Is i5 a dead-end upgrade path?

[Monkey Puzzle]

I know there's no plans for anything higher end on i5 atm, but just wondering whether people think Intel are likely to bring out faster cpus for i5...

Very tempted to get an i750 with an evga p55 ***, but not sure if I'd regret it... I imagine I'd keep it for 2-3 years before looking to upgrade - an6yone think it's likely intel will bring out something faster for the mainstream or just concentrate on the high and low-end?

Will the i9 chips come down in price to under £200 within those 3 years - don't think I'd spend more than that on a cpu so if they'd remain too expensive there'd not be such a problem getting an i5, bar it losing more resale value I suppose...

 

['Wes]

Tbh, everyone thought the i7 path was a dead end, appears not if you have a deep pocket, i say just go with what you think is best.

 

[Tythus]

Tbh, everyone thought the i7 path was a dead end, appears not if you have a deep pocket, i say just go with what you think is best.

Actually everyone has known of the i9 For a fair amount of time now with leaks being posted a fair while ago with engineering samples being shown working on 1336 boards

 

[reflux]

Depends if you call six cores an upgrade or not really. I'm not sure I would.

 

[Marvin]

In fairness, we can't say yet that either socket is or isn't a dead end - sure LGA1366 supports 6-cores, but that's not to say that 1156 won't. It's also not to say that both platforms might be superseeded within a year. We don't know.

I guess if you don't take the plunge, then you never will - it'll always be 'oh, but what if...'

 

[bifday2k]

1156 is aimed at mainstream so I3/I5 and some I7.
1366 is and allways was aimed at enthusiast/professional workers (hence I9 being on it).

Neither is a dead end route, they are aimed at total different markets,

 

[HangTime]

Depends a bit on how often you want to upgrade. Personally every single time I've bought a new cpu in the past 10+ years I've got a new mobo at the same time (Slot1->S370->S478->S939->S775->S1156).

On the face of it you could say that is down to poor purchasing decisions leaving no upgrade path, but the reality is if you want to keep up with technology when upgrading most chipsets from a couple of years ago aren't going to cut it anyway. Those chipsets were all fairly highly thought up when I bought them and arguably hosted the fastest cpus around.

Unless you are a serious enthusiast or frequent upgrader, a i5 system should last a couple of years, by which time any socket (including s1366 and AM3) is not likely to support the latest decent bang4buck cpus anyway.

 

[arknor]

in 2-3 years something will be outdated on your motherboard and you will just want a new one anyway

 

[reygjabla]

Present crop of I5 & I7 mobos are already outdated. The latest mobos coming out are those that are sporting USB 3.0 and Sata 6GB. Upgrading should be in match pairs of CPU-Mobo-Memory to make sure none of either are bottlenecking each other. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

I doubt it 1156 is mainstream

 

[Naamiko_O]

I bought my PC (See sig) like 2 years ago, and when I upgrade no doubt in a year or two unless Cloud Gaming comes into play then I will be getting a new CPU and a new motherboard and RAM because it just moves too fast to upgrade part by part. I prefer to save and buy as many new components as possible. Then I don't have to upgrade for a long while afterwards.
So no I don' think the i5 is a dead end, unless your planning on switching new CPU's in and out of the motherboard over a shorttime, and not planning to have these components for long.

 

['Wes]

Actually everyone has known of the i9 For a fair amount of time now with leaks being posted a fair while ago with engineering samples being shown working on 1336 boards

By dead end i meant people who haven't got deep pockets.

 

[PhoenixUK]

Present crop of I5 & I7 mobos are already outdated. The latest mobos coming out are those that are sporting USB 3.0 and Sata 6GB. Upgrading should be in match pairs of CPU-Mobo-Memory to make sure none of either are bottlenecking each other. Just my 2 cents.

What is a smart move however if you don't have ~400-500quid just to spend on those 3 is get a cheap CPU lets say on AM3 setup like the BE 550 which is cheapo dual and will run everything just fine for the next two years or so yet and then you can just smack new 6core or a 965BE (or anything newer if it comes out) for almost no cash and have double or triple performance upgrade which will do fine for another 2yrs or so : ).

Ofcourse if someone is spending 1k on rig, he isn't going to upgrade much in the future because as said before, in 4-5yrs when new CPUs come even tho your mobo might support it, it might not support the newest memory and chipsets which might be bottlenecking your new CPU.

The upgrade path is to be there for low/mid end stuff, not high end.
Too bad AMD wins here big time so far unless intel releases some crazy clocking 4 or 6cores on 1156.

---------
Back on topic, I think intel has put out what they had already with the new i3s and I don't think they will be releasing anything serious untill 2012 and that probably will be including new socket ( apart from the 1366 or it's gonna fit on that ).

 

[daz.wallace]

It all depends on how you upgrade. Personally I build a new rig every three years with maybe a gpu refresh after 18months. You have to ask yourself if you want to put a new cpu in a 3 year old motherboard? for me no, so I upgrade cpu/mobo/ram all at the same time

 

[Uriel]

My upgrade path has tended to be buy a new socket with a low end CPU (last few have been £80 - £100), then upgrade to a better CPU when the prices come down. At the moment I've had the same motherboard since late 2005 (bit of a cheat since it let me go from a 939 3000+ and DDR to AM2 X2 5000+ Black Edition and DDR2 - it's just the lack of AM3 CPU BIOS updates that's stopping me going AM3 Tri or Quad now).

Can't do that with the current Intel lineup, although Some 775 boards offered a great upgrade path at the time. Shame to see Intel aren't offering that at the moment. I usually like to alternate ATI and nVIDIA graphics cards. Would like to do the same (with Intel) with motherboard and CPU combo but the timing's never been right. Only had Intel for my laptops / netbooks so far.

As it happens, AMD has offered better bang for (the lesser) buck and a decent upgrade path whenever I was building or upgrading my motherboard. Intel's current lineup just doesn't seem suitable for me. Looks like my next motherboard will be AM3 if I upgrade within the next few months.

 

[easyrider]

You buy for the now not for the then.

 

[Prophet]

You buy for the now not for the then.

This.

I went i5 as it was the best bang for buck at the time. I've not overclocked mine and it hammers through anything I've thrown at it. Gaming with a 4830 card too with no problems.

By the time the CPU is outdated (read as slow) none of the existing sockets will be mainstream.

 

[1kiwi]

I don't there is as much need to upgrade every 24 months these days either - prob get away with a Q6600 and a 8800GT for ther majority of games / apps.

 

[Uriel]

You buy for the now not for the then.

To an extent. Nothing is ever guarenteed in terms of future PC upgrades. Having said that, for the last few years I've been building PCs with a view to future upgrades and then generally kept them reasonably up to date. The key component in this is usually the motherboard.

It's worked out well most of the time for me. It might not do in future - especially in the current financial climate. All it takes is a motherboard manufacturer to go under and you're scuppered for new BIOS updates for example.

 

[Greebo]

It doesn't really matter. The chances of you just settling for dropping a new cpu into your mobo in 2 to 3 years time is slim on either 1366 or 1556. Reason?

All the new mobos will have pci-e3, sata3 and usb3 so you'll probable upgrade the mobo as well.