Core i7 970 vs 2600 (when not overclocked)

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toprun91

n00b
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Jan 12, 2011
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Hello,

I am planning to build a computer at the end of this month and this is the first computer I have ever built.

I started choosing the processor last month and I had pretty much locked it in that I was going to go with the core i7 970. But now the new sandy bridge processors are out and have pretty much put me back to step 1 !!

The purpose of the computer is a mix of hardcore gaming (latest fps and rts), amateur hd video editing (home movies), Watching movies, light image editing (photoshop), office applications (word, excel), general internet, and game/level design (trying to learn UDK).

So my question is what is the better processor the 970 or the top sandy bridge (2600)?
Also 3 things to note when replying:
- I am not interested in value for money. So pretend they were both the same price.
-I have no plans to overclock...... So don’t base them on their overclocking abilities
-I am planning on running sli gtx 580, I am not sure if that changes anything.... (Maybe a certain processor can utilize them better?)

Also just remember when replying that I am really new to this so I am pretty noob and may ask some dumb questions. So try to go easy on me when I do!
 
From what I have heard the 2600k performs better in a number of benchmarks. But I am still hesitant for a couple of reasons can you tell me if these reasons are worth me worrying about and what cpu do you think?

The reasons are:

-The 970 has 6 cores + 12 threads whereby 2600 has 4 cores and 8 threads. I know sandy bridge has a higher clock and seems to bench about the same but wouldn’t the 970 be more future proof as 6 cores becomes more of a standard and more software and games start to support it?

-The 970 has a 12mb cache compared to the 8mb cache (does that make any difference?)

-There are less pci slots and the gpus have to be run as 8x/8x and I know that some mobos have NF200 but I am sure what that does..... does it create pci lanes out of nothing? Or does it just split the existing pci lanes? Is it exactly the same as a cpu that will support 16x/16x

- It has dual channel ram instead of tri does that make a difference to performance?

-In some ways even though it is more upgradable because socket 1336 is ending and 1155 is new. But there are other things that make it seem less upgradable such as dual channel ram which means I can’t upgrade it as much when I might need to in the future and it is limited to 2 gpus in sli (in some cases 3 i think) so I can’t add quad sli in the future.

- The motherboards are all brand new and a lot of guides seem to say not to buy motherboards that have just come onto the market because they are likely to have problems.... Whereby going with x58 I am going with a second revision mobo.
 
-The 970 has 6 cores + 12 threads whereby 2600 has 4 cores and 8 threads. I know sandy bridge has a higher clock and seems to bench about the same but wouldn’t the 970 be more future proof as 6 cores becomes more of a standard and more software and games start to support it?
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The i7 970 is always going to be faster in applications which can spawn threads dynamically, or have more than 8. The IPC increase in Sandy Bridge isn't that big. The question is, how often are you going to use programs with that many threads? Most games prefer the increased IPC and higher clocks of the 2600 to the extra cores of the 970.

-The 970 has a 12mb cache compared to the 8mb cache (does that make any difference?)
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It's hard to tell how much the 8MB cache affects performance, since we don't have anything else to compare it to. But also remember, that per core, both have the same amount of cache.

-There are less pci slots and the gpus have to be run as 8x/8x and I know that some mobos have NF200 but I am sure what that does..... does it create pci lanes out of nothing? Or does it just split the existing pci lanes? Is it exactly the same as a cpu that will support 16x/16x
Click to expand...
Between 8x/8x and 16x/16x there may be a 5% difference. Maybe.

- It has dual channel ram instead of tri does that make a difference to performance?
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On the one hand, the triple channel is faster than dual-channel of the same speed. On the other hand, Sandy bridge supports much faster RAM than Nehalem.

-In some ways even though it is more upgradable because socket 1336 is ending and 1155 is new. But there are other things that make it seem less upgradable such as dual channel ram which means I can’t upgrade it as much when I might need to in the future and it is limited to 2 gpus in sli (in some cases 3 i think) so I can’t add quad sli in the future.
Click to expand...
You can run up to 16GB RAM already on P67, compared to 24GB on X58. Do you need more than 16GB? Do you envision a situation where you'll still be on P67 AND still need more than 16GB? Same for the GPUs.
 
It really depends on the applications you want to run. Some will like the IPC and some will like more threads. dual vs triple channel is also dependent on whether or not the applications like memory bandwith.

x8/x8 vs x16/x16 is negligible, but if you want to run tri-SLI sometime down the road then the X58 might be the better option.

Lastly, I know you said to ignore price, but I'm going to ignore you for a sec. If the price difference means you can spend the money on an upgrade in a different area (PSU, Ram, SSD), then that might change the equation. Adding an SSD might be more useful to your chosen applications than the extra threads of a 970, in which case a cheaper 2600 build including an SSD might be the better choice
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
Between 8x/8x and 16x/16x there may be a 5% difference. Maybe.
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There is one motherboard I found for sandy bridge GA-P67A-UD7 which does have x16/x16 but it uses some NF200 chip to add extra lanes. Is that any different in terms of performance to x58 which naturally allows for x16/x16 ?

Mr. Pedantic said:
On the one hand, the triple channel is faster than dual-channel of the same speed. On the other hand, Sandy bridge supports much faster RAM than Nehalem.
Click to expand...
What is the fastest Nahalem supports?

Mr. Pedantic said:
You can run up to 16GB RAM already on P67, compared to 24GB on X58. Do you need more than 16GB? Do you envision a situation where you'll still be on P67 AND still need more than 16GB? Same for the GPUs.
Click to expand...
Lol sorry noob mistake I thought the biggest ram stick you could get was 4GB. I only just found out there was an 8GB stick!

Activate: AMD said:
x8/x8 vs x16/x16 is negligible
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So it wouldn’t be stupid to buy gtx 580 sli and run them at x8/x8?

Activate: AMD said:
Lastly, I know you said to ignore price, but I'm going to ignore you for a sec. If the price difference means you can spend the money on an upgrade in a different area (PSU, Ram, SSD), then that might change the equation. Adding an SSD might be more useful to your chosen applications than the extra threads of a 970, in which case a cheaper 2600 build including an SSD might be the better choice
Click to expand...
Well I am planning on getting an SSD no matter which way I go. Although I am sure I could put the money somewhere (faster ram?)
 
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