Further Understanding....!

snips86x · 2 Jan 2013 at 11:45

Ok, so for a number of years I've been using AMD Chips. Some people like them and others don't. For me, it's been positive. I've not had a bad experience, they have been reliable and I've done all I need to do from encoding to gaming. I wouldn't say I'm a 'fanboy' but due to the chip being cheap, it's been my choice and never failed me.

Since joining the forum, I've learnt a lot, but have more to learn and understand, you don't know unless you ask, right? Practice also makes perfect.

My signature gives my spec, but I've been thinking about changes to my system in the form of the following:

1 - Possibility of upgrading to SLI and running it as x16/x16.

Would there be a significant performance increase over running x16/x8 or x8/x8? I'm happy to buy a board that supports x16/x16, but not sure if the money warrants the pros vs cons. I'd only get another GTX660, if it's worth it.

2 - I've considered upgrading to the i5k, may not be untill late 2013 if not 2014. Because I have no specific need for any type of upgrade, I was thinking about getting the Ivy over the new Haswell, since it's been out for a while and has proven to be a good stable CPU, as stated by many here. Price should also be reasonable as it's been out for longer and once Haswell's released, should come down more.

I do a little of everything on my PC, gaming, office work, encoding videos, Photo editing and browsing.

LukieBoy007 · 2 Jan 2013 at 11:48

In late 2013/early 2014 you should really be looking at getting a Haswell, unless the Ivybridge chip is a great deal or something like that.

snips86x · 2 Jan 2013 at 11:56

LukieBoy007 said:
In late 2013/early 2014 you should really be looking at getting a Haswell, unless the Ivybridge chip is a great deal or something like that.

The idea is the Ivy should be cheaper and has proven itself. I don't see any massive benefits from Has over Ivy?! I've only read about the IGP being better, but performance is pretty much the same.

honosuseri · 2 Jan 2013 at 12:03

Some light reading HERE (older gen GPUs) and HERE (more modern GPUs)

EDIT

Review of your GPU with SLI results

Swapping out the mobo for another AMD one isn't worth it, if you look over the SLI results and want to run a second card that is your call. There is a certain amount of faff involved in running dual cards, you might find it makes more sense to sell the 660 and get a 670 if you are unhappy with the FPS you are getting in game.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing what decide on.

zakblood · 2 Jan 2013 at 12:14

if you dont need the speed, then dont pay the price, if you do need the speed and can't upgrade with the path you have, there's always options.

no one path is right for everyone, paths in its own meaning leads everywhere.

every few years new stuff keeps coming out, doesn't mean old stuff is any less worth having for most, dual core for many will still be plenty, quad for others, sli and quad sli / crossfire mix for me isn't worth the trouble or cost, never really had a issue with speed in single card use, yes you would always like faster and more fps and more speed from your cpu, that will never end, no matter which way you go or buy as new stuff / games / programs comes out.

OliverDavis · 2 Jan 2013 at 12:27

In most games my AMD Chip sits around 40-60% and GPU @99%, So in theory I should be able to SLI current card without much of a bottleneck. A little more OC on my CPU should help that.

I understand Intel's CPU are blazingly fast, but from my experience from my PC, I do not need a faster CPU. Having dual screens means I monitor everything almost all the time, unless browsing web, I have not yet seen an occasion where CPU has hit 99/100% While doing a task for longer than a second, so why fork out an extra £50-150 on a CPU when its not needed. Sony Vegas renders videos using GPU. Unzipping/Compressing files is normally HDD Limited.

Only time its stressed is when benching or running multiple servers while gaming on said servers, even then its not really struggling.

At the end of the day, A high end Intel CPU is not needed unless running SLI 680's for surround or an Eyefinity setup, both of which I dont have. So a Bulldozer/Piledriver/Intel i3 will do happily!