Confused about upgrade

[cukoodukoo]

I have been out of the loop for quite some time now with all that's happening in the cpu business.Have been listening about SB,IB and now Haswell but never bothered to read much about them as my I7 920 was serving my purpose fine..
My Main gaming PC is a I7 920 overclocked to 3.5 ghz ,with 480 sli and has been feeding my 30 inch monitor fine for the past 3yrs.No worries about that system. I was waiting for the right time to build a new rig and pass this on to my 7 yr old son once his AMD Socket 939 system[~7 yrs old] beeps out.He usually plays Solar system sandbox,Scribblenauts, Racin sims,Minecraft and Age of empires/Rise of nations on it. Well for the past 3 days its been switching off and beeping and i think its time for it to retire.After some quick trouble shooting it looks like its going to be a loooong troubleshoot and I might find it hard looking for some outdated parts.So here I decide that its time for me to pass on my I7 920 system to my son.

I was all excited and got onto the internet and was surprised that haswell seems to be a step back for desktops.Then I came across an article about haswell E[which looks like the one to aim for but 2014 seems way away]. Then I come across ivybridge E.All this has left my brain numb and I need some help here to clear the smoke.

Regarding Ivybridge VS Ivybridge E VS haswell 4770K.....Is Haswell going to be a good investment now?.Would I notice any improvement above my present system?As I have said i am being compelled to jump now for the reason mentioned above.I would have gladly waited had things been as they were a week ago.
I would appreciate some ideas here.I would prefer people to abstain from commenting about my parenthood decision about giving a pc for my son.
TIA

 

[tiraides]

Simply put, Haswell is better than Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge at stock speeds. If you're an overclocker, however, Haswell doesn't reach the same levels as Ivy/Sandy Bridge without some sort of exotic cooling. Of course, YMMV when it comes to overclocking.

Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, and Haswell represent Intel's "mainstream" line of processors and motherboards. Sandy Bridge-E, Ivy Bridge-E, and "Haswell-E" (or whatever the final product is called) represent Intel's more powerful and more expensive "enthusiast" line. The Nehalem-based i7-920 is now considered the "precursor" (for lack of a better term) to Intel's current "enthusiast" line-up.

If you need a new system now, you might as well get a new system. Please answer the sticky questions so we can help you pick out some parts.

 

[cukoodukoo]

I guess haswell e wouldn't be compatible with socket 1150.

 

[tiraides]

No; Haswell-E will likely come with its own socket and chipset.

Do you really need an "enthusiast" system?

 

[tiraides]

Let me clarify something a little better (emphasis mine)....

Regarding Ivybridge VS Ivybridge E VS haswell 4770K.....Is Haswell going to be a good investment now?.Would I notice any improvement above my present system?As I have said i am being compelled to jump now for the reason mentioned above.I would have gladly waited had things been as they were a week ago.
I would appreciate some ideas here.I would prefer people to abstain from commenting about my parenthood decision about giving a pc for my son.
TIA

Clock for clock, Haswell is better than Nehalem. But that alone doesn't tell you whether or not it's worth the investment. If you haven't experienced any slowdown or any need to upgrade anything over the past few years, then Haswell isn't worth the immediate investment. But if you plan on giving your current system to your son, and soon, there's no reason why you shouldn't consider a Socket 1150 (Haswell/mainstream) or a Socket 2011 (Sandy Bridge-E/enthusiast) system for yourself today.

Going back to the mainstream-versus-enthusiast "question," what do you use your current system for? The Socket 1150 and Socket 2011 platforms each come with their own strengths and weaknesses and are better suited for certain tasks. There's also the issue of money: Socket 2011 enables you to use six-core processors and has more PCI-E lanes, but it's more expensive in comparison to Socket 1150 and is considered to be older (though not outdated) technology.

Having said all of that, my earlier point still stands. If you need a new system now, you need a new system now. You'll be fine going with either route (mainstream or enthusiast). But again, what do you need?

 

[cukoodukoo]

No; Haswell-E will likely come with its own socket and chipset.
Do you really need an "enthusiast" system?

First,,,Thanks again for the response

I have no answer for that, The build would be purely for gaming[90%] and music[5%] and photo editing[5%].
I have no real hand experience with an enthusiast grade system or have no idea of what it would offer for my needs.If its going to cost me three times the price for a marginal real world benefit I wouldn't want to throw away money for an " enthusiast" system.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Simply put, Haswell is better than Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge at stock speeds. If you're an overclocker, however, Haswell doesn't reach the same levels as Ivy/Sandy Bridge without some sort of exotic cooling. Of course, YMMV when it comes to overclocking.

Just wanted to add that since Haswell is faster, clock for clock that a Haswell CPU doesn't need to reach the overclock clock speed of a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge to be faster than them. I think the benchmark I seen showed a ~4.5Ghz Haswell CPU preforming as good as a 5Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU. In order to get to 5ghz on most Sandy Bridge CPUs, "exotic" cooling is needed, just like with Ivy Bridge where it too needs the extra delidded step to help aid in the cooling which is what Haswell will most likely need as well to reach that clock frequency.

Although a Sandy Bridge CPU can go beyond 5Ghz, it's very rare even with exotic cooling.

Just wanted to mention that.

 

[Dangman]

I have no answer for that, The build would be purely for gaming[90%] and music[5%] and photo editing[5%].
I have no real hand experience with an enthusiast grade system or have no idea of what it would offer for my needs.If its going to cost me three times the price for a marginal real world benefit I wouldn't want to throw away money for an " enthusiast" system.

Since you're only gaming, you don't need Ivy Bridge-E, Haswell-E, or Sandy Bridge-E. You'll be fine with the regular Haswell platform. Now please answer the sticky that Tiraides asked you to answer earlier.