Z68 to Z77 is it worth it?

[spankingtexan]

See sig for my current set up, is it worth going over to Z77?
Will there be a noticeable speed increase for games as I use my rig primarily for games?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Krono5]

No. Unless you want to for very small benefits.

 

[spankingtexan]

No. Unless you want to for very small benefits.

OK, if the benefits are very small then no I would definitely not want to, it's just that I've heard onboard graphics will work along side the dedicated GPU and so wonder if this will bring a noticeably boost to performance. Don't know how well this will work though.

 

[Surveyor]

I would say that just changing your motherboard isn't going to make much difference.

Maybe the Ivy Bridge processors will give a small gain but it's still unlikely to be worth changing what you have now.

 

[Surveyor]

it's just that I've heard onboard graphics will work along side the dedicated GPU and so wonder if this will bring a noticeably boost to performance.

I'd wait for some reviews demonstrating this.

We have little information to go on at present.

 

[sehcure]

No.
You won't notice any difference.

 

[spankingtexan]

Thanks, time is definitely on my side as any upgrade will not be this side of summer, I'll just sit back and watch until then. Will be very interesting to see how well the dual graphics work though. Look forward to the reviews, but does anybody know how the GPU and onboard graphics will be linked to the monitor or is it going to work in a different way?

 

[wazza300]

someone posted lucid virtue results in mafia 2 and another game,it added 10-12fps and mafia 2 isnt a demanding game anyway

theres also rumers of 2400-2800mhz ram becoming the norm with z77/ivybridge when they are released which will be any week now

if you were or wanted to upgrade from an older motherboard then id say yeah but atm youd be better holding out for haswell

think you need display port to use lucid

 

[Surveyor]

theres also rumers of 2400-2800mhz ram becoming the norm with z77/ivybridge when they are released which will be any week now

If you look at the motherboards currently available then typically they support up to 2400MHz.

I suppose the question is if faster RAM will only produce small overall performance gains as it does with Sandy Bridge.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Also, with faster memory you need the memory controller (which is on the CPU) to be able to handle it. If you just change the motherboard but keep the i5 2500K then you won't get any benefit from the Z77 boards higher memory setting, the only real benefits will be native USB3 and the Lucid MVP features (which going on lucid's previous software releases sound really cool, but in practice are not ideal to use).

Therefore, if you want to spend this kind of money you would be much better off keeping your motherboard, updating the BIOS and upgrading the CPU to an Ivy Bridge (like the i5 3570K). However, the performance benefit of this upgrade in most tasks won't be very big and the cost is high- but the benefits are greater than just changing the motherboard.

Personally, looking at your full sig I would keep exactly what you have and enjoy the excellent performance The only upgrades I would consider are things like:

- second GTX 680
- better speakers/headphones
- nicer chair
- mechanical keyboard

(ie upgrades you make when you have an amazing rig already)

 

[shankly1985]

Apart from the little things that come with Z77. our Z68 will support ivy bridge anyway so has of right now thats my next upgrade i5 ivy cpu.

 

[wazza300]

If you look at the motherboards currently available then typically they support up to 2400MHz.

I suppose the question is if faster RAM will only produce small overall performance gains as it does with Sandy Bridge.

thats true but its hard to reach 2400mhz with a z68/sandybridge cpu where as a z68 or z77 motherboard/ivybridge cpu combo would reach 2800mhz ram speeds more easily

either way is it worth the expense of a new cpu or mb? thats up to each persons needs/wants ect

 

[Surveyor]

Apart from the little things that come with Z77. our Z68 will support ivy bridge anyway so has of right now thats my next upgrade i5 ivy cpu.

Any particular reason for that as from what we've seen so far it's not a big upgrade from the i5-2500K you have now?

 

[Surveyor]

thats true but its hard to reach 2400mhz with a z68/sandybridge cpu where as a z68 or z77 motherboard/ivybridge cpu combo would reach 2800mhz ram speeds more easily

The majority of Z68 motherboards will limit you to a maximum of 2133MHz (some 2200MHz) and Z77 boards to 2400MHz.

 

[wazza300]

i dont know the full details yet,whether there will be bios updates to allow higher ram freq,but ive heard from a reliable source that newer ram speeds of between 2400-2800mhz+ will become the norm with ivybridge cpu's

 

[shankly1985]

Any particular reason for that as from what we've seen so far it's not a big upgrade from the i5-2500K you have now?

Mainly for less power consumption and more cooler temp pc, well from what I read anyways.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Mainly for less power consumption and more cooler temp pc, well from what I read anyways.

Yea, the Ivy bridge CPU will use less power and dump less heat into your case.

However, the difference isn't too great. First the thermal design power (TDP) of the Ivy Bridge Quad cores is 77W, for the sandy bridge quads this figure is 90W (so Ivy bridge is rated at 13W less).

This anadtech test shows that at full load the ivy i7 uses 27W less than the sandy i7, however at idle the difference was only 2W.

This 27W figure, does sound good, but if you put it in the context of your 7950 graphics card that can use up to 200W at full load then this saving on CPU power and heat isn't huge (for a big financial cost).

 

[clone]

Was thinking of making the move form my z68 board but i cant see any benefit as my board is pcie 3.0 ready as i will be buying a 680 soon and the z68 has been great so far but you never know when the upgrade fever grabs you.

 

[shankly1985]

Yea, the Ivy bridge CPU will use less power and dump less heat into your case.

However, the difference isn't too great. First the thermal design power (TDP) of the Ivy Bridge Quad cores is 77W, for the sandy bridge quads this figure is 90W (so Ivy bridge is rated at 13W less).

This anadtech test shows that at full load the ivy i7 uses 27W less than the sandy i7, however at idle the difference was only 2W.

This 27W figure, does sound good, but if you put it in the context of your 7950 graphics card that can use up to 200W at full load then this saving on CPU power and heat isn't huge (for a big financial cost).

I'll also see if games bench better when using pcie 3.0 but am not convinced they be much difference.

 

[spankingtexan]

Well it may be looking like it would be better to skip this round of mobo's and processors, I've been taking stock as the lucid was very interesting but then spending another £300 to use it may not make so much sense as another 680 would reap much greater benefit for another £100 or so on top.

But do I sli?? still on the fence about that one.