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1366 upgrade path question?

jimwalsh

jimwalsh

jimwalsh

Associate
Joined
22 May 2011
Posts
16
I have a 960 i7 on a rampage III mobo

i have had it a while and I have started to get an itchy mouse finger looking at upgrading to sandybridge...

is there any good reason to upgrade or should I just wait for the new sockets in the autumn?


mostly playing games some photoshop work and e-peen stroking...

thanks for any advice
 
Jordan97 said:
Its not really worth it.

Here is a comparison of the 960 and 2600K: (Well, a 970 because AnandTech don't have a 960)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/157?vs=287

The speed increase isn't huge, so I would wait for Bulldozer, Ivy Bridge or even Sandybridge-E if you have got enough money.
Click to expand...

A i7 970 is a hex core cpu, using a i7 950 would be a better match to a 960.
 
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Remember a 970 is a Gulftown (6 core) not a Bloomfield (4 core) so it's a fair bit faster than a 960 especially in multithreaded tasks. (edit: as above)

For e-peen stroking and general shinyness, go for Sandy Bridge :)
Otherwise if your current setup runs everything fast enough for you, upgrading is pretty pointless.
Judging by the fact you have a Rampage III I'd guess you don't mind splashing some cash, so I'd probably say wait for the new chips and upgrade then.
 
Yeah, I was going to use a 950, but then I couldn't remember when they started going into hex cores, and I thought if I used a slower one then a faster one, it wouldn't be as fair.

I'll change it to the 950.
 
is that true that intel is going to release a sandybridge cpu for 1366 this year? i heard it several times. not sure if it is a rummor
 
mewhome said:
is that true that intel is going to release a sandybridge cpu for 1366 this year? i heard it several times. not sure if it is a rummor
Click to expand...

I hear there may be LGA 1356 CPUs incoming (from the Sandy Bridge E range) however these will be entirely incompatible with existing X58/LGA1366 boards (just how LGA 1155 chips don't work with LG 1156 boards).

Also, +1 to what everyone has said about not upgrading. The performance jump from i7 960 to i7 2600K is pretty small - especially if you are mainly gaming. The money would be much better spent on a new GPU or an SSD.

Also, if you haven't already - overclock that CPU.
 
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i thought myself of upgrading, but its clearly not worth

coming from 1366 with some OC we will not recognize any speed difference with a SB system, maybe 1-3 higher min-fps

its better to wait for SB-E or even for a later technology release.
 
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Got a 920 here, i thought about sandybridge, (theyre great clockers), but not worth the upgrade. Ill hold out for ivybridge, besides i prefer full blown x16 setups for xfire/sli.
 
dante`afk said:
its better to wait for SB-E or even for a later technology release.
Click to expand...
Things could change but right now SB-E looks utterly uninteresting to those with quad-core Bloomfields (those with hex-core Gulftowns would probably be interested though). LGA1366 had two things going for it:

- Firstly, it was available about a year before the mainstream equivalent so was easily the fastest and most feature-rich platform available.
- Secondly, there was a (relatively) low-cost CPU available at launch - the i7-920.

LGA2011 hasn't got either of these advantages - mainstream Sandy Bridge came out much earlier and the only affordable CPU at launch will be no better than the i7-2600K (unless it, for some reason, has better overclocking potential). The hex-cores are, as with LGA1366, ridiculously overpriced so most people won't be able to justify the cost for them. Even if this situation changes in 2012, it'll probably mean buying into a dead socket anyway.

IMO for most LGA1366 users it makes more sense to upgrade to Ivy Bridge or second-generation Bulldozer (or wait even longer).
 
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DragonQ said:
IMO for most LGA1366 users it makes more sense to upgrade to Ivy Bridge or second-generation Bulldozer (or wait even longer).
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This is what im gonna do, im primarily a gamer, and tbh. My current i7 920 is overkill for the vast majority of games. Id like something that runs a bit cooler though.
 
DragonQ said:
T
LGA2011 hasn't got either of these advantages - mainstream Sandy Bridge came out much earlier and the only affordable CPU at launch will be no better than the i7-2600K (unless it, for some reason, has better overclocking potential). The hex-cores are, as with LGA1366, ridiculously overpriced so most people won't be able to justify the cost for them. Even if this situation changes in 2012, it'll probably mean buying into a dead socket anyway.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be why the SB-E is for enthusiasts not mainstream?
 
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