So Many Choices...

[Guest]

So heres the deal, my Ivybridge motherboard is seamingly broken, as a result I'm using a spare M-ATX Maximus V Gene I had, since Z77 are kinda vanishing quick I'm kinda limited on alternative choices and since my CPU is a 3770 I can't really OC it at all, so I want to jump ship keep my old I7 in this motherboard and sell it in a M-ATX case with a couple of HD7850s in crossfire and then move onto a new chipset but what do I do, heres the options

 

Haswell - brand new but apparently even worse than Ivybridge in regards to temperatures.

Sandybridge-E - Costs a fortune and risks being replaced if you believe rumours of Ivybridge-E

AMD Piledriver FX - Not sure if they are any good or not, also Steamroller is INC

AMD Rumoured FX-9000 - IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE 5.0GHZ!!!

 

I think in general the only option is to wait on it a bit and put up with a limited system (can only get one GPU in my PC atm which is a shame as I have two brand new 7970s and at this rate they will be outdated by the time they are used) but overall what advice would people give, I'm not a super risky overclocker, I just want a fast CPU that can work nicely with my 7970s at running eyefinity.

 

So what to do?

[Stav Kats]

Patience is the key. With that key, all the doors will open and your questions will be answered. Be patient! My answer is wait and see, if you are not patient then this is what I have to say:

Ivybrigde-E isn't going to be that better than Sandybrigde-E. Also the LGA2011 socket is not ment for gaming so I would stay away from that.

As far as Haswell goes I think it is your only option, but I am not sure about having higher temps than ivy brigde. Are you sure?

I wouldnt hang on the fact that there is going to be a 5Ghz CPU(stock clock) that won;t have a downside, like high wattage draw or high heat output, so stay away from that also.

Lastly, Piledriver is not a bad idea, but going from a 3770 to a 8350 is a huge different is some scenarios. If you are going to game only and not do stuff like video editing, you will be just fine with the AMD piledriver.

Hope it helped, mate.

[Guest]

Mhm I think waiting is the only option, its just a shame Ive spent a fair bit of money on a decent crossfire setup and I can't really use it (I have audio cards etc that take up the other two slots on M-ATX, also I don't like GPUs right on top of each other, I prefer a gap) by the time I get this all sorted HD8000 will probably be round the corner.

 

I guess I am quite fond of the AMD CPUs but Ive never really had that final urge to actually buy one as Intel just seam to beat them in benchmarks. Especially going from an I7 3770 to a FX8350 your just moving sideways rather than onwards and upwards. I thought Sandybridge-E could be a gaming platform. To be honest Ive never used it, used 1366 for Xeon based workstations a lot but thats entirely different, I figured Intels high end ones were quite dynamic in the way that they could be used as either performance work stations or gaming PCs depending on Motherboard choice.

[bmwbaxter]

I wouldn't bother waiting, because in the computer tech world there is always something newer and better coming. Given your situation I would advise buying a 4770k and motherboard that suits your needs (slot spacing...etc). SNB-e is fine for gaming, but the higher cost of the platform as a whole does not translate into any better gaming performance. 

[Guest]

I wouldn't bother waiting, because in the computer tech world there is always something newer and better coming. Given your situation I would advise buying a 4770k and motherboard that suits your needs (slot spacing...etc). SNB-e is fine for gaming, but the higher cost of the platform as a whole does not translate into any better gaming performance. 

Yeah, I was just looking at it and it looks like its going to cost an absoloute fortune, I might stear clear of it, I do quite like that new ROG board with Thermal Armor which is supposedly coming out soon so that sways me towards Haswell, but then again Ive wanted an AMD platform for years but since the performance doesen't seam all that (I mean the FX8350 really is not far behind an I7 realistically, but I guess thats the problem, its still behind and I don't wanna go backwards)

 

I think what I am going to do is sit on it for a few weeks and see what materializes regarding this possible new AMD CPUs which are being described as "The Titan of CPUs" I guess if they fit my needs when confirmed and released I'll get one, if not I'll just go with Haswell.

[bmwbaxter]

Yeah, I was just looking at it and it looks like its going to cost an absoloute fortune, I might stear clear of it, I do quite like that new ROG board with Thermal Armor which is supposedly coming out soon so that sways me towards Haswell, but then again Ive wanted an AMD platform for years but since the performance doesen't seam all that (I mean the FX8350 really is not far behind an I7 realistically, but I guess thats the problem, its still behind and I don't wanna go backwards)

 

I think what I am going to do is sit on it for a few weeks and see what materializes regarding this possible new AMD CPUs which are being described as "The Titan of CPUs" I guess if they fit my needs when confirmed and released I'll get one, if not I'll just go with Haswell.

Only time will tell, my advice is still don't wait too long.

[Hyydrah]

Also the LGA2011 socket is not ment for gaming so I would stay away from that.

 

It can game though

[Stav Kats]

Actually, Sandy Bridge-E has outperformed the other chipsets in games like ArmA 3.

 

ArmA 3.png

Because Arma is CPU intensive. Otherwise it is not ment for games like Crysis, Far Cry, Battlefield, Metro, without mods of course.

[Hyydrah]

Because Arma is CPU intensive. Otherwise it is not ment for games like Crysis, Far Cry, Battlefield, Metro, without mods of course.

ArmA 3 isn't the only game. Crysis 3 actually is somewhat CPU-intensive, take a look at this

 

http://www.techspot.com/review/642-crysis-3-performance/page6.html

 

But I agree, most games won't benefit from having, say, a 3930K versus a 3570K at the moment

[Skops]

Haswell - brand new but apparently even worse than Ivybridge in regards to temperatures.

 

I've been hearing this myself and seen screenshots where it is like 20c hotter when you overclock them. I'm not sure about stock settings.

 

Quite paranoid about it since I'm planning my first build to have the latest stuff, but don't want to buy into something that is just gonna fry (although I don't plan to overclock really as I just want to game).

[Stav Kats]

ArmA 3 isn't the only game. Crysis 3 actually is somewhat CPU-intensive, take a look at this.

 

http://www.techspot.com/review/642-crysis-3-performance/page6.html

 

But I agree, most games won't benefit from having, say, a 3930K versus a 3570K at the moment.

Ohh, thanks for enlightenning me!

[SMURG]

Actually, Sandy Bridge-E has outperformed the other chipsets in games like ArmA 3.

 

ArmA 3.png

That doesn't include the 3820 or the 3770k. If it had, you would see that the 3770k on socket 1155 beats the 3820 on socket 2011, because per-core performance is higher on Ivybridge than on Sandybridge-E. Since Haswell is 10% better again than Ivybridge, for gaming it's pretty safe to say that if you're only buying 4 cores, socket 1155/1150 is still the way to go for gaming.

Sandybridge-E only beats Haswell/Ivybridge once you get into the $500+ 6-core models, and since there are barely any games which actually make full use of those 12 threads, that doesn't really seem like a sensible way to go.

[Hyydrah]

That doesn't include the 3820 or the 3770k. If it had, you would see that the 3770k on socket 1155 beats the 3820 on socket 2011, because per-core performance is higher on Ivybridge than on Sandybridge-E. Since Haswell is 10% better again than Ivybridge, for gaming it's pretty safe to say that if you're only buying 4 cores, socket 1155/1150 is still the way to go for gaming.

Sandybridge-E only beats Haswell/Ivybridge once you get into the $500+ 6-core models, and since there are barely any games which actually make full use of those 12 threads, that doesn't really seem like a sensible way to go.

I forgot to mention that, but the 3930K, 3960X, 3970X, and 3980X do outperform Ivy Bridge by quite a substantial amount, not to mention that you can have a 64GB RAMdisk for extremely fast loading of your games, etc

[SMURG]

I forgot to mention that, but the 3930K, 3960X, 3970X, and 3980X do outperform Ivy Bridge by quite a substantial amount, not to mention that you can have a 64GB RAMdisk for extremely fast loading of your games, etc.

Yeah, moar cores, moar RAM and moar PCIe lanes for crossfire/SLI are the main benefits of socket 2011

[Akula]

Haswell/Ivy temperatures are fine.

Sure once you start pushing their clocks higher you'll still see a noticeable temperature increase of the Sandy models, but this is expected with the TIM over solder.

 

If you already own Ivy, Haswell is not much of an upgrade, but if you were just coming into the market of needing a new desktop Haswell is still a very real choice.

Personally i don't quite see all the bells and whistles yet of Haswell and Ivy would still be my ideal choice.

 

Consider the 8320/8350 - Far cheaper than the Ivy/Haswell units and the performance in real-world environments is hardly noticeable.

[SMURG]

Personally i don't quite see all the bells and whistles yet of Haswell and Ivy would still be my ideal choice.

Bear in mind though that socket 1155 is a dead platform, whereas socket 1150 will progress from Haswell to Broadwell in 2014, providing you with a potential upgrade path.

Equally, like Akula says if you already have an Ivybridge CPU to use, you're probably better off just buying a new motherboard for it since Ivybridge to Haswell isn't a massive jump. If you were on Nehalem or something I might say go for it, but things being as they are...