Upgrade time: Sandy or Sandy-E ?

Gripen90 · 16 Nov 2011 at 13:54

I'm upgrading my old system which hardware (CPU, Motherboard, Ram only) will be put into my 2nd rig, as I use the primary PC for both workstation and gaming purposes.

However I'm in serious doubt whether to go ahead with my current order on (still awaiting stock on the CPU)

Asus P8P67WS Revolution (3-way-SLi) + Intel Core i7 2700K 3.5Ghz = £493

vs a new X79 system

ASUS P9X79 PRO (3-way-SLi) + Intel Corei7-3930K 3.2 GHz Processor = £722

I already have recieved my 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz Blue low-profile heatspreader 1.5v CL9 memory.

What would be the best choice as for having a system running for at least 1½years time ?. My GFX's have made a year now, and they will run for 2012 also
The P8P67WS is Ivy-Bridge ready so it's possible to upgrade with that CPU later.

stulid · 16 Nov 2011 at 13:59

Looking at your spec, is there anything actually wrong with it?

The only thing I can see is a slow (By SSD standards) drive that could swapped.

FlyingPig · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:23

Save your money. I'm not an expert but isn't the only advantage of the Sandy-E in very particular programmes making use of hyperthreading? So if all you want is gaming and some office work, I don't see the point in spending all that money, but hey, it's your cash...

Gripen90 · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:25

stulid said:
Looking at your spec, is there anything actually wrong with it?

The only thing I can see is a slow (By SSD standards) drive that could swapped.

Not at such it runs fine, but I'm planning on a smaller dedicated LAN system for bit faster gaming when I'm out, so I figured I'd rather re-use the old hardware than buying new stuff for that system

stulid · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:32

So what programs/usage do you use this machine for?

moody89 · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:35

FlyingPig said:
Save your money. I'm not an expert but isn't the only advantage of the Sandy-E in very particular programmes making use of hyperthreading? So if all you want is gaming and some office work, I don't see the point in spending all that money, but hey, it's your cash...

Agree with this. From what I've heard, for gaming at least then it certainly isn't worth the money to go SB-E over the original SB. It's only in very heavily threaded programs you'll notice the difference.

Gripen90 · 16 Nov 2011 at 14:38

stulid said:
So what programs/usage do you use this machine for?

Entire Adobe CS5 package + After Effects (graphical editing etc). Some occasional HD-video (not that often).

moody89 said:
Agree with this. From what I've heard, for gaming at least then it certainly isn't worth the money to go SB-E over the original SB. It's only in very heavily threaded programs you'll notice the difference.

Well I am leaning towards this, also since the performance of Ivy-Bridge is still unknown

Adsta · 16 Nov 2011 at 15:15

Wait for IB imo. If the IB performance isnt that great the likelyhood is that the prices of SB will be lower. Otherwise IB might be a huge performance jump at which point whats the point in investing in SB now while prices are still fairly high. Especially as the spec you have at the moment is not exactly bad.

Gripen90 · 17 Nov 2011 at 09:21

Adsta said:
Wait for IB imo. If the IB performance isnt that great the likelyhood is that the prices of SB will be lower. Otherwise IB might be a huge performance jump at which point whats the point in investing in SB now while prices are still fairly high. Especially as the spec you have at the moment is not exactly bad.

You do have a point there.. but if a 2700K can keep me "satisfied" for 1year before trying out an Ivy then it's good