*****Official Ivybridge Review Thread*****

[rotahn]

Uncertainty.
The length of time until the reveal is irrelevant. There shouldn't and isn't any justifiable reason we're being kept in the dark unless Intel themselves haven't told their partners (which they have because Gibbo has stated OCUK will have competitive pricing and he couldn't say that if he didn't know what they are).

+1

It is strange that no e-tailer has listed the IB chips even though the product has been officially launched and the release date to retail is so close. You'd of thought that they'd want to get as many pre-orders in as possible to cope with any surge they may have.

 

[the_director]

Uncertainty.

Places have offers on which have SB chips at very competitive prices. The perception is that if you don't take the offer up, you could end up spending a fair amount of money more on the same product and IB launches at more than imagined. You're then left having to pay more for either a SB or IB; this especially effects those that are making major upgrades (myself included from a Q6700) and have already bought Z77 motherboards and/or RAM.

The length of time until the reveal is irrelevant. There shouldn't and isn't any justifiable reason we're being kept in the dark unless Intel themselves haven't told their partners (which they have because Gibbo has stated OCUK will have competitive pricing and he couldn't say that if he didn't know what they are).

This.

I have New system waiting for CPU, I'm wondering if I should be taking up one of the many Sandy offers currently available. I want a good value chip, I currently don't know what value is until Ivy prices appear. By which point Sandy prices could have changed again.

 

[Born_2_Kill_83]

So ive been stuck on a i7 920@ 4GHZ and a P6T since 2009 with no where to upgrade to thats worth the money and I was banking on the 3770k, should I still make the move? I played with the idea on turning to 2600k but the gains wherent great....

 

[sunama]

the 10% voucher

Is there an expiry date on the 10% voucher?

 

[james_ati]

Is there an expiry date on the 10% voucher?

Saturday I think.

 

[Nelly]

Undervolting and Overclocking on Ivy Bridge >> Click Here

 

[rotahn]

being as i have already purchased a z77 motherboard i might as well go Ivy bridge as the Haswell will be socket 1150

 

[sunama]

being as i have already purchased a z77 motherboard i might as well go Ivy bridge as the Haswell will be socket 1150

Why don't you get a SandyBridge (assuming that SB is cheaper)?
I'd like to know this because it looks like I am going to be placing my order before Saturday to take advantage of the 10% voucher, so I need to decide.

 

[rotahn]

I dont think the IB chips are released for retail until Sunday

The reason i'm going IB still is purely because i bought the board in readiness for the IB
although the MVP improvement, USB3 (not that i have anything USB3 yet) and increased memory speed are also good reasons.

I also haven't upgraded in 4-5 years and i don't plan on doing so for another 4.

also i think the IB 3770k will be £239.99 inc vat

 

[AssaTM]

I dont think 4.5ghz at 1.1v is so bad given the IPC increase, thats probably equivalent to a 4.7ghz Sandy Bridge, I guess the disappointment comes in the fact you cant really push it any higher than that without very, very good cooling. If you're upgrading from an older architecture i'd still go with Ivybridge since it will hopefully be priced competitively, but if you're already on Sandy then I dont see much reason to change. The whole ES versus Retail chips debate on reviews is why i'll wait for some actual user experiences on the forums first before deciding 100% definitively though

 

[sunama]

I dont think 4.5ghz at 1.1v is so bad given the IPC increase, thats probably equivalent to a 4.7ghz Sandy Bridge,...

Indeed.

But it ultimately comes down to cost. We don't know the pricing yet and when overclocked to their limits a 2600k is likely to hit around 4.8ghz, while the IB will hit about 4.5ghz. In terms of performance they will be near identical.

If, however, the SB is cheaper, it makes little sense to pay extra for no reason.

 

[sunama]

I dont think the IB chips are released for retail until Sunday

The reason i'm going IB still is purely because i bought the board in readiness for the IB
although the MVP improvement, USB3 (not that i have anything USB3 yet) and increased memory speed are also good reasons.

I also haven't upgraded in 4-5 years and i don't plan on doing so for another 4.

also i think the IB 3770k will be £239.99 inc vat

I'm still on Core 2 Duo and the upgrade I do in the next few weeks will have to do me for the next few years.

What I dont like about the IvyBridge is this heat problem.
SandyBridge is tried, tested and mature (and possibly cheaper), while offering the same performance when fully overclocked.

Being able to run 3 monitors off of the ondie GPU, of the IB is attractive though.

 

[Krono5]

Places have offers on which have SB chips at very competitive prices. The perception is that if you don't take the offer up, you could end up spending a fair amount of money more on the same product and IB launches at more than imagined.

Which just leads me to believe they'll slash SB prices after release and they're trying to convince people that they're getting a bargain now by having a smaller reduction than they might well have the week after IB is released.

I'll be waiting atleast 2 weeks after IB to get a full picture of what the 3570k can do and how prices will fluctuate before picking something up. I'm almost positive I will be able toget the 2500k for atleast the price now if not better and they'll still be in stock in a fair few places.

 

[Tattysnuc]

I'm still on Core 2 Duo and the upgrade I do in the next few weeks will have to do me for the next few years.

What I dont like about the IvyBridge is this heat problem.
SandyBridge is tried, tested and mature (and possibly cheaper), while offering the same performance when fully overclocked.

Being able to run 3 monitors off of the ondie GPU, of the IB is attractive though.

I'm confused - Is heat really a problem, ie it runs HOTTER than Sandybridge, or is it just not as cool as was expected by dropping to 22nm?

 

[GnollinZ]

Uncertainty.

Places have offers on which have SB chips at very competitive prices. The perception is that if you don't take the offer up, you could end up spending a fair amount of money more on the same product and IB launches at more than imagined. You're then left having to pay more for either a SB or IB; this especially effects those that are making major upgrades (myself included from a Q6700) and have already bought Z77 motherboards and/or RAM.

The length of time until the reveal is irrelevant. There shouldn't and isn't any justifiable reason we're being kept in the dark unless Intel themselves haven't told their partners (which they have because Gibbo has stated OCUK will have competitive pricing and he couldn't say that if he didn't know what they are).

I too am upgrading my entire rig: from an Athlon 64 X2 and a 7 year-old motherboard. The SB CPU prices are unlikely to shift by more than +/- £20. This is a tiny percentage of the total system cost!

 

[scritchyrat]

It doesn't matter if it's a tiny percentage or not. You may be in a position to dismiss a £20 saving on something but others aren't.

 

[prescott28]

I'm confused - Is heat really a problem, ie it runs HOTTER than Sandybridge, or is it just not as cool as was expected by dropping to 22nm?

I am more concerned with a repeat of history - nice cool running overclockable northwood superseded by hot non-overclockable Prescott. I chose the new CPU - hence my name of Prescott and was pleased to dump it in favour of the Q6600. I don't want to make the same mistake again but I'm not so sure Ivy is going to be that hot is overclocked right.

Tough choices.....

 

[GnollinZ]

It doesn't matter if it's a tiny percentage or not. You may be in a position to dismiss a £20 saving on something but others aren't.

I would agree with that if the purchase is only the CPU.

However if you can afford to spend £980 on a system upgrade but can't afford £1000 then I would question the affordability overall.

Of course no one wants to spend more than they need to, but I think some people are going a little overboard with the SB/IB pricing conspiracy theories.

 

[scritchyrat]

I would agree with that if the purchase is only the CPU.

However if you can afford to spend £980 on a system upgrade but can't afford £1000 then I would question the affordability overall.

Of course no one wants to spend more than they need to, but I think some people are going a little overboard with the SB/IB pricing conspiracy theories.

Well, I'm not going that far and you're right, £20 off nearly a grand is probably a negligible amount, but I'm only in need of a motherboard/RA/CPU and the mobo is already bought (almost a shame as I might have gone 2011 if I'd have know about these issues) so any saving is a good saving atm.

 

[Tattysnuc]

I am more concerned with a repeat of history - nice cool running overclockable northwood superseded by hot non-overclockable Prescott. I chose the new CPU - hence my name of Prescott and was pleased to dump it in favour of the Q6600. I don't want to make the same mistake again but I'm not so sure Ivy is going to be that hot is overclocked right.

Tough choices.....

The thermal output at stock of these chips 77w vs 95w of Sandybridge. How does this compare at an overclock, say 4.8ghz? Do the new chips actually kick out more heat or less than SandyBridge?