Really interesting cross section here then. Let me lay out my scenario for you. My machine is a dual core 939 Athlon overclocked to 2.1Ghz. I have 2gig of RAM, a 4350 and tons of HDDs. She runs Win 7 Pro x64 quite happily, serves media to my amp and TV and just about plays CoD2 and NFS:MW at 1080p!! What she doesn't do is rip CDs to FLAC fast enough, play any recent games at all (and I've been dying to get into Arma II amongst other things for ages) and isn't the snappiest to boot and occasionally struggles with multitasking (although a damn site quicker than XP Pro x32 was). I've been putting off an upgrade for ages because I don't want to spend a large amount of money effectively JUST to game and I didn't have the money. I could buy a console for that. Sandybridge seemed like as a fresh platform it might cover all my bases (I'm not bothered about overclocking these days) in terms of being quick, new, power efficient and therefore hopefully lasting a while. However, after looking at the board previews, aside from the better CPUs, the actual platform offers nothing I really NEED. Hence the question. I could spend a lot less now on an AMD 850 board with SATA6 and USB3 for the future and in day to day usage for what I do, a 555BE with a possible unlocked core or two would be more than ample. For those of you concerned about speed, surely the 760 is still more than enough for gaming and encoding/multitasking/future needs and you can now get boards with USB3 and SATA6. As they appear to be the only development worth buying for the future, I'm struggling to justify the wait. Of course, I've waited a lot longer than most of you.....
Can't say that it is to be honest, I've got my i7 950 sitting there happily chomping away at anything I throw at it This PC will last me a good 3-4 years now
The only thing you NEED more CPU power for at the moment is video editing/graphics rendering (non-gaming), as anything quicker in that department is always nice. Gaming sure as heck won't use the extra CPU power very efficiently at all, and even something as lowly as an i5 can chew through most tasks with ease. Would Sandy Bridge do them a bit quicker? Of course. Is it worth the extra cost? Not unless you're using it professionally. I see no point in waiting tbh.
This is exactly the dilemma I am facing. I have been eyeing up an i5 760 setup to replace my current PC, or save a bit more for an i7 setup, or I could wait and see how Sandy Bridge performs. But by then the VAT will go up, and like others have said, overclocking Sandy Bridge seems more restricted. Plus I don't know if USB 3/SATA 3 will work better with P67 boards....as am I right in thinking the performance is mixed on P55 boards? I just can't decide!
There are various issues with available PCI-E bandwidth on P55 and H55 boards. That's what made USB3 and SATA6 a problem on 1156. 1366 is fine. AMD seem to have this completely sorted with 850 chipset though. It's just that their CPUs are lagging behind. But as pointed out here all the time, for gaming, it doesn't really matter. I know how you feel!!
It will affect my next build yes but then so will the next gen AMD stuff. TBH though my i7 920 @ 3.8ghz is hardly leaving me wanting and it may be some time before I upgrade this.
Can't see me upgrading before they release there ivy bridge platform and even then I'd be waiting for the 6core CPUs. Think im done with pc purchases for a while, ( ti new xbox and ps4 ) force graphics to be more powerful, If a you do is game i760 is enough more than enough even a cheap i5 would do the trick.
Im running a core 2 duo and was going to upgrade to an i7 chip but now im thinking I might wait and either get an i7 for slightly less or just get a SB chip. But yes... It has me thinking for sure.
This is where I'm at too. My e6750 is only at 3Ghz but I've had it a while and it is only dual core, so I'm thinking of upgrading in the next 4-6 months. I think Sandy Bridge may bring new options so I'll wait until it's been out a couple of months and seen what new motherboards come along before I make my choice. However, if there are some bargains when it's released, akin to the Sapphire 6870, I may buy early.
There's a major flaw in that logic. You're right that you will see little to no gaming performance increase beyond an i5, however, you're forgetting that faster doesn't just mean faster in the high end. Lower end processors will have greater performance than their current generation market equivalents. Look at at a $100 Core i3 processor versus a $100 Core 2 Duo processor. Expect the exact same thing to happen with Sandy Bridge coming, and with every new architecture. For people who are not already meeting their reasonable maximum level of performance a new architecture right around the corner is a good way to get something from nothing.
Probably be upgrading to whatever high end platform (AMD or Intel) offers the most megadings once the dust settles. But I readily admit I have more technolust than sense
Edited my post, thanks for the info. Since 1366 seems to have no USB/SATA performance issues, I will now price up an i7 setup as an option....shame it doesn't make the "buy or wait" desicion easier