First post! Following the rules: Budget: I would like to spend up to £450 (excluding a second 260) What I use it for: Gaming. L4D 1&2, COD, Crysis etc... big steam collection Monitor: I'm using a Samsung 22" 3D Monitor @ 1680x1050 (with Nvidia glasses) My system as it stands: Antec 900 Patriot PS-100 64GB SSD Seagate 1TB HD OCZ ModXtreme-pro 700W PSU Asus M3N78-EM Mobo AMD Phenom II 920 2.8Ghz @ 3.2Ghz 8GB DDR2 800Mhz GEIL RAM Thermaltake V1 CPU cooler GTX 260 216core I can get hold of a second GTX260 216 for £50 off a friend.... worth it? Looking @: i7 950, Asus P6X58D-E & 6GB Corsair 1600 in Triple channel - keeping the rest of my system. Unless i5 is worth a shout with new GPU? I have built 100s of PCs so it won't be an issue building it. No OS needed. Not a great deal of knowledge with overclocking but will do at some point. Thoughts overall??
if your going to upgrade anything I'd say a new graphics card should be top priority! and like the wonderful bit tech staff said, just wait a couple of weeks ;]
Just my thoughts, but i'd go with the i7 950, Asus P6X58D-E & 6GB Corsair 1600 in Triple channel upgrade. Yes we have Sandy bridge coming but they're replacing the LGA1156 CPU's not the LGA1366 i7's and although I think the Sandy Bridge's are gonna be great chips they're gonna be at most on par with the LGA1366 chips. Also we can wait for months/years/forever for the latest technology in the computer world. If the OP was looking solely at an i5 set-up then i'd say wait. In this case go with the i7 kit you suggested.
I agree that people can often spend too much time waiting for that next release that's "just round the corner" and never end up buying anything because of it, however in this case it's only a wait of three weeks so, unless the upgrade is urgent, it would be silly not to wait and see hwat Sandy Bridge offers before making the leap.
I'm waiting to see what 1155 brings too before my next build.....my guess is it would be around 10% to 20% better than 1156 but not quicker than 1366. Rock on mid-January!
I suggest you read this review. It shows 1156 faster than 1366 in some benchmarks and vice versa. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/09/08/intel-core-i5-and-i7-lynnfield-cpu-review/1 Teasers I've seen about 1155 seem to hint it is notably faster than 1366. Hopefully we might find out in the next week or so. It depends when the nda runs out. I'd wait for the Sandy bridge review to see how it performs on cpu/gpu tests before deciding on your upgrade Fordie00.
It would be strange if 1155 (mid range socket) vastly outperformed 1366 (high end socket), otherwise there would be no reason to buy 1366 CPU's until it gets replaced at the end of 2011. I also noticed CPC magazine's 1156 build full of "Stop: Sandybridge out next month" signs, but not on the 1366 build. I think the NDA runs out about Jan 9th, so I look forward to it
http://translate.googleusercontent....le.com&usg=ALkJrhiLdhPoRsK37Xxe-ihquXSzvyxb9w It's not as impressive as rumoured. For £450 you should be able to get a new i5 760 or if you wait 3 weeks a 2500k and mobo + 4gb duel RAM. Say £270 for that. Sell your gtx 260 for £50 and you've got £220 for a new graphic card.
It depends which 1156s you compare against which 1366s. The 800series I7s will match the comparable clock 9** I7s. The hex cores are in a league of their own. The I7 you are referring to in the mag is a hex core and I'd be very impressed if a quad core 1155 could beat it. The OP mentioned an I7 950, that is not overly high end in the I7 range and post 2 in the thread seems a pretty big hint or why post it? Search the net, there's plenty of info on the new I7 2600K overclocking from 4.5-5.0Ghz on air. Can the 950 do that? When they released the 860/870 1156s, what was the point in buying one of those as they were pretty similar to the 920 but they released them anyway (and I bought one)
That's irrelevant. It will all boil down to the bench test results, not how fast you can get the chip to run. Bottom line it this: The Sandy Bridge chips will be a great addition to Intel's line up but they won't perform better than the LGA1366's/X58 platforms.
To be honest, you might as well keep your currebt kit for a while, it won't really have much of a negative effect during gaming. Graphics cards should definitely be your priority
Wait two weeks and build a system based on a 2500k or 2600k. You'll get way better performance for less money.... i5 2500k costs $200 and can be overclocked to 4+GHz on air with allmost no increase of voltage.
Given the options you've outlined an i5, or a new Sandy Bridge, with a new GPU would be the way to go as it's the GPU that's currently holding you back. If you could upgrade the GPU together with an i7 950, Asus P6X58D-E & 6GB Corsair 1600 Triple channel RAM then it's a no brainer; this system will own an i5 or SB platform. And it's only the SB's with the unlocked multi's that will overclock well.
It's not irrelevant at all? Most people on this forum overclock and if you read the review, you'll see that most 9** series I7s are beaten by the new Sandy bridge cpus at stock and overclocked speeds. Even the gulftown gets beaten on some benchmarks. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/1
looks like SB killed x58 I had a 9800gx2 (so == 2x250's) and have just swapped in 1x570 and it wipes the floor of the old card for 3d vision. with 3d vision you're probably gpu limited rather than cpu.
You would say that after reading the SB review, it's there in black and white. Pre-review I honestly don't think you knew how the SB's would perform. Having read the review today though I will admit I was wrong. The SB's are seriously fast!
Yea, I just wanted to wait for a proper review of the chips. Mmmm... Now do I upgrade or wait until the replacement LGA1366 CPU?
