SB or IB and Z68 or Z75/77

S

Stoly

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
6,713
I can get a 2600k and z68 mobo for around $300.

Should I go for it or wait for IB?
 
Personally I go with a 2600k. It's a good deal versus buying a new 3770k with a z77 board.
 
Unless you can snag one of the Microcenter deals on SB, it makes more sense to go with IB. MSRP, IB is actually cheaper and it's a better CPU. Not by a whole lot, but better nonetheless.
 
Last edited:
Stoly, that is a good deal. 2600k are $314 retail. Get that. IB is barely better and doesn't overclock as well as SB. This is based off of Hardocp's own IPC review.
 
If you're coming from Nehalem or older, I'd go with IB. Although it's a die shrink + new transistor fab, it's best to go with the latest tech for a fresh new build.
 
The ~$75 premium for a 3570k and Z77 doesn't seem worth it at all. Going with a 3770k definitely doesn't seem worth it.
 
Sieg said:
They used to have 2600k running for $200. ;)
Click to expand...

Only $20 more than the 2500k. Sorry I missed that. The 2500k at $180 is very tempting. But we'll see what the real users say about IB after it's been out for a while. Then it may be time to get serious about some new hardware. SB or IB, that is the question.
 
For $300 the performance you're going to get is going to be outstanding. However, IB will be out soon. It's a matter of what you want to spend, really. Real world difference will be minimal
 
If you can't get a 2600k with the Microcenter deal, the 2500k is probably the way to go. It's by far the best deal unless you absolutely NEED an I-7 chip, then I would get the 2600k.
 
i'm getting SB 2550K on Asus Maximus V GENE (Z77). i'll be looking for a maximum overclock on air (Zalman CNPS12X). in this regard SB is going to be a better performer than IB. if then later a new IB revision is released that overclocks better than this current revision i might be replacing SB with it.
 
Stoly said:
I can get a 2600k and z68 mobo for around $300.

Should I go for it or wait for IB?
Click to expand...

With the current deal you have there, it really is a no brainer. That's probably better than that dead microcenter deal. Get that deal now and enjoy your system instead of waiting for IB.
 
XamediX said:
With the current deal you have there, it really is a no brainer. That's probably better than that dead microcenter deal. Get that deal now and enjoy your system instead of waiting for IB.
Click to expand...

I agree..

I managed to snag a 2600k via another forum member who does have a MC & though I scored for a 2600k & a good asus board for 350.. So for 300 that really is a great deal.
 
I say SB + Z68. Save about $75 and get insane clocks.

IB and Z77 have nice features to brag about but the improvements will be almost imperceptable unless you're into Quick Sync and iGP stuff, or have quad 680's.
 
Samwiches said:
I say SB + Z68. Save about $75 and get insane clocks.

IB and Z77 have nice features to brag about but the improvements will be almost imperceptable unless you're into Quick Sync and iGP stuff, or have quad 680's.
Click to expand...

How about SB + Z77. Is it the best of both worlds?
 
Curious142 said:
How about SB + Z77. Is it the best of both worlds?
Click to expand...

Best of both world is IB+Z77. The fact of the matter is that the only thing SB does better is OC higher by a margin of about 2-300 MHz. IB is better at quite literally everything else. Is it leaps and bounds better? absolutly not, but better nonetheless.

The question is whats more important to the buyer. Saving a little money or getting the best of both worlds.
 
What the hell... If I end up deciding to go with a Sandy Bridge 2500k I was still planning to get a Gigabyte UD5H z77 board but I just found out it doesn't support 1600MHz ram without an Ivy Bridge CPU. And then I noticed none of the stores I shop at here in Canada even stock P67 or Z68 boards anymore. Maybe another Z77 board supports 1600MHz ram with a SB CPU? I was planning to get some Gskill Ripjaws 1600 ram.
 
Had I known that I wouldn't have ordered that exact combo :eek:

Will the RAM underclock or simply not work at all?
 
dblinkhorn said:
Had I known that I wouldn't have ordered that exact combo :eek:

Will the RAM underclock or simply not work at all?
Click to expand...

It will under clock. Another feature you don't get with Z77 if paired with SB is PCIe 3
 
Last edited:
Naked Snake said:
What the hell... If I end up deciding to go with a Sandy Bridge 2500k I was still planning to get a Gigabyte UD5H z77 board but I just found out it doesn't support 1600MHz ram without an Ivy Bridge CPU. And then I noticed none of the stores I shop at here in Canada even stock P67 or Z68 boards anymore. Maybe another Z77 board supports 1600MHz ram with a SB CPU? I was planning to get some Gskill Ripjaws 1600 ram.
Click to expand...

Actually, you can select 1600 speed with SB. However, 1600 is considered overclocking the SB's memory controller since Intel officially supports only up to 1333 with SB. Besides, most "1600" speed DDR3 RAM sold is actually native 1333-speed RAM with an XMP profile set to 1600.
 
Unless you get an Ivy Bridge CPU for a competitive price as compared to Sandy Bridge, I wouldn't bother. SB CPUs are still very close in performance and are readily available on the cheap.
 
RamonGTP said:
It will under clock. Another feature you don't get with Z77 if paired with IB is PCIe 3
Click to expand...

True, but I've been reading the real-world performance gains of PCI 3 vs 2 is not that huge. Also, I probably will eventually get an IB, but I want to wait a while for them to hopefully iron out any problems and give time to see what this heating issue is all about.
 
dblinkhorn said:
True, but I've been reading the real-world performance gains of PCI 3 vs 2 is not that huge. Also, I probably will eventually get an IB, but I want to wait a while for them to hopefully iron out any problems and give time to see what this heating issue is all about.
Click to expand...

True until you start getting to 3-4 GPUs

If you already have SB it makes little sense to go IB, be it now or a future silicon spin. If you dont have either, I think it makes more sense to go IB unless youre able to jump on a Microcenter deal. If you're paying MSRP or close to it, the cost difference is virtually non-existent. Might as well get the newer tech with a better feature set.
 
dblinkhorn said:
Had I known that I wouldn't have ordered that exact combo :eek:

Will the RAM underclock or simply not work at all?
Click to expand...
Let me know how this combo works out, I really like that board and now I don't know what to do. I'd appreciate some info on how things go for you.
 
If you're planning to hardcore overclock, go SB. If not, IB. In either case, I'd get an x77 board unless you plan to replace this machine within a year or so. The main upgrades are 4 native USB 3.0 ports and DDR3 1600...
 
Despite the reported heat problems I'm still going to get a IB in the next few weeks and run it on my MSI Z68A-GD65 G3. Will be interesting to see how IB runs on it compared to Z77 main boards.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, you can select 1600 speed with SB. However, 1600 is considered overclocking the SB's memory controller since Intel officially supports only up to 1333 with SB. Besides, most "1600" speed DDR3 RAM sold is actually native 1333-speed RAM with an XMP profile set to 1600.
Click to expand...
That's strange, Gigabyte's P67 boards seem to officially support 1600MHz with Sandy Bridge but their z77 doesn't. Asus P67 supports 1600 too. I need to look into this some more.
 
I doubt there are going to be any problems with 1600MHz. It's not even supported for SB on Z68, and we can all do 1600 up to 2133 no problem.

Also, Z77 is designed with slightly lower power delivery, for IB, or at least tends to have a shorter power phase on all the low/midrange boards (8+2 vs 12+4). I haven't seen any reports but I don't think it's going to overclock SB very well.
 
Samwiches said:
I doubt there are going to be any problems with 1600MHz. It's not even supported for SB on Z68, and we can all do 1600 up to 2133 no problem.

Also, Z77 is designed with slightly lower power delivery, for IB, or at least tends to have a shorter power phase on all the low/midrange boards (8+2 vs 12+4). I haven't seen any reports but I don't think it's going to overclock SB very well.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's going to be an issue at all except for the very cheapest of boards. At a certain point, the amount of "phases" becomes more of a marketing gimmick and a reason to inflate prices than something that is actually necessary.
 
E4g1e said:
Besides, most "1600" speed DDR3 RAM sold is actually native 1333-speed RAM with an XMP profile set to 1600.
Click to expand...



if there is a 1600 profile how could it be considered native 1333? Why not say its really 1066 as that is likely there also?
 
RamonGTP said:
I don't think it's going to be an issue at all except for the very cheapest of boards. At a certain point, the amount of "phases" becomes more of a marketing gimmick and a reason to inflate prices than something that is actually necessary.
Click to expand...

Well digital power delivery has been extremely popular. It's supposed to be easy to build up to higher levels, is what I thought the idea was.

My own belief comes from four P8Z68 boards that I've had; from two LE models w/ 4+2 phase for 4800MHz stable, onto two full models w/ 12+4 and 5150MHz. The price difference was about $65 MSRP---maybe not worth it, but better $$ per MHz than say.. watercooling or something.
 
As I said, all but the cheapest boards. 4+2 vs 12+4 is a big difference. Its kind of like memory in certain video cards when they put 2gb on a card that is nowhere near powerful enough to take advantage of it. That same card will more than likely perform identically if it was paired with 512MB. That doesn't necessarily mean you can go all they way down to 64MB and expect the same performance. ;)
 
Hey, what is the MicroCenter deal? They won't tell me anything at the store here.

I heard about $50 off any motherboard combo but I don't need one at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top