Is upgrading from X58/i7 920 to Z68 /2600K worth while?

M

Mr. D.

Weaksauce
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Apr 21, 2004
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I am currently running a X58 mobo with a i7 920 and 6GB of ram. I am considering upgrading to a Z68 mobo with a 2600K. Do you guys think it wil make a noticeable difference? I use it for gaming and I have a HD6970 which I want to keep using. I am just not sure if it is worth the money.
 
I'm running a very similar setup to you.

I've seen an i5 2500k running and yes it is faster. But imho not that much faster to make it worthwhile an upgrade. I've yet to come across a game that makes my i7 920 sweat. Maybe native SATA3 would be handy other than that though I don't think it's worthwhile.
 
I agree with Fawkes - unless you need something that Z68 brings, like SRT or integrated video, I'd just wait for Ivy Bridge.
 
I'm holding out with my X58 for a bit. I just snagged a couple of upgrades for reasonable. Cheaper than moving up to Z68 right now.
We'll see what else comes out before I decide.
 
Stay with x58 and wait for Ivybridge, moving to the Z68 is more like a side grade.

The rig you have now is fine, enjoy it! :)
 
I changed from X58 to Z68 and am happy with the change. Way better OC and temps:)
 
I have 3 1155 and 2 x58 systems, I would say they are all pretty close. I choose the 2600k because i find it to be faster but not fast enough to justify the $400 or so you will need to put into the upgrade. If you have a good offer to buy your old mobo and cpu might be worth it though.
 
I just upgraded to a Z68 board and a i5 2500K but only after my i7 920 died and the choice was either buy a used 920 for $150- $200 or a new i5 2500K for $219.00. The cheapest new i7 in LGA 1366 was the i7 960 and that was $311.00 on newegg. And I didn't want to troll around indefinitely looking for a used chip that may or may not have much time left in it's service life.
 
Mr. D. said:
I am currently running a X58 mobo with a i7 920 and 6GB of ram. I am considering upgrading to a Z68 mobo with a 2600K. Do you guys think it wil make a noticeable difference? I use it for gaming and I have a HD6970 which I want to keep using. I am just not sure if it is worth the money.
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I feel the exact same way having a P55 with an i5 750. Is it really worth it to upgrade? You tell me!
 
P55/i5(quad)-i7 or x58/i7 systems have plenty of life left in them when compared to P67/Z68/SB. If you want to replace your system because you feel like it... that is fine but there really isn't any need to replace 45nm i7 tech right now. Keep rolling with what you've got and wait and see what IB (chip/mobo) are like when they come out. I'm rolling with both Bloomfield and SB because building/o.c. computers is my hobby but I may end up selling off some parts to help fund for a new AMD BD setup. New tech is always coming... just around the corner.
 
I have a Rampage III Formula and a 930 with 6 GB of RAM.

If anything I am going to wait to upgrade after the new X79 boards and the SB-e chips are released. I haven't seen where those boards have full on PCI-e 3.0 capability, and if they don't I'll wait until the IvyBridge CPUs are released later on in 2012.

Right now, there isn't a solid reason to change my current computer, it's soldi as a rock and will run all day at 4.2 GHz.;)
 
For my money, if you're still running that i7-920 at stock speed, I'd rather get a good CPU HSF and overclock that i7-920, especially if that HD 6970 is bottlenecked by a stock-speed i7-920. This is because switching to an i5-2500K and a Z68 motherboard will cost much more money than whatever performance increase justifies. My second recommendation outside of overclocking would be to increase the amount of installed RAM from 6GB (3 x 2GB) to 12GB (3 x 4GB).
 
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Don't bother really, or get a nice cheap i7 980 and call it a day. I have an i7 970 and it rolls nicely with me, I previously had a 950 and it was worth it.
 
i will be running both my 920's into the ground. it would be foolish to upgrade if all you do is gaming. you may see a 5fps difference above 120 fps but who cares? you will never notice it.

clock the 920 to 4ghz, and it wont be a bottleneck for a few years still. it will still be powerful enough to run games when socket 2011 comes out.

i will probably replace my 920's when they are a bottleneck, like my core2duo. core2duo couldnt keep up to modern games and was a bottleneck to my GPU's. that is the time you want to upgrade, if its not bottlenecking your performance, dont change it out imo
 
Get a socket 2011 if you want to stay high end. If not the 25 26K series are great. Also you can wait for ivy bridge but either way you are going to have to get an 1155/2011 board sooner or later.
 
Im in same boat but Im waiting for Ivy Bridge. I am waiting for board with native usb3 along with chipset designed by Intel to properly work with pcie 3.0 for future gfx upgrades. With ivy bridge kepler and AMD 7k series, the z68 has as much of lifespan as my x58 :)

It's like 4-5 months before parts roll in, so it's not much to wait. :)
 
I'd wait for IB (which _might_ bring with it acceptably-priced six-core CPUs and a host of new features such as PCI-E 3.0), or wait till SB-E which should bring down the prices of six-core 32nm Nehalems and do a temporary upgrade to that.
 
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