Planning on a Computer Upgrade - What to get?

[Evolved]

I highly doubt you can max out BF3 with that card. And you don't waste your money on an Fx4100 if you want to be just a little future proof.

But I just built the exact system for a friend, just several days ago.

Installed Battlefield 3 and the game performed very, very well. 40+ fps at all times (even on the largest maps with 64 players and everything going on at once.)

I was confused too. I couldn't believe that just a single 6870 and FX-4100 could perform so well.

 

[MadDogTen]

I would go with;

i5-2500k
ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
8GB G.Skill Ripjaw X (1.35V)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB

Now with all that you're at $618 with shipping. Minus shipping and the rebates it comes to something like $597.95. I think going for a GTX560 is a waste (the HD6870 outperforms it across the board), as would be getting a 2600K. The 2600K really only benefits if you can max out the threads, and for gaming it also tends to produce micro-stutter (an issue common with HyperThreading). The i5-2500k is a substantially better buy in terms of cost\performance. I think 5GHz is a little ambitious, but you could easily get 4.3-4.6GHz if you used a Hyper 212 and popped another fan on there.

The Stuttering only happens for some people, and seems to be mainly on BF3 (Which I don't even play). Also, I already said I didn't necessarily want 5Ghz, I was just curious if anyone here got there. The Cooler I have picked is already used by another user here to Cool the i7-2600 OC'ed and works just fine.

I said I ALREADY had the 560GTX, So that can't be changed (Unless I can sale it for $180+).

I like that ram though, and the Lower Voltage Helps.

The Motherboard there costs a bit to much when getting the i7-2600, Though I will think about switching it back to the i5-2500.

 

[xenocide]

Micro-Stuttering is most common in BF3, but I've heard of it happening in other games. If you already have the GTX560 then get an SSD. Many places have pointed out it's the most noticable performance increase you can get. I would still reccoment getting the Hyper 212+ with a second fan and doing Push\Pull, but that's just my opinion. I really don't think you'll need the i7-2600k, and saving the money towards getting an SSD, a better mobo, more RAM, or a better case would probably be better spent.