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Is Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer worth waiting for???

han_solo

han_solo

han_solo

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Joined
11 Mar 2009
Posts
1,061
Hi guys, sorry if this has been done to death but i'm in the middle of upgrading my E6300.

Was going to go down the i5 route (for gaming and light Office, HD material use) but then i came across a few articles on Sandy Bridge and more googling came up with Bulldozer... it was pretty technical so i skipped most of it.

Anyone know if these newer cpu's is worth waiting for? Q1 2011 release date right??
 
It all depends on how patient a person you are, if you buy the i5 now you'll most likely be kicking yourself for not waiting when they do come out but 3-5mths is a long time to wait with money burning a hole in your pocket. :p
 
Hi there, is that the 1.83GHz E6300 you have there?

Also, can I ask what graphics card you have and how much RAM?

When you say "HD Material use" do you mean watching HD videos, editing HD images/video or something else entirely?

From what I hear Intel is indeed headed for a Q1 release date for Sandy Bridge. For Bulldozer the launch certainly sounds like it will be happening in the first half of 2011

As for whether they are worth waiting for - for your uses (assuming HD materials means just watching video) then the extra power these CPUs bring to the table if not exactly required and it is a while to wait. If you want a new system now then either the i5 760 or Phenom II X4 would be a great choice.
 
yeh, only watching HD material and playing games mostly (not really a power user or do i use my pc for any heavy image editing stuff like other people here).

i'm pretty patient actually :P Maybe i should just keep my current rig and upgrade my 4890 to tie me over?

Maybe SB/B is probably only around 10% better than the current ix cpus? thinking about it.. most games don't stress any of the quad cpus right?
 
If you have a 4890 and a 1.83GHz core 2 duo then I expect that in some games you will be limited by the CPU.

May I ask what motherboard you have? You may be able to do a cheeky £80 upgrade to a second-hand Q6600 and unleash the full potention of your graphics card while keeping the cost down.

Aye, the SB is expected to be around 10-20% faster than the current i7 clock-for-clock - however they are expected to clock higher.
 
i've got one of these: Gigabyte G31M-ES2L Intel G31

Looks like i could upgrade my cpu to a quad like you say. maybe i should just hold onto my cash and put it towards my 'ultimate' upgrade in 2011? :P
 
Ah, good stuff. That motherboard supports the Q6600 (or Q6700 if you can find one) without any issues.

If you go for a Q6600 (core 2 quad) then make sure it is a G0 stepping (spec code: SLACR), not the earlier, hotter B3 stepping (spec code: SL9UM).

If you post 27 more times and fill in your trust details then you will have access to the members market - this is a great place to buy a second-had CPU (one just sold for £72.50 last night). Also, the obvious popular auction site is well worth a look.
 
Do you guys think SB could reach overclock speeds of 5Ghz on air? :P

I've seen people report air cooling speeds of around 4.2/4.3ghz (there abouts)...so going to 32nm (28nm??) might mean this is doable? :)

Might just wait actually. thanks for the heads up about MM... will defo have a look elsewhere too until i reach 250 posts :) thanks!
 
Go with Q6600 G0:). I recently bought my first 2nd hand Q6600 Go from the Ocuk members market for £80 and since then I have been very happy. So far I am keeping it at stock speed of 2.4GHz as I need a new cpu cooler for overclocking but I feel none of the games which I play stress the cpu such as crysis, just cause 2, counter strike source, flight simulatorx etc.

Q6600 will last you for a long time and sandybridge/bulldozer although more powerful and faster will cost you a lot of money:).
 
might have to seriously look into the Q6600. Might last me a few years if none of the latest games comes close to stressing it :)

Doesn't this mean buying the latest ix cpus just for gaming alone is a little overkill??
 
han_solo said:
might have to seriously look into the Q6600. Might last me a few years if none of the latest games comes close to stressing it :)

Doesn't this mean buying the latest ix cpus just for gaming alone is a little overkill??
Click to expand...

i7 is considered to be an overkill by a lot of people while i5 seems to be the best bang for buck in the i series for gaming. However i5 is almost reaching the end of line as there is no upgrade path for it.

Socket 775 has been EOL for ages but as you can see it is a very versatile and mature technology incorporating support for a large number of cpus ranging from celeron to core 2 and is the best bang for buck in terms of cheaper price. Most of the skt 775 quads ranging from Q6600 to Q9650 are on par with i5 but slightly slower :).
 
thanks for that. A friend of mine just messaged me saying he might have a Q9550 quad for me... 'el cheapo' was his words :P Assuming i can get this chip from him for a buddy price... my questions are:

is it a good cpu? better then Q6600? better overclocking potential? any heat issues?
 
han_solo said:
thanks for that. A friend of mine just messaged me saying he might have a Q9550 quad for me... 'el cheapo' was his words :P Assuming i can get this chip from him for a buddy price... my questions are:

is it a good cpu? better then Q6600? better overclocking potential? any heat issues?
Click to expand...

To answer your questions in order:

1) Oh yes
2) Oh yes
3) Oh yes
4) Oh no

I would check what stepping he has got (he can use CPU-z to check) it will be either C1 or E0. The E0 is the newer, cooler, better overclocking chip - but the C1 is still a nice chip and is faster and overclocks better than a G0 Q6600. Any idea how much he will give it to you for? make sure that he knows that second hand Q6600 G0 chips are going for £72.50, so if he is a nice friend he shouldn't ask for much more than that :).
 
han_solo said:
thanks for that. A friend of mine just messaged me saying he might have a Q9550 quad for me... 'el cheapo' was his words :P Assuming i can get this chip from him for a buddy price... my questions are:

is it a good cpu? better then Q6600? better overclocking potential? any heat issues?
Click to expand...

Yup it is one of the top skt 775 quad cpu and easily beats Q6600. Google seems to show people have overclocked Q9550 to 4GHz even though it's multiplier goes up to 8.5 compared to 9 for Q6600. Also Q9550 is a 45nm cpu while Q6600 is 65nm so Q9550 will run cooler than Q6600:). Here is the comparison between Q6600 and Q9550:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=50

Definitely get the Q9550 if your friend is offering you at a cheap price as they sell for over £100 2nd hand:).
 
oooooo... getting quite excited now. He says he will check stepping when he gets home tonight :)

sooo.. if i buy it off him, i should be ok (gaming wise) for the next 3 or so years?? (as far cpu goes anyway).

how much should i expect to pay if it's the C1 stepping as supposed to the E0 one?

He's also mentioned his old mobo as well if i'm interested... Asus Striker 2 Extreme or something like that. Your views guys? (thanks!!)
 
Why the heck is everyone saying a Q6600 G0 ????? Or even a Q9550. That is nonsense. If you've read this thread then you'll know what mobo the OP has. Its a Gigabyte G31M-ES2L Intel G31 The oc capabilities of that board are somewhere between zilch and zilch plus 15% So frankly if he's going for a Q6600 the stepping is irrelevant (worse still with a Q9550) And in a G31 mobo any oc'ing is close to irrelevant.

So Cost - About £80 for a used Q6600 which will in the OP's mobo deliver not a great deal more than stock Q6600 performance. Errrmmm..........

On the other hand an Asrock N68C-S UCC mobo plus an Athlon II X4 630 will cost together only about £102. It will take his current DDR2 ram, etc. It will overclock to 3.6Ghz or more and eat any G31 mobo/Q6600 combo alive. Plus, because it takes two sticks of either DDR2 or DDR3 it offers an upgrade path to DDR3 without changing motherboard and even allows later migration to socket AM3+ mobos when they arrive because the 630 would fit in one of those boards too.

Don't get me wrong the Q6600 is a great chip especially the G0 stepping but it isn't the universal solution for all 775 users who now needing or want more power economically. Certainly re this OP's current mobo a Q6600 G0 makes absolutely no sense logically or economically. The least expensive and most flexible AMD quad / mobo combination makes far more sense in every way.
 
I thought I could wait the other month but then I thought **** it, so I took the plundge. I upgraded from E8500 and the difference is amazing. If you think you can wait all the time you will never upgrade, as after Sandy Bridge there is Ivry. I would upgrade if you think you need the power and oophhh.
 
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