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I7 or Sandybridge???

Vidar

Vidar

Vidar

Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,826
Location
Liverpool
Hi Guy's I currently have an I7 920 DO running at stock, planning to over clock in the near future if I keep it... However like so many I have the upgrade itch,

My question is, if anyone knows, how will my current I7 920 compare to the new Sandybridge CPU's?
 
Honestly, I dont think we are going to know until they are on the market. Lots of talk about the SB not being a great clocker, but people usually get round this. I am itching to upgrade to an i7 but I am holding onto my money right now in hope that SB will be worth waiting for.

Also, didnt you know it was against OcUK policy to have an i7 920/930/950 and not have it at 4Ghz?
 
May I ask what you use your PC for?

In almost all use cases you are best off keeping your current system and overclocking the i7 920. The new sandy bridge CPUs are faster clock-for-clock and supposedly overclock well (only when using the multiplier unlocked versions), however this will only give you a performance boost when running CPU intensive applications - even then it will only be up to ~20% faster clock-for-clock than your current i7. Unless you are doing some work where raw CPU power is of great importance then I would stick with what you have, as it is will still be a very fast system - even after SB arrives.
 
smeaney said:
Honestly, I dont think we are going to know until they are on the market. Lots of talk about the SB not being a great clocker, but people usually get round this. I am itching to upgrade to an i7 but I am holding onto my money right now in hope that SB will be worth waiting for.

Also, didnt you know it was against OcUK policy to have an i7 920/930/950 and not have it at 4Ghz?
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I'm holding off until Sandy Bridge gets here,good preview here at Anandtech ,http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row .

Sandy Bridge seems to offer a 10% increase in performance. Keep in mind that this analysis was done without a functional turbo mode, so the shipping Sandy Bridge CPUs should be even quicker. I'd estimate you can add another 3 - 7% to these numbers for the final chips. That's not bad at all for what amounts to a free upgrade compared to what you'd buy today. Power consumption will also see an improvement. Not only will Sandy Bridge be noticeably quicker than Lynnfield, it'll draw less power.



The overclocking prevention Intel is putting into Sandy Bridge sounds pretty bad at first. However if the roadmap and pricing stay their course, it looks like overclockers looking to spend as much as they did on Core i5 750/760s won't be limited at all thanks to the K SKUs in the mix.
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jimbob27 said:
Stick with what you have. If you've got the itch, get a SSD or watercooling or something.;)
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Yes, ive put a 128Gig SSD in my laptop (sony fw-11S) to replace the 4200rpm drive in it. It feels like 1000X faster, and very much like my desktop (see sig).
 
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I also have an i7 920 D0, they're pretty damn quick when overclocked...

Personally I wont be reviewing my system for at least another year. No doubt sandy will be awesome when it arrives, but I think if I really wanted to I could probably skip until the next gen after sandy and still not struggle too much.

I recognise that the itch is a powerful force and if it was just the CPU I might succumb more quickly, but therein lies the problem for me. LGA1366 is basically slightly nerfed server-standard hardware, total overkill for the desktop.

The whole reason I purchased at this level was to leave myself decent headroom for a few years of good use. I resent having to change sockets with every new gen of intel chips, so I try not to do it too often. I actually admire AMD in this regard.

So anyway, personal bitching aside for a minute... No, I wouldn't worry about it for a while yet. Go spend your cash on some other shiny bit of hardware instead.
 
NW_SKINHEAD said:
Hi Guy's I currently have an I7 920 DO running at stock, planning to over clock in the near future if I keep it... However like so many I have the upgrade itch,

My question is, if anyone knows, how will my current I7 920 compare to the new Sandybridge CPU's?
Click to expand...

No overclock Criminal, Lock him up.
 
I thought they said that the sandybridge processors that are coming in Q1 2011 were just an upgrade for the i5 and i3 and that we won't see a processor better then the i7 until september next year
 
franco_22 said:
I thought they said that the sandybridge processors that are coming in Q1 2011 were just an upgrade for the i5 and i3 and that we won't see a processor better then the i7 until september next year
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The sandy bridge (SB) processors that we will see soon after January 5th are replacements for the entire LGA 1156 line. This will mean there will be SB cpus for to replace current i3, i5 and i7. SB will also use the ix naming scheme, but the model numbers will be 4 digit.

Compared to current Bloomfield and Lynnfield i7 CPUs, the i7 sandy bridge CPUs will be a fair bit faster (clock-for-clock 10-20% faster in CPU heavy tasks and clocked higher at stock). However, features like triple (and quad) channel memory and native PCIe x16x16 indeed won't arrive until the "enthusiast" class SB CPUs and motherboards arrive in Q3.
 
Is SB not gonna offer triple or quad channel memory support?

bit poor that considering most folk would want to go 4x2gig ddr3 and get a nice boost from it and 8gig seems the sweet spot lately...
 
How can you buy an i7 920 d0, run it at stock and then wonder whether you should upgrade it to a Sandy Bridge????????????????

Overclock that mofo and be happy for a couple of years!!
 
HighlandeR said:
Is SB not gonna offer triple or quad channel memory support?

bit poor that considering most folk would want to go 4x2gig ddr3 and get a nice boost from it and 8gig seems the sweet spot lately...
Click to expand...

The "mainstream" SB that is being released first will be very similar to the current LGA 1156 platform in many ways. The lower-end chips have onboard graphics, maximum of dual channel memory, maximum of PCIe x8x8 and resonable prices.

However, the "Enthusiast" level of SB is being released in Q3 of next year. These will have the triple and quad channel RAM and loads of PCIe lanes. These higher-end boards and chips are the "true" successors to LGA 1366, however in CPU-bound tasks the LGA 1155 i7s are expected still to be faster than current Bloomfield i7 chips.
 
If it was me, I would OC the I7 to get the most from your investment. Start saving now, then wait for the dust to settle on the Sandy Bridge chips, making an informed decision when you know all the facts.
 
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