Need some advice: Go with socket 2011 or 1155?

synixx

synixx

synixx

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One of my friends is in the process of upgrading his PC. Currently he has a core i5 650 3.2ghz, 16gb ram and a 6850 1gb and games at 1600x900. He's looking to upgrade his motherboard and CPU and I've recommend getting a 2500k, although I'm not sure which motherboard to recommend. I realize that socket 2011 is out but it seems awfully expensive and I personally don't feel it's worth the extra money. As i'm not really up to date in the CPU world I need some help with this.
 
For gaming socket 1155 is best, 2011 is very high end and not worth the extra for gaming.

A decent Z77 board and an i5 2500K is recommended for gaming, such as:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
Total : £270.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).



I assume his 16GB of RAM is DDR3 and therefore fine with this, what RAM is it?

If he'd want the option to CF:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-390-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

A cooler to get a good OC out of the i5:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
[can spend more of course but this is good for 4.5Ghz or so]

Bare in mind ivy bridge is out shortly, and so that's probably worth waiting for.

The only think I would say is that with his GPU and res, the CPU he has at the moment should be enough?
 
Hi there,

May I ask what your friend mainly needs his PC for?

Unless he uses specific applications that need a hex core CPU, quad channel memory or 40 PCIE lanes then LGA2011 is overkill and really quite expenisve. Therefore LGA1155 is a much better option if he wants a full system upgrade.

The i5 2500K is a great CPU and if his main usage is gaming then it will be plenty for years to come. However, please bear in mind that the next generation of Intel CPUs that will replace the Sandy Bridge chips (including the 2500K) are coming out in the next week or so - therefore if he can wait that long then he could get an even faster and more efficient CPU for about the same money.

That said, if he is mainly gaming then he may want to consider simply replacing his i5 650 dual core CPU with an i5 750 or 760 quad core CPU and then overclock it. These i5 700 series CPUs are relatively cheap to buy these days (~£80), will work with his existing motherboard and are powerful enough to drive even the most intensive modern games. If he goes down this route then he could use the money he would have spent on a brand-new CPU and motherboard on a better graphics card, which will provide a further boost to his gaming performance.
 
beejjacobs said:
I assume his 16GB of RAM is DDR3 and therefore fine with this, what RAM is it?

Bare in mind ivy bridge is out shortly, and so that's probably worth waiting for.

The only think I would say is that with his GPU and res, the CPU he has at the moment should be enough?
Click to expand...

Yeah the 16GB is DDR3. He has some geil ripjaws and 8gb generic ram.

I think his plan is to build an entirely new PC and then sell his old one.

When is Ivy out and what socket is it for?
 
cmndr_andi said:
Hi there,

May I ask what your friend mainly needs his PC for?

Unless he uses specific applications that need a hex core CPU, quad channel memory or 40 PCIE lanes then LGA2011 is overkill and really quite expenisve. Therefore LGA1155 is a much better option if he wants a full system upgrade.

The i5 2500K is a great CPU and if his main usage is gaming then it will be plenty for years to come. However, please bear in mind that the next generation of Intel CPUs that will replace the Sandy Bridge chips (including the 2500K) are coming out in the next week or so - therefore if he can wait that long then he could get an even faster and more efficient CPU for about the same money.

That said, if he is mainly gaming then he may want to consider simply replacing his i5 650 dual core CPU with an i5 750 or 760 quad core CPU and then overclock it. These i5 700 series CPUs are relatively cheap to buy these days (~£80), will work with his existing motherboard and are powerful enough to drive even the most intensive modern games. If he goes down this route then he could use the money he would have spent on a brand-new CPU and motherboard on a better graphics card, which will provide a further boost to his gaming performance.
Click to expand...

His motherboard is from an acer pc so doesn't support overclocking which is one of the reasons he's wanting to upgrade, and gaming is his main concern atm. I think he might want to crossfire his 6850 in the future.

And that is one of the main reasons I think he should get a 2500k because there's not much point in having £200 motherboards and cpu's if he has a ~£100 graphics card.
 
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Do you know the model number of the ripjaw RAM? As the standard RAM voltage of LGA1156 RAM was 1.65V, while on LGA1155 it is only 1.5V, so you want to ensure that the RAM will work at a decent speed at the lower voltage.

Ivy will also be LGA1155 and the motherboards it uses - the Z77 chipset - are already out and can be bought.


synixx said:
His motherboard is from an acer pc so doesn't support overclocking which is one of the reasons he's wanting to upgrade, and gaming is his main concern atm. I think he might want to crossfire his 6850 in the future.
Click to expand...

That's fair enough, I can understand now why he wants to make a clean break from that platform.

As for the motherboard, I would recommend this board. It is great value and supports SLI and crossfire at full x8/x8 speed.

The Ivy Bridge CPU worth looking out for is the i5 3570K - this is effectively the Ivy version of the 2500K.
 
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Ivy Bridge will be the same socket, the Z77 chipset came out for IB.

If he is after a whole new system what is the full budget? and what would he need for that money [OS/keyboard/mouse/monitor]?
 
cmndr_andi said:
Do you know the model number of the ripjaw RAM? As the standard RAM voltage of LGA1156 RAM was 1.65V, while on LGA1155 it is only 1.5V, so you want to ensure that the RAM will work at a decent speed at the lower voltage.

Ivy will also be LGA1155 and the motherboards it uses - the Z77 chipset - are already out and can be bought.
Click to expand...

He just bought it this week so I can only assume it's 1.5V.

beejjacobs said:
Ivy Bridge will be the same socket, the Z77 chipset came out for IB.

If he is after a whole new system what is the full budget? and what would he need for that money [OS/keyboard/mouse/monitor]?
Click to expand...

He doesn't seem to have a budget as he's been going on about getting a socket 2011 setup. The main reason for this thread is to show him that the most sensible option for a gaming rig is 1155. I didn't know that Ivy Bridge was coming out so soon though so I will recommend that he waits for that.
 
Yea, the only situations where a sandy bridge E (LGA2011) system will be better for gaming than a LGA1155 are:

- When you are running three or more graphics cards
- You are running one of the very few games that can make use of a hex core and would be CPU limited by a LGA1155 quad core

That is basically it. In all other circumstances a LGA1155 system with an i5 K-series CPU will be just as fast and cost a fraction as much.
 
If all he does is game then 2011 is complete overkill as others have said but if he does regular amounts of video encoding or other work then 2011 may well be worth it. Is this a purely leisure system or a work\leisure system that he will do more then one thing for. I am going 2011 but only because in the coming months i will be doing a lot of x264 encoding and the time i will save with a 3930 is worth it to me i wouldn't go to the expense just for my gaming more so as at the minute the game i am playing the most is panzer corps lol.
 
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