Current build: haf x nvidia edition, i7 950, noctua cooler, asus sabertooth, 12gb ddr3 1600, HX 850 corsair modular PS, Asus 580GTX direct CU, 128gb crucial 6gb/s SSD, 2TB western digital black 6gb/s Proposed upgrade i7 2700k, Asus P8Z68-V PRO GEN3 Intel Z68, Corsair Dominator 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-14900C9 1866MHz . maybe 850 80plus PS (Corsair Professional Series AX850 High Performance 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply) Here's my thinking: the CPU charts score the current i7 much faster than the 950. (around 20%) , while it consumes a lot less energy (my energy bill is massive!) I make 3D models so often max all the threads out rendering as well as using 2D applications such as photoshop and illustrator. I was thinking I'd probably get around £300 for my current board, cpu and RAM so the upgrade wouldn't totally kill the old bank balance. Also is is it worth getting an 80plus power supply to replace the 'HX' And finally if I went ahead would the NH-U12P heat sink fit the new socket. Thanks
If you're going to be overclocking (which I will assume you will be) then there is no real point in getting a 2700K over a 2600K, as the only difference is 100Mhz in the clock speed Save the money and spend it elsewhere And you will probably have to take the heatsinks off the RAM so the cooler fits
20% in benches isnt nessary 20% in real life. If your worried about the power bill buying more high end gear isnt going to reduce it. At load with just the cpu counted your not looking at more than a 20watt saving at stock and it gets less at overclocked settings. if you take a 4.5ghz overclock vs the 4ghz most i7s hit each requires around 1.3v to achieve this. Want to save real money replace the GPU with onboard graphics that the new intel provides thats how you knock a great big chunk of wattage outta your computer ( 300 + ) If you dont game the proffesional grade GPUs are alot better on power and performance than any gamer GPU can be. And id look at how cheaply you can get a 6core cpu for your current intel platform as most 3d programs support the 6core 12 threads cpus very well, You would gain more benifit in that upgrade than a 2700k would ever provide. 2700k with 580 requires 480 watts of power average on a calculator thats probably not that accurate but the i7950 with 580 requires 496 watts of power average thats at stock settings the graphics card is 250 watts of that load. if you push both to there respective overclocks your well above 600watts of power for full system load at 3d work, overclocking the gpu would push this even higher.
Just go for the 2600K, same great improvement. And yes, get shorter RAM heatsinks. Mind you, I can't see you needing a cooler like the NH- D14 on Sandy Bridge unless you're doing some very serious overclocking!
1366 kicks ass - that's why I just spent a fortune upgrading from 1366 to 1366 In terms of power draw, it's a non-issue unless you have several rigs folding 24/7 and want to keep costs as low as possible. The cost of running one PC for several hours a day is negligible - I calculated a while ago that if I average 200W of power draw for twelve hours every day it'll cost me £7 a month. To put that in perspective, 360 hours of computer use costs the same as two beers.
Personally I wouldn't bother. The i7 950 is still beastly, just OC it as far as you feel comfortable with and wait for something else.
Honestly it won't be worth it until Ivy Bridge. The 950 is an excellent chip and will serve you plenty until Ivy Bridge comes out.
I would take Pete J's advice, as he has owned both platforms, and has gone back to his trusty 920. To be honest, even Skt 2011 was not worth the upgrade from my 990X. Which now LennyRhys has. I would keep your 950 till Ivybridge-E comes out.
3lusive makes a great suggestion - the i7 970 is the cheapest way to go 32nm and hexcore on the 1366 platform. You can pick one up for £275 if you look around and it's well worth it IMO, especially if you're maxing out all your threads regularly.
Ebay is the best place to look. There was a 970 listed for £300 (or best offer) just after I bought the 990X - had I not gone for the 990X I'd certainly have gone for that. Since then there have been a few which have all sold around the £330 mark, which is still a good price considering the performance they offer. If you haven't overclocked your 950 yet however, that should definitely be your first port of call.
I wouldn't bother. If your energy bill is massive I'd look else where in your home: interesting to read feathers post too.
Oh yes, the friend with the very expensive Bosch coffee maker. Just looking at the mains meter connected to my PC now... 136 watts idle for i5 2500k at 5ghz using offset+, 16gb 1866mhz ram, 8 x 120mm fans speed controlled by speedfan in windows, 1 x 1.8 amp water pump, 1 x SSD, 1 x Samsung 1TB hard disk, 2 x 560Ti 880mhz. In SLI BF3 can take 450 watts+ If I overclock the 2 x 560Ti to 980mhz with voltage raise the power consumption rises to 520 watts SLI in BF3. For all that SLI power of 768 cores I still can't run Ultra settings on 64 player maps. I think it's the 1gb GDDR that kills it really. My CPU overclock has all the C-States ENABLED.
Enabling c-states turns a system green, seriously - my 990X is currently at 4.5GHz, 12 threads, and my system draws hardly anything, maybe 350W when gaming and about 150W idle, if not less.
