CPU Get a 2600k or wait for Ivy Bridge?

Ive been using the E8600 for about three years now and after seeing alot of good things said about the 2600k i was thinking about getting one myself, however with Ivy Bridge almost round the corner im beginning to think otherwise.
I do mostly gaming and some video encoding stuff and havent really hit a wall with performance on current games (rocking a msi gtx 580 OC).
So what do you think, should i wait or should i get a 2600k?

 

I'd say wait - if you do get a 2600K, you may kick yourself when IB hits the shelves.

In any case most people will agree that hyperthreading is wasted on games... a good quad core like the 2500K would be more than sufficient for gaming and also for basic video encoding. In the future it may be possible to get a 6-core CPU without hyperthreading, which is why waiting is your best option atm. The E8600 is no slouch with its 10x multi; do you have it overclocked?

 

Id save the dosh and go for a 2500K. Ram is cheap now and it might not last long.

 

Personally, as above I wouldn't reccomend the 2600k.

Definitely though 2500k would be a good upgrade and it's the same board for IB so you could just drop a new one in.

If you're short on cash a 2100 would also be a good investment under the same guise of sticking in an IB chip when they come out.

 

As fast as IB might be, in terms of gaming, will it REALLY be worth it over a 2500k?

Having said that, I will probably find myself upgrading

 

Pft, it's got tri somethings! You know you want that in your life. Just think how awesome you'll sound when you tell your friends about your tri gate transistors.

I think if it were on another socket not many people would bother, but the fact it's just a straight swap will make it too tempting for most I should imagine.

 

So is it confirmed that IB will work with exsiting motherboards? Possibly just a bios update etc? I wondered if they would require different power circuitry, a bit like the case with socket 775 and the switch from p4 to c2d.

+1 for a 2500k now or at most wait till bulldozer is released.

 

I've been debating this and I'm going to hold off for IB, because its not 'if' it'll be fast but 'how much' it'll be faster, as estimates from the tech suggest it'll be 20-50% faster (wild speculation). I'm also curious what SB-E will be like in terms of performance vs cost and how this will affect the SB pricing...

 

Agreeing with Pete for SB-E. It might be here as soon as November so that will be worth a look.

 

"havent really hit a wall with performance on current games"
Kind of answered your own question.

 

I'm afraid my tech is a bit dated, so I've no experience with the current gen. But I thought the 2500k and the 2600k were both LGA1155 socket? Why would the 2600k preclude the upgrade to Ivy Bridge?

 

It doesn't, apologies if the wording made it sound like it does.

The 2600k just isn't worth the extra cash over the 2500k.

 

I wouldn't go that far. It's rarely worth it...

 

I should've added IMO.

Obviously it's the old diminishing returns for higher prices. If you have the money then the 2500k is a considerable step up from a 2100 but there's a bigger gap between the 2500k and the 2600k than there is between the 2500k and the 2100 with no where near the same performance jump. Granted it will be better for encoding but the gaming performance is very very similar. I realise you're well aware of that but just trying to justify my reasoning.

It depends on your usage as to if it justifies an extra £90 or not. But I at least think it's debateable where as I can't see anyone suggesting the £70 difference between a 2100 and a 2500k is not worth it...

With that said. Obviously if you only use facebook, it isn't...

What's my point again?

 

Sorry for the late reply all.
-LennyRhys
Yes i have it overclocked to 4ghz (400 x 10 @ v1.312) and its done me pretty well so far on this 120mm zalman cooler, gets to about 50-55c on load.

-Mucgoo
True, but im thinking about a little bit of futureproofing, if a 2600k or 2500k (as many have suggested, thanks!) will be sufficient its still worth looking into.

And yes i heard on another thread that some of the ivy bridge chips will be socket 1155 compatible, but theres the 2011 board to consider now too. I might reconsider sticking around for those boards, keep hearing about this PCI-e 3.0 floating about on some videos.

 

PCI 3 won't take of for a while yet, at least as mandatory.
Even 8x doesn't get saturated yet.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pcie-geforce-gtx-480-x16-x8-x4,2696-17.html

 

From someone whom owns both, don't bother with the 2600k unless you like doing photoshop work, rendering, running massive VM's or folding like I do. Its just not worth the extra, you can generally pick a 2500k up for about £120 second hand, along with an £80 board and a £25 Gelid Tranquillo cooler you will hit 4.5Ghz easily and keep the temps well within limits.

 

hang on am i missing something here? ivy bridge wont go into a 1155 socket surely thats what 2011 is for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge#Ivy_Bridge_2

 

Socket 2011 is for X79 Sandybridge E

Unless something drastic changes, Ivy Bridge will go into a 1155 board just fine.

 

ahhh kk im thinking of the tick not the tock.