i7 950, When should I upgrade?

[notalent420]

My i7-920 can encode (with Handbrake) a DVD at about 45 FPS, while my i7-3770 can do about 90 FPS. Blueray is about 8 FPS vs 20 FPS. Since I do alot of ripping it was a good upgrade for me, but outside of that not much difference...other then my Ivy Bridge idles about 10C cooler then my i7-920,but gets about 10C hotter and full tilt.

Not to mention the power savings that come with going to a 22nm chip.

Interesting to note about the encoding speeds. I am currently using an i7 920 and was going to upgrade to IB but since Haswell is not that far off, looks like I'll be holding out just a tad longer.

 

[Cantonious]

I'm in the process of going from an i7 950 (could only get it to 3.8ghz ) to an i7 3770K.
Motherboard should arrive today.

I had a number of bsod's over the last week, mostly due to heat issues. I blame my current motherboard. Anyway, I'm hoping to get up to 4.4ghz or 4.5ghz with the 3770K on an Asus Maximus V Extreme. Should be attainable.

I also do video encoding, so that's where I'm looking for the increase, then I'll retire the 950 to my media server, and have to figure out what to do with the old work horse C2Q Q9450.

All that to say, I felt like an upgrade was due.

 

[skypine27]

Yeah, thats pretty much all I do with my pc. Crysis 3 seems to really be the only thing to tax it.

I'm in a similar boat, except a bit further back than you as I'm playing (gaming, and some video rendering) on a 6 core i7-980X (oc'ed to 4.27) and want to upgrade this year.

Hoping something (ivy-e or haswell) comes out that makes want to do a full system build.

Question for you though: How do you "know" Crysis 3 is taxing your CPU? I just got ahold of a Titan (wont be installed until March 10th, traveling now) and plan on gaming Crysis 3. What signs are there that your CPU rather than GPU is getting taxed?

Thanks

 

[yappy]

I have 950 @3.8 ghz too. I think I'll upgrade my PC next year 2014 to X79 3930k.

 

[Jinto]

I have a i7 930 at 4GHz. Planning on upgrading to Haswell as it will be the last tick before DDR4. I suspect I will be upgrading more for motherboard features than actual performance difference.

 

[NLW]

I suspect I will be upgrading more for motherboard features than actual performance difference.

This. The Haswell mobos are shaping up to have a lot more of what most of us need, and get rid of some old legacy stuff, than current boards. Ivy and Haswell will most likely turn out to have great longevity, just like their immediate predecessors, so mobo considerations may be a decision making factor for some. My trusty Q9400 has taken me this far, I can wait a few more months!

 

[Starrbuck]

I recently asked a similar question about my 920 and decided to stay with it.
I am OCed to 4.1Ghz so it was an even easier decision.

Turning off HT is not a sure thing to give you higher OC or at least not really enough to make a difference for other things but is worth checking I guess.
I say, OC it and wait for bigger improvements before upgrading.

I am still running an i7-930. I can OC to 3.8 with HT on or 4.2 with HT off. Which is better? My main games are BF3 and WoW.

 

[Battleneter2]

Not to mention the power savings that come with going to a 22nm chip.

.

CPU's use TINY amounts of power, a 950 itself is what 140watts under "full" load which hardly ever happens. When you consider home aircon or heating can use 3000-7000 watts, TV's 300-600 watts, your time and energy is probably better spent looking at other appliances. Changing to a more energy efficient CPU might save you 10 cents a day "tops" and barely worth mentioning.

Now a company running 5000 PC's that's a different situation.

I am still running an i7-930. I can OC to 3.8 with HT on or 4.2 with HT off. Which is better? My main games are BF3 and WoW.

In your situation neither game will bottleneck the processor with either configuration so its moot. Personally I would go 3.8 HT on, little less heat and the extra grunt of 4.2 is wasted anyway.

 

[Starrbuck]

In your situation neither game will bottleneck the processor with either configuration so its moot. Personally I would go 3.8 HT on, little less heat and the extra grunt of 4.2 is wasted anyway.

Thanks, I agree. I did not see any significant increases in FPS or other performance between the two configurations.

 

[Telo]

I have a 950 on my backup PC, and it plays all my games flawlessly [I use it for single screen 2560x1600]. If you feel you need an upgrade, might want to look at maybe some more/faster RAM, a vga upgrade, or some SSDs [if you don't have either].

3.7Ghz is fairly easy on a 950; you should be able to hit 3.9Ghz+ on air and 4.1Ghz+ on water [mine is at 4.2Ghz on a custom WC loop].

 

[x2ezx]

I just change my i7 950 o/c to 4.2ghz for a Rampage IV Formula i7 3820 o/c to 4.5ghz, no really big difference in performance (no more sata3 bug). But if you could get a great price for your x58, go for a upgrade.

 

[Warmonger101]

Good thread with some fantastic responses. I was wondering if my i7 975 extreme was outdated. My wife wants to get into gaming and I am thinking of giving her my system. Here's is what I've learned from reading this thread.
1. Not one person said today's games are so intense that their system slowed down making gaming intolerable.
2. No one said they were truely unhappy with their present system and that's why they upgraded.
3. When they did upgrade, it usually was from one generation to the next and no one actually said the performance gain was significant.
4. It seems the desire to upgrade was just to have higher "so called performance" although in game experience remained basically the same, perhaps slightly better.
5. I got the impression that higher clocked 4 core intel processors actually game pretty well and are not really stressed even by today's games. Note BF3 is my primary game.
6. I feel comfortable giving my wife my msi/intel i7-975e system even though it's 3 years old. Looks like it may have a few more year of life as long as it's coupled with a good GPU.

Thanks all. Great thread!

 

[roki977]

I7 950 can give same FPS like IB or SB K CPUs in maybe 90% of modern games. Some games will run slower but not too much, with high end GPU. I would upgrade bcs. l like my GPU delivers 100% always esc if expensive one. Haswell is coming soon and than it will be nice time to upgrade.

I had nice 950, 4.2ghz with no problems, 5.4 on extreme. Bought 2600k when it first came and was very happy with that upgrade. I do a lot of video editing nad stuff like that and thats main reason why i liked it.

 

[wtburnette]

6. I feel comfortable giving my wife my msi/intel i7-975e system even though it's 3 years old. Looks like it may have a few more year of life as long as it's coupled with a good GPU.

Thanks all. Great thread!

I think that's the most important thing, right there. As long as you couple it with a good GPU, she should get good performance out of the system. I have a GTX 560 Ti in my rig and for Skyrim running at 1920x1200 at high detail settings, I'm getting some slowdowns. I'm planning to pick up a GTX 660, which I believe will smooth things out with no problems. As long as the CPU is running around 3Ghz or better, I think it's the GPU that would be the most important consideration.