Hi I currently have the following setup; - i7 920 D0 (Not overclocked, never has been) - MSI x58 Pro - Artic Freezer Pro 7 - 7970 3GB - 120GB Vertex 2E + 1GB 7200rpm (Have 11TB in HP N40L Microserver, so low storage requirements on main PC). - Silverstone FT01 Case - 6GB of DDR3 1600mhz - Iiyama B2712HS 27" Screen I've been getting the itch recently to upgrade, the CPU and Mobo have done be proud for 4 years. i'd imagine the following bits; - CPU - Motherboard - HSF - More recent and larger capacity SSD - RAM - Screen (Possibly 2x 27" Monitors, IPS?) Do not need something for overclocking.. Budget wise.. Not really constrained by cash.. I like to buy something which represents the most power at the best value over time, so for example i've owned the Q6600 and i7 920 in two previous systems as they were powerful CPUs but offered great longevity. Other option is to wait... Anything coming up tech wise round the corner is worth a 6-8 month wait for?
Well, Haswell should be here in a few weeks, I would wait and see how that turns out first. Screen wise I would look at the Dell Ultrasharp series.
I'm not convinced an i7 is really that joining of value and performance, especially over time. A 3570K is very nearly as fast in games, but significantly cheaper. As such, I'd recommend buying the Haswell equivalent, and skipping the i7 entirely.
CPU is pretty good 1 here. Motherboard. Or build one yourself like here. Then for HSF you'll want some of this SSD large capacity Ram... well there is only one way really... use this with the rest for best results Screen... simples: 3 of these should do it.
So is it worth waiting a couple of months for Haswell? Just on brief reading, seems like a 15-20% bump in performance and better power management? I mainly buy a CPU to last me a good 3-4 years, the i7 920 D0 has been fantastic and especially because i knew i could overclock if "If i needed to".. I haven't but it's nice to have that knowledge. Generally i want something people think is going to last me 3-4 years. For example, the E8400 was a great dual core CPU but the Q6600 was seen as the best CPU where you got the best value for money and longevity. The i7 920 D0 was again seen in the same light. If somebody could direct me towards that "holy grail" of a CPU, that would be best.. Be it the i7 or not. The price really isn't the main consideration for me, it's more than the money i pay represents value over time.
The last 'Holy Grail' CPU was the 2500k in my opinion thanks to the heat problems in the IB CPUs. For the heat issues alone I would wait for Haswell to see if its sorted. TBH I'm surprised that you feel that your current set up really needs upgrading at all.
TBH, I'd buy the screen now and wait on everything else. I don't think you'll get the significant bump that you're looking for - you might as well wait to see if Haswell is any good. Of course I would say that though, as I have no intention of upgrading anytime soon - and why should I if all of the latest games play just fine (albeit only at 1920x1200).
If you don't use applications which require huge CPU grunt, and/or mainly play games, you'll notice almost no difference after upgrading, even if you spend over a grand on new bits. Better off getting another 7970 and seeing where we are in 6 months...
It is worth waiting for Haswell, simply because you're wanting to get 3-4 years out of the CPU, and there's no point making it obsolete within a few weeks of purchase. Haswell's chipsets will also be more fully featured (more USB3.0 ports for example). The sweet spot CPUs in the last two generations have been the i5 2500K and the i5 3570K. They're quad cores, basically identical to the i7, just lacking HyperThreading. I can't see the CPU market jumping to mass adoption of six-core units anytime soon, so a fast clock quad is going to do a good job.
