i7 920...who is still enjoying its awesomeness

[Skynet5]

I bought mine Easter 2009. 4 years on and I see no real need to upgrade.

I was tempted 1 year ago when I went 680 sli. I didn't see the cards pushed in BF3 and most peeps said it was my CPU. I held off anyway.

Then the last set of drivers released a week ago mentioned SLI improvements for BF3. This has taken the average utilisation from 68% in game to around 79%. And in some cases up to 99% which I never really saw before.

When will I upgrade? I get a feeling I might not even bother with Haswell..I think this thing is gonna have to die before I drag it out of my HAF-X.

 

[Skynet5]

Good to see so many fans, new and old.

I run mine at 4.11 w/o HT. it's the best I could get out of the stepping c0 on my p6t deluxe v2.

I started out with a 4870x2, then a 5970 and now a 680sli. It won't last another gfx update, but it is always smooth.

It'll be a sad day when she is replaced tbh. Maybe over summer...maybe.

 

[Skynet5]

I see the other thread got merged. Sorry.
Can we rename this one?

Have they stopped making RAM for this config now?

 

[Skynet5]

Have an i7 930 in my second pc. Spec in sig was a replacement for an i7 920, bit of a silly sidegrade tbh.

I think I remember you upgrading to see if you could get anything else out if your gfx on BF3.

 

[Skynet5]

I am still using one at 3.8ghz currently as 4ghz needs fair bit more voltage plus my board doesn't seem to support 21x multi.Bit of a silly question but if i was to add 6gb more ram can i just slot it straight in like always or would i need to change my oc settings again?

Want a 2nd 680 but heard SLI 680s are bottlenecked somewhat on this cpu even when oced at 4ghz.

Do it.

I play farcry 3,crysis 2 (late to the party I know) & payne3 and they scale real well. 99% on each gpu. Therefore no bottleneck.

BF3 doesn't, but the latest drivers prove it isn't all cpu bottleneck and gave an extra 10% on each core. 79% now maybe more.

 

[Skynet5]

I'm still happy with my 920 at 4 ghz . The only thing I hate though is the Titan Fenrir cooler. Its quite loud..

Started out with a crappy stock fan, then upgraded to the titan, then upgraded again to the h50. Pretty good.

When I do my new build i'll probably get another corsair hxxx

 

[Skynet5]

Still on my 3.2ghz i7 920 here

Similar rig to mine.

I have two 680s,but was wondering whether the case HAF-X is big enough if I ever went tri. I'll only do that when I update the mobo/CPU.

I guess mobo layout is important.

 

[Skynet5]

Well Mr mjones, why does your comment not surprise me and yes its just a thread if you are going to do a job do it right or not at all > merging the thread the wrong way.

I think they did it purely on timestamps. Perhaps that is there standard approach.

Maybe I could ask them to re-title this one?

 

[Skynet5]

Thanks for the quick reply my 4gb of ddr2 ram need upgrading anywa after that it'll be my ageing amd5850 that'll get changed then nice crisp ultra settings of bf3.

If you can find a second hand setup, the i7 920 will give you the best bang for buck out there.

No idea what the value would be though.

I'm pretty much waiting it out for haswell-e or maybe ivy-e. I really want the up market socket of the 2011 or whatever it will be when they are released, as these ivy/sandy z77 ones look very mainstream.

 

[Skynet5]

Great to see this thread taking off! We should launch a forum dedicated to us.

 

[Skynet5]

Mine's still running nicely. However, it's quite an early C0 stepping and doesn't like going much faster than this:

Depending if you do stuff that requires HT. I'd consider disabling it, then you can up the OC.
I have mine at 4.11 stable with HT off, but I also have the VCore at 1.4. Have done since about 2 years ago.

I cannot remember my prime/ibt results, but I don't go above 75c when gaming (bf3 mp)

Mine is a stepping C0 too. We're the original trend setters.

 

[Skynet5]

Fellow 920 owners, when do you plan on replacing your CPU's?

I'm considering holding out until Ivy-E towards the end of this year/early next year.

I'm a gamer only. So I'm tempted by Haswell to be honest.

I'd love to go 2011 (ivy-E), but I don't think it is value for money for my personal needs. Haswell should be a suitable upgrade to us i7 920, especially those of us gaming and could benefit from the higher clocks in games such as BF3 and FSX etc.

I'm sure my x58 setup back in March 2009 didnt cost as much as a top line 4 core 2011 setup now.

Depending on feedback for Haswell, I'll go for it. If it is pants then I'll go for ivy-E when released and take the hit on the wallet. I don't want to have this CPU and mobo for 5 years, it is time for an update. I bored of it now, but still mighty impressed with it. I'll keep the chip for sentiment value in a tranparent case as a paper weight probably.

 

[Skynet5]

About the same

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail with Dead Space 3 PC Game £239.99
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £219.95
1 x Samsung Green 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual/Quad Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £123.98
1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (4g) £6.98
Total : £590.90 (includes shipping : FREE).






(VAT was lower then ofc)

Well there you go.

Maybe I'll just go out and get a 3820 now then!

 

[Skynet5]

Mind you, was the P6T near the top of the pile, I don't remember other being a lot more. Some of the mobos now cost 300+