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Ivybridge underwhelming

I wonder how long we will have to wait for the next IB stepping? I tempted to hold a couple of months but I've been waiting for long time to upgrade from a Q6700 @ 3Ghz I'm tempted just bite the bullet and go ahead with the what's on the market as there's no guarantee that the next stepping will fix anything.
 
I wonder how long we will have to wait for the next IB stepping? I tempted to hold a couple of months but I've been waiting for long time to upgrade from a Q6700 @ 3Ghz I'm tempted just bite the bullet and go ahead with the what's on the market as there's no guarantee that the next stepping will fix anything.
There's no reason to beleive there will be a new stepping. There is only 12 months until Haswell. Steppings fix the CPU logic, there is an errata (bug) list but I think the logic design is mature now.

There will be newer devices in the family later in the year, i3s, mobile parts, and maybe higher binned i5s and i7s. Some of these will ship with lower TDPs but I would expect this to be achieved by lower default clocks and volts which is something we can do right now with current parts in the BIOS. On the other hand they may be saving up any that have lower volt binning for these.

Although they have been working on this for years they may suddenly come out with a new package design that transfers heat better - I'll be after a refund if they do!
 
Not a fail but with the Sandy being such a fantastic chip, I guess we was hoping for the same from ivy. I was looking to upgrade but see no reason. Hopefully the 'tock' will show a bigger improvement.
 
In other words, buying a SB for ~£30 less is not a bad move. If you are overclocking, you'll not need to spend as much on your cooling if you want to take the SB option close to it's limit, so that's more money saved. IB is certainly not a "no brainer" for those upgrading from previous gen CPUs.

In other words, for most of us here, IB is "whatever".


actually its probably the other way round - for a mid-clock say 4.4 on an Ivy you probably need a lesser cooler than SB

why ? as the power output (as heat) from the Ivy is less than the Sandybridge - the fact it gets hot internally is irrelevant as it struggles to get outside of the can.

:)
 
AMD aren't even in the game. But let's face it, Ivy is a bit of a fail. Slight perf increase and that's all it is, more expensive, hotter and doesn't clock as well.

The difference in SB to IB prices is about £30 and Id say if your upgrading from older than SB chips it's worth the extra price.
 
I'm having problems with my H80 cooler so haven't been able to test much but on SuperPi Ivy was well over twice as fast as my Q6600 - at stock. Once my cooler issue is resolved and I can over-clock it I am sure it is going to look very impressive.
 
Well, I'm removing my H80 tonight and putting on the stock cooler while the H80 is sorted out so tomorrow we'll see how my Ivy runs are stock properly.
 
I still can't decide :p Does me having a 2009 TRUE rev C cooler with a 76cfm Sharkoon silent eagle 2000 fan make the SB v IB decision any easier, or will the TRUE handle the hotter temps just as well?
 
Seems to be allot of IB users in here trying to justify their purchases. I did the same thing when the I7 920 users told me I was bonkers for upgrading from my 9650 to a 2600K.
 
Seems to be allot of IB users in here trying to justify their purchases. I did the same thing when the I7 920 users told me I was bonkers for upgrading from my 9650 to a 2600K.

We don't have to justify our purchases. They are justifiable just due to the fact we didn't upgrade from SB.
 
There are always a few who create this climate of justification.
They over analyze VFM and spoil it for the majority who want a new toy.

By what you want when you want and never ever justify it to another person it is absolutely none of their business. (spouses excluded)
 
Well, to get back to topic, I now have my Ivy build running and have started some testing. Due to a failed H80 cooler, I am, at present running on the rather diminutive stock cooler so am staying at 3.4GHz pending better cooling.

Coming from my Q6600 this is really fast and it is peaking at about 50C when seriously working which isn't too bad considering the size of the stock cooler.

More reports once I have a proper cooler and can start to over-clock.
 
actually its probably the other way round - for a mid-clock say 4.4 on an Ivy you probably need a lesser cooler than SB

why ? as the power output (as heat) from the Ivy is less than the Sandybridge - the fact it gets hot internally is irrelevant as it struggles to get outside of the can.

:)

True, but I suspect that a lot of people who overclock will want to take their CPU a little closer to it's limit. To do that with IB, you seem to need better cooling. This seems to be backed up by the fact that OCUK's overclocked IB bundles are supplied with rather large air coolers.
 
If this was my main hobby there would be nothing anybody could say to stop me upgrading once a year, on every new product cycle and buying all new top of the range kit.

As it isnt anymore, then once every couple of years is enough for me now, sometimes even then I dont as the cost doesnt justify the performance increase any more.

I think thats the stance everyone should take to be fair, if its your hobby and you can afford it, then go for it, as I would.

If it isnt or cost is a factor in your decision then yes, you are better off waiting as you will simply not be getting your moneys worth.

For instance, I had a Q6600 at stock speeds for 3 years till august last year, it never struggled actually running anything when it was tied to a decent graphics card.

In August however I just fancied some new gear so spent £600 on a 2600k a new mobo, ram, memory and HDD.
Last weekend I spent another £300 on parts, new case, new cooler, some corsair Dominator GT ram so I can get into overclocking and fiddling again.

I dont think however, even though I could flog out the Z68 V-pro, the 2600k and the ram, and make the majority of the cost of a new Ivy bridge set up back, that I could justify doing it, even though I'm going to have the entire machine totally apart this coming weekend.
 
It is only underwhelming IF you are upgrading from Sandy bridge, anyone who upgrades from C2D and other Amd cpu's will be very happy with their purchases, and should be.

I bought a 2500k the first week it was released and have had it running from 4.7ghz-4.6ghz ever since (dropped it down abit when due to 4*2gig ram sticks), and know the feeling of upgrading to a far superior product.

4.4-4.5ghz on IB is imo fine, anyone crying about it clocking far too low compared to sandy bridge needs to understand there are hardly any games push a cpu above 50-60% usage, so yeah calling it Ivyfail is....

Kamz
 
Quite right kamz. I have upgraded to Ivy from the Q6600 and it is amazing - at stock. Sadly I have not over-clocked it yet as the water cooler I got (Corsair H80) was faulty but I'm sure I will be even more impressed.
 
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