Next logical upgrade after 2600K?

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KickAssCop

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Want to understand the longevity of a 2600K. What do you think is the next logical significant upgrade to 2600K. I am looking at 25% performance improvement in games. Don't really care about all the CPU intensive benchmark bullshit :D.

Thoughts?
 
i wouldn't bother yet, unless you are folding or something that can use a 6 core. but you need new mobo, a couple more sticks of (oh so cheap!) RAM

raw speed, 2600 is great, if you want to spend money and you can justify it (not games) then a nice 4 channel 3930k would be kind of awesome and give you the speed increase, but only on multithreaded applications..
 
KickAssCop said:
Want to understand the longevity of a 2600K. What do you think is the next logical significant upgrade to 2600K. I am looking at 25% performance improvement in games. Don't really care about all the CPU intensive benchmark bullshit :D.

Thoughts?
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Ivy Bridge should offer that. But I am going to wait till late 2012 to see how ivy does against gulftown. Before I make the jump. Everything has been pretty good so far gaming wise.
 
I guess, I don't need the horsepower but was thinking about longevity. I have only had this system for about 5 months (maybe less) now and it is fantastic. No game is not working as advertised but would like to know if this is a 1 year system or more a 2-3 year system like my Q6600 was (actually ran Q6600 for 4 years - 2007-2011).
 
KickAssCop said:
I guess, I don't need the horsepower but was thinking about longevity. I have only had this system for about 5 months (maybe less) now and it is fantastic. No game is not working as advertised but would like to know if this is a 1 year system or more a 2-3 year system like my Q6600 was (actually ran Q6600 for 4 years - 2007-2011).
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It will be a 2-3 year system. Intel has already released the specs for Ivy Bridge, and we see the following on the desktop:

1. Typically 100 MHz faster base clock in each price category (basically nothing).
2. Slightly lower power consumption (77w standard versus 95w).
3. Intel benchmarks claim a %15 increase in performance per-clock. We will have to wait and see on that claim.

Overclocking headroom is still unknown, although the fact that Intel has hardly touched the stock clocks leads me to believe we may not see higher overclocks. Why engineer the core for faster speeds if it's just a die shrink with very conservative stock clocks?

On the flip-side, if you buy Sandy Bridge today you're getting a fantastic amount of performance for an incredibly low price, and it will be a high-performance chip for some time. It also doesn't have the downsides of the Q6600, with insane power consumption when overclocked.

Your earliest REASONABLE upgrade opportunity will be Haswell, and that's 1.5 years away.
 
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defaultluser said:
It will be a 2-3 year system. Intel has already released the specs for Ivy Bridge, and we see the following on the desktop:

1. Typically 100 MHz faster base clock in each price category (basically nothing).
2. Slightly lower power consumption (77w standard versus 95w).
3. Intel benchmarks claim a %15 increase in performance per-clock. We will have to wait and see on that claim.

Overclocking headroom is still unknown, although the fact that Intel has hardly touched the stock clocks leads me to believe we may not see higher overclocks. Why engineer the core for faster speeds if it's just a die shrink with very conservative stock clocks?

On the flip-side, if you buy Sandy Bridge today you're getting a fantastic amount of performance for an incredibly low price, and it will be a high-performance chip for some time. It also doesn't have the downsides of the Q6600, with insane power consumption when overclocked.
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See sig. Already have Sandy and am contemplating what's next.
 
KickAssCop said:
Want to understand the longevity of a 2600K. What do you think is the next logical significant upgrade to 2600K. I am looking at 25% performance improvement in games. Don't really care about all the CPU intensive benchmark bullshit :D.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

To get a 25% performance increase in games, you would need a graphics upgrade, not CPU upgrade. Your CPU won't hold you back in any games with just a single 6970. Even 2 6970s won't be held back in 99.9% of scenarios.

Edit: You would need to be playing on large multiplayer maps, like 50+ people BF3/MW3 servers in order to have any hope of maxing out your 2600k at 4.8 ghz. And even then the 2600k will still have power to spare.
 
haswell will fit 1155 socket? or is that an unknown currently?

hmmm well after some digging it will use LGA1150. I should have known jumping to haswell would mean new mobo again. :(
 
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Tsumi said:
To get a 25% performance increase in games, you would need a graphics upgrade, not CPU upgrade. Your CPU won't hold you back in any games with just a single 6970. Even 2 6970s won't be held back in 99.9% of scenarios.

Edit: You would need to be playing on large multiplayer maps, like 50+ people BF3/MW3 servers in order to have any hope of maxing out your 2600k at 4.8 ghz. And even then the 2600k will still have power to spare.
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I assumed graphics constant in my post. Should've been clearer but yeah.
 
KickAssCop said:
I assumed graphics constant in my post. Should've been clearer but yeah.
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In that case, no CPU upgrade at the moment can give you 25% more performance. Maybe Ivy Bridge overclocked can give you 1-2%, but that's it.
 
KickAssCop said:
Want to understand the longevity of a 2600K. What do you think is the next logical significant upgrade to 2600K. I am looking at 25% performance improvement in games. Don't really care about all the CPU intensive benchmark bullshit :D. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

+25% for gaming? You're waiting for the next graphics card, not the next cpu.
 
I think the question is mor along the lines of how long can he expect to keep this current CPU before it becomes the choke point, assuming GPU upgrades.

For example, people with Core 2 Quads are reaching the end of that CPU's life cycle.

Interesting question, though I don't think anyone will have an answer that's more than speculation.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
I think the question is mor along the lines of how long can he expect to keep this current CPU before it becomes the choke point, assuming GPU upgrades.

For example, people with Core 2 Quads are reaching the end of that CPU's life cycle.

Interesting question, though I don't think anyone will have an answer that's more than speculation.
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You're right, it can only be speculation.

Currently, most games optimized for computers hardly rely on the CPU, and rely heavily on the GPU. Who knows what surprises (or lack of) software developers might bring in the future?
 
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