Core i7 920 upgrade

[Shoubedaoui]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my first post on the forum but I've been a subscriber for a while, and I need some advice on an upgrade I'm planning to make on my rig. First off, here are my specs:

• LGA 1366 Core i7 920 (not overclocked) with intel stock cooler
• Asus p6t-se motherboard
• 6x2GB corsair DDR3 ram, clocked at 1033 mhz
• Zotac geforce GTX 680 amp!
• 2x OCZ vertex 2 60GB in raid0 for boot
• 2x western digital black 640GB in raid0 for storage
• CoolerMaster HAF 932 case
• Corsair TX 750w power supply
• Crossover 30inch 2560x1600 monitor, overclocked @ 75hz (korean)

It serves me well for gaming but I'm planning on eventually upgrading the video card to a 780ti (they're so cheap nowadays) or a 980 but this would unbalance the system and cause a CPU bottleneck. Keep in mind I'm also a 3D artist and occasionally render 3D and video.

So I'm looking for a CPU upgrade for now.

 

First option is to upgrade the motherboard, ram and CPU to socket 2011 but this would end up well over 1k$ (no point in upgrading unless I get a 6core, preferably even an 8core).

Second option would be to buy a used higher performing cpu on lga 1366, like this one, or this one (this was 1,6k$ at launch).

Third option would be to overclock the i7 920 to milk it as long as I can.

 

Here are my questions:

1. Do you think the upgrade is worth the 250-400$ price from my i7 920?
2. Will the Xeon processor fit with my motherboard and memory?
3. Do any of you have experience with buying used CPUs?
4. Does a CPU upgrade need a windows reinstall?
5. Should I upgrade now or gather more money and wait for 8core and ddr4 to be affordable?

I'm also planning on getting one of these or these (any idea where to get that last one??). Don't worry they will fit in the HAF 932.

 

Thank you very much and sorry for the long post!

[arnavvr]

I haven't bought used cpus before, but i bought a 7950 from msi used and it was defective.

[79wjd]

For rendering/editing, A 5960x really only makes sense if you render for a job -- where the speed in which it renders makes a big difference.

 

As for buying a used CPU, I'd rather avoid that myself since there is a chance that it will be DOA/pushed to hard and not work properly/be on its last leg. 

 

AFAIK, the S36 isn't out yet. 

 

I would personally start out by overclocking the 920 and seeing how far it gets you, since a cooler is quite cheap anyway; and you'll need it should you upgrade your cpu. So, I would try overclocking it as far as you can, and if thats still not enough, then upgrade the whole platform--motherboard, cpu, and maybe ram. 

[TheProfosist]

The cpu is indeed dated but so is the platform. I don't know if dumping more money into it is the wisest decision.

[H4X3R]

I suggest you keep what you have for AT LEAST another year. It's still a good system. You'll probably not bottleneck a 980.

[othertomperson]

It serves me well for gaming but I'm planning on eventually upgrading the video card to a 780ti (they're so cheap nowadays) or a 980 but this would unbalance the system and cause a CPU bottleneck.

 

Heh really? Changing your GPU is magically going to change the size of your maps and increase the numbers of objects on the screen at a time.

 

As long as the CPU is fast enough to push out a framerate you care about *that* is the bottleneck, not some misguided notion of "balance".

[SpecTre12345]

An overclocked 920 will not bottleneck a modern graphics card, and if it does it's not going to be by much (Here's a 930 a very similar chip to yours at stock right behind a 4670k):

 

 

I would invest in a nice cooler and overclock the 920 to 4.2GHz and call it a day, and wait another year or two before you make a full upgrade.

 

Another option is dropping in a X5660 Xeon Hex Core, which is a bit cheaper than a X5680 but still shows some nice gains in performance (but you would have to overclock that too to show a nice improvement [even an overclock from 4.2-4.5GHz is more than enough]):

 

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1461359/official-xeon-x5660-x58-full-review-discussion-comparison-to-x79-high-end-cpus-and-xeon-l5639-benchmarks-inside-longest-post-ever