Upgrade from i7 950?

C

Chrisroman

Gawd
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
692
When I built my system back in 2010, I settled on the i7 950, figuring I would upgrade to the 980x/990x a years later when prices came down. But that sucker is still going for $1000+

Whats an affordable CPU upgrade for me that doesnt require a new motherboard and memory?
 
I paid ~$365 for my i7 970 new last year. I would consider looking for a used 970.
 
The first question you should ask is "what do I need the CPU for?" If you're doing a lot of encoding and using apps that can take advantage of multi-threading, the i7 970/980s may be worth it. If your just browsing and gaming, stick with the i7 950. You should be able to push that chip near 4.0ghz or over, and at that speed, you're not going to see much real difference if you're just doing basic tasks - definitely not enough to merit a couple hundred dollars.

And I don't think I'd sink another $300+ into an outmoded chipset. If you really have pangs to upgrade, I'd sell that 950 and x58 board for a couple hundred and put the extra money towards a newer board and CPU.

Honestly, I've upgraded several times since my i7 920 and, for what I do, it's been pretty much a waste.
 
IntelEnthusiast said:
The Intel® Core™ i7-980 would be the processor I would look at if I was still using socket 1366 processors.
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I'd suggest the same, then argue my own recommendation that, at $700-1000 for the hex-core on that older platform, it's in the same price ballpark to get a 3930K, X79 MoBo, and some DDR3.

Quick Example:
CPU + MoBo
RAM

Total: about $890 shipped.

OP, you're going to have to make a decision here...

(another option would be to get the i7-3820 quad and wait for the IB-E hex-core models to arrive, or just wait until then to upgrade everything, anyway).
 
@Chrisroman--I was where you are about 6 months or so back. Running the i7 960 and had the upgrade itch. SB had just been released and SB-E was just coming out and IB waiting in the wings. Wasn't sure whether to sink money into the 1366 platform, keep what I had or do something else.

As DejaWiz mentioned, I decided to go with the SB-E system which is really the next logical upgrade from 1366 to my mind. It wasn't cheap and I went with the i7 3820 (to save bucks) hoping that Intel will sooner or later release something in the hex-core range that is compatible with the 2011 socket but based on newer architecture. So far we have heard rumors and rumblings but I'm not convinced anything is for certain yet. Part of the expense was that I built a complete new system and didn't use anything from the 1366 build; gave that away to a friend.

As harmattan mentioned, I don't notice any particular great increases with the new system--perhaps a bit faster and certainly runs as hot and hotter than the 1366 system and likely uses more power. It was just an idea to get a "hopefully" upgradeable socket for the next of Intel's high end processors and get by as cheap as possible for now. If things work out as I'm hoping, only a CPU upgrade might be in order down the line and will keep everything else as it is.

I'd either keep what you have, go ahead with a SB-E build on the "cheap" and hope against hope that Intel will release some really nice stuff for the 2011 socket. Or, since Haswell et.al. are not too far in the future, wait and see what they offer just in case the 2011 socket goes defunct. If it does I will not be a really happy camper.

Prices are down a bit now for 2011 stuff from when I built but they are still not cheap--especially the hex-core processors. As others have said, you just have to decide your needs, the prices and whether to do it now or wait a while. An itch we can't scratch as they say!
 
its definitely worth it to wait for haswell next year. new architecture will net you a lot better performance as intel as made such good chips that there is barely any improvements between the generations hahah
 
As someone already asked, what are you doing OP? Do you have a legit lack of performance, or is this upgraditis?
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone, was all very helpful. This was 70% upgraditis and 30% actual need, so I'll hold off on upgrading for now. To be honest I'm surprised at how much life there still is in this x58 build. Definitely got my moneys worth.
 
tordogs said:
@Chrisroman--I was where you are about 6 months or so back. Running the i7 960 and had the upgrade itch. SB had just been released and SB-E was just coming out and IB waiting in the wings. Wasn't sure whether to sink money into the 1366 platform, keep what I had or do something else.

As DejaWiz mentioned, I decided to go with the SB-E system which is really the next logical upgrade from 1366 to my mind. It wasn't cheap and I went with the i7 3820 (to save bucks) hoping that Intel will sooner or later release something in the hex-core range that is compatible with the 2011 socket but based on newer architecture. So far we have heard rumors and rumblings but I'm not convinced anything is for certain yet. Part of the expense was that I built a complete new system and didn't use anything from the 1366 build; gave that away to a friend.

As harmattan mentioned, I don't notice any particular great increases with the new system--perhaps a bit faster and certainly runs as hot and hotter than the 1366 system and likely uses more power. It was just an idea to get a "hopefully" upgradeable socket for the next of Intel's high end processors and get by as cheap as possible for now. If things work out as I'm hoping, only a CPU upgrade might be in order down the line and will keep everything else as it is.

I'd either keep what you have, go ahead with a SB-E build on the "cheap" and hope against hope that Intel will release some really nice stuff for the 2011 socket. Or, since Haswell et.al. are not too far in the future, wait and see what they offer just in case the 2011 socket goes defunct. If it does I will not be a really happy camper.

Prices are down a bit now for 2011 stuff from when I built but they are still not cheap--especially the hex-core processors. As others have said, you just have to decide your needs, the prices and whether to do it now or wait a while. An itch we can't scratch as they say!
Click to expand...

My 4.3 ghz 3820 ran a lot cooler than my 4.0 ghz i7 920 ever did, and I'm sure it uses a lot less power as well. Also, X79 boards use significantly less power than x58 boards because the x58 northbridge sucked up quite a bit of power, while x79 boards do not have a northbridge.

IB-E will be released for 2011 x79 boards in the second half of 2013. These should be the 8-core chips, but expect them to be expensive. On the other hand, 6-core chips might come down in price with the introduction of 8-core chips.
 
Chrisroman said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone, was all very helpful. This was 70% upgraditis and 30% actual need, so I'll hold off on upgrading for now. To be honest I'm surprised at how much life there still is in this x58 build. Definitely got my moneys worth.
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Truth. I only sold my x58 setup for z68, as I got both proc and board for the cost of board alone. UEFI is nice, and rig runs cooler...for day to day usage beyond folding, hard to notice a difference.
 
Chrisroman said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone, was all very helpful. This was 70% upgraditis and 30% actual need, so I'll hold off on upgrading for now. To be honest I'm surprised at how much life there still is in this x58 build. Definitely got my moneys worth.
Click to expand...

+1

I have an i7-920 @4.2GHz, 24GB RAM. Its more than enough for anything right now. If I did a lot of video encoding, I'd switch. But for right now its still super fast.

I'll hold of an an upgrade until maybe late 2013/early 2014 if I can hold out that long (upgrade bug is a bitch...)

Maybe Haswell-E or something along those lines...
 
drescherjm said:
I paid ~$365 for my i7 970 new last year. I would consider looking for a used 970.
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I agree with this (or the 980 non x)if your going to keep the platform now, it will potentially extend its life so that you can skip the socket 2011 platform. Unless you really find that you need the extra features of the 980/990x processors.
 
If you "upgrade" i really doubt you will notice a performance increase. If you did a lot of encoding i would consider the cheaper six core i7-970. i have seen them sell for around $350
 
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