idea if you're not in a hurry. Even then, current i5 2500K or i7 2600K wouldn't be a bad idea either.

If you really want to upgrade now then get an i5 2500k on a z68 motherboard. Most z68 motherboards will support ivy bridge processors

So not true.. I had the C2D E8400 OC to 4ghz and 8gb of ram... BF3 keep crashing coz my cpu is maxing at 95-100%, i had shutdown all the services/apps i dont need... bought the i5 2500k Combo (still at stock speed, 3.6ghz) runs sooo smooth, i even had TS3, Procon running while playing bf3... no lagging at all...

that's unless you play skyrim, just curious why would you need to stream 1080p vids if you're gaming same time?
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Memory express has the 2500k+mobo+8gb ram bundle right now for 309.(299 after rebate)

I saw alot of intel 2700k chip brand new in box on craigslist lately, they are going for as low as $250, could be a good upgrade. Its probably the best bang for your buck considering the new 2600k at ncix is about $320 plus tax.

Those probably came from the Intel Retail Edge deals, hehe.

I know, but it is still worth the savings i think. I bought my 2600k last year this way from a guy who has EPP access.

Clock for clock the FX is slower than the Phenom II and i5/i7.

It's either for streaming what I am gaming at the time or streaming some 1080p contents over the internet for my inlaws while I am gaming.

the i5 2500k with a decent heatsink can net you close 4ghz and can compete with the i7 at stock speeds... plus intel has this OC thing where if the CPU melts of breaks, you can exchange it.. thats pretty good..