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i7 920 to ????

A

Arklight

Gawd
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
831
I currently have an i7 920 @ 4.0 ghz but performance wise it is getting a little long ion the tooth and I'm thinking of an upgrade.

About 99% of my home PC time is spent gaming, more specifically, playing simulators (XPlane 10, FSX, P3D, SHV, iRacing, etc..). Because of this, the processor speed is muich more important than the videocard (I have a GTX 680 Classified so I'm good there). My current speed of 4.0ghz just doesn't cut it with my setup so I'm looking for recommendations.

I'm looking at the the 3930K as opposed to waiting for Haswell since I heard the 3930K is a pretty solid performer with good OC'ing potential and the Haswell seems to still be somewhat of an unknown.

Any recommendations/opinions with regards to CPU and mobo?

Thanks!
 
I'd probably go E5-1650....more functionality & ecc support for sub $100 more.

I think the 3930k is $500 @ Mc. The E5-1650 is $585 @ ewiz.
 
Arklight said:
Do I really need ECC Support for a PC just for gaming?
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nope....not sure about you, but I recycle my old components & ecc comes in handy later if you want to play with/build a server.

If that is not a consideration, go with the 3930k.
 
Ahh, ok. Yeah, no need here then.

What about motherboard? What's the best with regards to OC'ing, etc..?
 
I recommend waiting for Haswell to see whats up. Unless you're really suffering, 1-2 months of a wait isn't bad.
 
You've waited this long, might as well wait 1 more month to make a better informed decisions with Haswell.
 
Arklight said:
I'm looking at the the 3930K as opposed to waiting for Haswell since I heard the 3930K is a pretty solid performer with good OC'ing potential and the Haswell seems to still be somewhat of an unknown.

Any recommendations/opinions with regards to CPU and mobo?
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Going with the 3930k its the best choise.. even highly oc'd haswell 4770k will be hard to match a mid oc'd 3930k... not mentiont to high oc'd 3930k...
 
Araxie said:
Going with the 3930k its the best choise.. even highly oc'd haswell 4770k will be hard to match a mid oc'd 3930k... not mentiont to high oc'd 3930k...
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Hearsay. No tangible proof. We don't know for sure if Haswell will have secret sauce or solder yet.

And take into account the price difference between chips and motherboards, and all those features he will pay for but may not use, like 40 pcie lanes, bagillion Sata ports, etc. 4770k will come out around $350 and a 3930k is still $500-$600. Savings of $150-$250 there.

Plus the cheapest LGA2011 board is around the $200 mark, with most desirable features coming in around the $300 mark, and Asrock has already stated their cheapest Z87 board will come in at $109, with desirables being in the ~$200 range. So theres $100-200 savings there as well.

So total of $250-450 in savings if OP waits for Haswell. Assuming that Sandy-E will stay the same price, which it probably will based on past experience, and because there's no direct competition with another enthusiast platform.
 
Perhaps, waiting to see what Haswel brings to the table will be the best decision. The games I play are so CPU reliant its crazy so I really need great performance. A few hundred dollars isn't really a concern if the performance and oc'ability is better with the 3930K.

Thanks for the help, all!
 
Araxie said:
Going with the 3930k its the best choise.. even highly oc'd haswell 4770k will be hard to match a mid oc'd 3930k... not mentiont to high oc'd 3930k...
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Entirely depends on what you're doing.

For just about any normal usage scenario, even distributed computing, LGA2011 is a waste.
 
Considering Skylake is what next year? And the next gen DDR4 will be coming out soonish with the next gen Sata 8 or 16 with newer SSD's, I 'd say your I7 920 is still quite good until the next true gen comes out. You will barely notice a difference between all the other I7's in real world performance except when doing a few tasks and certain games. To me it's not worth the cost, but to someone more [H] it might. Just take that into consideration.
 
I am in this boat as well. i7 920 at 4.13 on air, and all I am concerned about is gaming... I will probably go for a 4770k if it can be overclocked well... but I just don't know if it's worth the ~$600-700 investment for CPU+heatsink+Mobo+RAM....

As I use Crossfire/SLI and game at 1080p 120Hz I am thinking it is probably a worthy upgrade.
 
I have tried the 2600K and 3770K (mine wasn't such a great overclocker though) and couldn't really tell a difference between that and my i7 950. Try to get your CPU to 4.2 at least and it should still be good to go. So what if it takes up more watts, it's better than being disappointed by whatever you get that you thought would have been a noticeable upgrade. Like others are saying I'd wait until the next big tick & tock. Something far away from this current generation of i7s.

You said that at 4GHz, the performance in games are getting long in the tooth? Could you elaborate on that? Maybe it's a psychological effect, the upgrade itch you're getting is telling you that the 920 isn't cutting it. At high resolutions it shouldn't be a bottleneck even with a GTX 680. I have a 780 on the way and I would be damned if I was being bottlenecked since I run at 2560x1440 @ 105Hz.
 
hdgamer said:
Considering Skylake is what next year? And the next gen DDR4 will be coming out soonish with the next gen Sata 8 or 16 with newer SSD's, I 'd say your I7 920 is still quite good until the next true gen comes out. You will barely notice a difference between all the other I7's in real world performance except when doing a few tasks and certain games. To me it's not worth the cost, but to someone more [H] it might. Just take that into consideration.
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+1

Skylake or bust.
 
hdgamer said:
Considering Skylake is what next year? And the next gen DDR4 will be coming out soonish with the next gen Sata 8 or 16 with newer SSD's, I 'd say your I7 920 is still quite good until the next true gen comes out. You will barely notice a difference between all the other I7's in real world performance except when doing a few tasks and certain games. To me it's not worth the cost, but to someone more [H] it might. Just take that into consideration.
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Yes. Wait another year. But next year, Skymont will only be a year out, might as well wait for that one instead. :rolleyes:
 
thesecond said:
Yes. Wait another year. But next year, Skymont will only be a year out, might as well wait for that one instead. :rolleyes:
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You can upgrade every generation. You can upgrade every other generation. You can upgrade every 5th generation. No real "right way" to do it, as time, money, "who-the-hell-cares-its-new-and-cool" is dependent upon the particular person.

Personally (read, opinion), I'm tired of 5-15% performance gains. When I build a new system, I want it to FEEL a lot faster than my old gear. But each to their own. :D
 
thesecond said:
Yes. Wait another year. But next year, Skymont will only be a year out, might as well wait for that one instead. :rolleyes:
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Well my point being is that if he's going to upgrade his mobo and cpu, might as well wait for the full re-do to something that uses all next gen. Why buy a new mobo and cpu now that is only 15-20% faster in benchmarks when you can wait it out another year and get all latest gen gear and feel the 30-40% improvement from what he has now?
 
I had an i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz and today I went out and bought an i7 3770K at Microcenter for $229 and OC'd it to 4.4Ghz no problem. I bet 4.8+Ghz is even possible. I'm quit please with the difference I feel from the upgrade. Reading the "rumors" that I've seen from Haswell didn't really make me want to wait for a 4770K that will probably come out at $350 for only 15% max benefit over the 3770K? $229 for the 3770K was just too good to pass up.
 
Honestly looking at your setup you mind as well wait until Ivy bridge E comes out in the fall season for a full upgrade to a different socket. The current Sandy bridge E parts are relatively old and your system doesn't really need to be upgraded. Also consider if you need more than 2 card SLI or not. If you're not planning on more than 2 video cards I strongly suggest you consider the mainstream ivy bridge or upcoming haswell parts.
 
hdgamer said:
Well my point being is that if he's going to upgrade his mobo and cpu, might as well wait for the full re-do to something that uses all next gen. Why buy a new mobo and cpu now that is only 15-20% faster in benchmarks when you can wait it out another year and get all latest gen gear and feel the 30-40% improvement from what he has now?
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When is Skylake expected? This wiki says its not until 2015.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylake_(microarchitecture)
 
DogChainX said:
You can upgrade every generation. You can upgrade every other generation. You can upgrade every 5th generation. No real "right way" to do it, as time, money, "who-the-hell-cares-its-new-and-cool" is dependent upon the particular person.

Personally (read, opinion), I'm tired of 5-15% performance gains. When I build a new system, I want it to FEEL a lot faster than my old gear. But each to their own. :D
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This.
My current system is what I have in my sig. Five years without any sort of upgrades and I am perfectly fine. Hell, I could just upgrade my graphics card and get a ssd and still be in the clear. But, after such a long wait, I may consider even upgrading to haswell. New DDR4 memory sounds great in all, but my DDR2 is running perfect and without a hitch.
 
only answer is to stick with x58 and get a 980x or 990x :D
 
3930K is your answer. X79 is loud, wastes lots of fossil fuels, completely pointless.

The true American way to go!

I'm not even American and I went with X79!
 
I'm in the same boat and would like to upgrade, but 920 @ 4.0 can still kick some ass in gaming/everyday usage.

I'll follow this thread to see the recommendations though, didn't follow CPU progress in the while now. Plus with Haswell and new consoles coming out in the near future it'll be interesting to see if it's even necessary to upgrade CPU and get some SSD's instead...
 
GibsonEX said:
I'm in the same boat and would like to upgrade, but 920 @ 4.0 can still kick some ass in gaming/everyday usage.

I'll follow this thread to see the recommendations though, didn't follow CPU progress in the while now. Plus with Haswell and new consoles coming out in the near future it'll be interesting to see if it's even necessary to upgrade CPU and get some SSD's instead...
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you'll notice more of a difference getting and SSD on your current system than you will upgrading motherboard/cpu/ram. get an SSD like yesterday.
 
SSD's are evil, loading games happens so fast I don't have time to read all the interesting tidbits and hints that devs like to show on the load screen! BAD SSD! SLOW DOWN!
 
Currently nothing on the market that would really justify upgrading unless you just feel like doing so. I'm in the same boat - can't remember the last time I went this long between upgrading CPU/mobo/ram. I've changed GPUs several times in the meantime.
 
SSD is probably a better upgrade than cpu at this point in time unless you have reason otherwise. I wouldn't go smaller than 240gb though. I prefer 480gb+ ones myself though I understand not everyone wants to drop that much on storage.
 
This thread is KILLING ME... I have the upgrade itch to jump on haswell from my i7 920 at 4.0ghz, but I guess it's not worth it :(
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
This thread is KILLING ME... I have the upgrade itch to jump on haswell from my i7 920 at 4.0ghz, but I guess it's not worth it :(
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Honestly, it really isn't worth the upgrade. The jump will be sort of significant, but not significant enough to warrant the money. Like many others have said maybe you should just wait another generation and get other upgrades like an SSD or something along those lines. It'll be a better value cost/performance wise.
 
I'm upgrading from an E8500 @ 3.9, 4gb of DDR3-1600, TO a 965 and 12gb!

And FYI, It isn't even for gaming, I'm not even feeling a bottleneck with my old C2D in gaming (went back to stock clocks, lost 1FPS in FarCry 3 ) It's for video production is the only reason I'm not waiting another gen. And if you think about it, I still kinda am since I'm going used X58 instead of new Z77
 
narupls said:
Honestly, it really isn't worth the upgrade. The jump will be sort of significant, but not significant enough to warrant the money. Like many others have said maybe you should just wait another generation and get other upgrades like an SSD or something along those lines. It'll be a better value cost/performance wise.
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I have a Core i7 920, C0 stepping, 3.4ghz overclock with HT enabled, and a decent Zalman cooler (for its time), 12 GB RAM, and a GTX 670.

Last night, I watched CPU utilization on my secondary panel as I played Skyrim, SWTOR, and BF3 MP on my main monitor (1080p). BF3 MP had it in the 50-68% range, but SWTOR and Skyrim did not. I didn't spend much time with Skyrim, but I do have the high-resolution textures installed along with ultra graphic settings enabled. Graphical performance was excellent.

It's tough for me to justify the jump to a 3570K or 3770K, so I'm waiting for Haswell benchmarks to surface. I know there's room for improvement, but is it worth the cash. Time will tell.

I LOVE MY 920! It's still a beast, and I've never gone this long between upgrades.
 
Man... I was thinking of finally upgrading. You're stacking like almost 20% improvement in IPC and clocks most likely. USB3 SATA3 PCIe 3, no Marvell crap on any of it. Everything on the cpu side of things is incremental nowadays (and nehalem is the legend type of stuff). You're as patient as you can be and then you finally upgrade. I'm curious what will be "worth it" for some of you. I mean 35 to 40% is not out of the question.

Yeah, this is if you're in the market for a faster cpu. "Get an SSD" first, if you don't have one. Like 90% of people thinking of upgrading there 920 @ 4GHz already have one. Absolutely bananas not too. So yeah. Get an SSD. NOW! I mean we have a poster with a Q9550 saying he doesn't need to upgrade... well maybe it's the 20" monitor. I didn't want to post and be computer snobby, but I've just had so many "check the url" moments reading this thread!
 
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