upgrade my 980X?

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polonyc2

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I currently have an i7 980X and was looking into upgrading but am unsure what if anything would be considered an up-grade versus a downgrade or sideways move...just for the record I don't overclock and am using this for gaming

the 2600K seems like the concensus best value but it has basically the same clock speed as my current cpu but since it has only 4 cores versus my current 6 cores wouldn't that be a downgrade?...same goes for all the Ivy Bridge CPU's...the Extreme 3960X seems like the only 1 worth looking into but I don't want another uber-expensive 'extreme' edition

do I need to wait for Ivy Bridge-E for a real step up?
 
Dude if you're just gaming, a 980x is overkill :) ...and there's no real reason to get a newer architecture.
 
A six core 2011 CPU will significantly perform faster in all aspects, but the question is do you use your computer in a such a way you would even notice? A four core (2600K) will do better in games and single threaded apps.
 
You'll see almost no benefits in gaming.

The main reason why the 2600k and 2500k are so much faster than the previous generation is their ridiculously high overclocking potential on just good air cooling (4.5+ ghz on a $20 Hyper 212+), while the quad-core 45nm x58 chips need top of the line air cooling just to break 4 ghz. The IPC increase was on the order of ~10-15% if I recall correctly.

Besides the 3960x, there's also the 3930k, which is slightly lower binned and has less L3 cache.
 
interesting...I know a GPU upgrade would make the most sense for gaming but I really don't want to upgrade my video card (GTX 580) until the 780 series comes out in March so I was thinking that a CPU upgrade would help in the meantime...the 3930k does seem like the best upgrade for now but then again maybe no upgrade would be the best
 
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polonyc2 said:
interesting...I really don't want to upgrade my video card (GTX 580) until the 780 series comes out in March so I was thinking that a CPU upgrade would help in the meantime...the 3930k does seem like the best upgrade for now but then again maybe no upgrade would be the best
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In gaming all the change in hardware would net you would be UEFI, more easy overclocking, and a cooler running board/proc....in addition to a few side things which you haven't mentioned as being important. You running a 12-thread CPU now, and most of that power is probably sitting idle if the most strenuous thing you do is gaming.
 
Skripka said:
In gaming all the change in hardware would net you would be UEFI, more easy overclocking, and a cooler running board/proc....in addition to a few side things which you haven't mentioned as being important. You running a 12-thread CPU now, and most of that power is probably sitting idle if the most strenuous thing you do is gaming.
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the most strenuous thing I do on this rig is gaming (1920 x 1200)...I guess it's been so long (2.5 years) since I last upgraded my core system hardware (CPU, memory, motherboard) that I was thinking that there must be something much better out
 
sell me your cpu for $200 then i will let you know if its worth the upgrade, i kid, i kid.
 
Tsumi said:
You'll see almost no benefits in gaming.

The main reason why the 2600k and 2500k are so much faster than the previous generation is their ridiculously high overclocking potential on just good air cooling (4.5+ ghz on a $20 Hyper 212+), while the quad-core 45nm x58 chips need top of the line air cooling just to break 4 ghz. The IPC increase was on the order of ~10-15% if I recall correctly.

Besides the 3960x, there's also the 3930k, which is slightly lower binned and has less L3 cache.
Click to expand...

The 980x is a 32nm Gulftown chip. I think it's time for the OP to overclock his current setup instead of downgrading to an 1155 platform.
 
polonyc2 said:
the most strenuous thing I do on this rig is gaming (1920 x 1200)...I guess it's been so long (2.5 years) since I last upgraded my core system hardware (CPU, memory, motherboard) that I was thinking that there must be something much better out
Click to expand...

X58 is and was a hell of a platform.

Only reason I sold my x58 gear (i7-950 and p6x58d-e) and have my z68 LGA1155 Xeon setup is I got the 1155 gear dirt cheap (I made money on the sell/buy). Single threaded performance is a bit better, with my Eyefinity setup being a bit smoother, UEFI is nice, system running cooler all around is nice (The x58 PCH puts out a crapload of heat)...but knowing what I do now, I'm glad I didn't spend for MSRP for the crossgrade.

If you were folding, or rendering, or any number of other highly multi-threaded computation-heavy activities it might be worth the expenditure. For just a gaming rig though I wouldn't do it.
 
Ehren8879 said:
The 980x is a 32nm Gulftown chip. I think it's time for the OP to overclock his current setup instead of downgrading to an 1155 platform.
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My point was, most of the people that upgraded from x58 to Z77/Z68/P67 were people on quad-core 45nm Nehalem chips. Getting 4.2-4.4 should be pretty easy on the 980x, provided he has sufficient cooling.
 
polonyc2 said:
interesting...I know a GPU upgrade would make the most sense for gaming but I really don't want to upgrade my video card (GTX 580) until the 780 series comes out in March so I was thinking that a CPU upgrade would help in the meantime...the 3930k does seem like the best upgrade for now but then again maybe no upgrade would be the best
Click to expand...

It won't help as you're not really CPU limited even at stock clocks. Whatever deficiencies your processor has with the 580 will still be present with the 780 or whatever you upgrade to. That being said, your processor has an unlocked multiplier, so overclocking couldn't be easier. If you're not opposed to the idea of OC'ing then go for ~3.6GHz which should be obtainable without changing vCore.
 
The only advantage you'll have going from the 980X to a 2600K/2700K/3770K is much less power consumption, less heat, and maybe a little more noticeable performance in games.

To me, it doesn't make sense to upgrade from what you have now unless you are purely interested in the lower power and heat, so you might as well wait for Haswell to be officially reviewed by [H] to make the determination.
 
polonyc2 said:
I guess it's been so long (2.5 years) since I last upgraded my core system hardware (CPU, memory, motherboard) that I was thinking that there must be something much better out
Click to expand...

I know how you feel, the pull of a 2011 is strong, but I just can't justify it. The SSD and video upgrade I did increased the responsiveness of my system dramatically. The system you have should allow you to skip to haswell, especially if you spend a little effort to overclock. If my 9550 were stock it would have upgraded long ago.
 
With the Intel® Core™ i7-980X Extreme Edition I would have to say that for now there is very little reason to upgrade right now for a gaming system. Moving to a socket 2011 might give you a little higher memory bandwidth and maybe PCI-E 3.0 but both of those things really won't any difference in a gaming system.
 
I have a 980X overclocked to 4.4GHz. No voltage increase. It is stable and no issues so far.

I am on watercooling though. Idles at around 25-30C and loads below 60C

Blazing fast!
 
polonyc2 said:
I currently have an i7 980X and was looking into upgrading but am unsure what if anything would be considered an up-grade versus a downgrade or sideways move...just for the record I don't overclock and am using this for gaming

the 2600K seems like the concensus best value but it has basically the same clock speed as my current cpu but since it has only 4 cores versus my current 6 cores wouldn't that be a downgrade?...same goes for all the Ivy Bridge CPU's...the Extreme 3960X seems like the only 1 worth looking into but I don't want another uber-expensive 'extreme' edition

do I need to wait for Ivy Bridge-E for a real step up?
Click to expand...

I also have a 980X. There is still no real reason to upgrade other than PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0, Native Serial ATA 3 and maybe AVX2. My CPU/Motherboard upgrade is probably 2014 with DDR 4.

Because I game at 2560x1600, my biggest upgrade is still video cards. 2012 games are still DX9.0C based and barely so I see four cores full utilized and I still have two cores to spare ;)
 
Karder said:
I have a 980X overclocked to 4.4GHz. No voltage increase. It is stable and no issues so far.

I am on watercooling though. Idles at around 25-30C and loads below 60C

Blazing fast!
Click to expand...

...

I can assure you there is a voltage increase... you can't do a 1ghz overclock on 980x the stock volts. your motherboard is probably auto upvolting you to 1.4 - 1.45.

those are some nice temperatures though. I can only do 4.2ghz on my nh-d14, any higher and I start hitting thermal limits during the summer.
 
gjs278 said:
...

I can assure you there is a voltage increase... you can't do a 1ghz overclock on 980x the stock volts. your motherboard is probably auto upvolting you to 1.4 - 1.45.

those are some nice temperatures though. I can only do 4.2ghz on my nh-d14, any higher and I start hitting thermal limits during the summer.
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Maybe, I just know I haven't touched any voltages. Thought it was a bit too easy. lol
 
polonyc2 said:
I currently have an i7 980X and was looking into upgrading but am unsure what if anything would be considered an up-grade versus a downgrade or sideways move...just for the record I don't overclock and am using this for gaming

the 2600K seems like the concensus best value but it has basically the same clock speed as my current cpu but since it has only 4 cores versus my current 6 cores wouldn't that be a downgrade?...same goes for all the Ivy Bridge CPU's...the Extreme 3960X seems like the only 1 worth looking into but I don't want another uber-expensive 'extreme' edition

do I need to wait for Ivy Bridge-E for a real step up?
Click to expand...
Why don't you overclock? By far the single biggest upgrade you would see is just overclocking your existing CPU, more so than even upgrading to a newer architecture.
 
Rizen said:
Why don't you overclock? By far the single biggest upgrade you would see is just overclocking your existing CPU, more so than even upgrading to a newer architecture.
Click to expand...

I agree what is the point of getting an extreme edition Cpu if your not going to overclock it? That's like buying a Bugatti and never driving above the speed limit.
 
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wow, as the other H members suggested, don't bother.
the benefits of upgrading a 1366 to 2011 MB are pretty minor (SATA3, USB3, UEFI etc). the features on the 2011 were a bit gimpy relative to 1366 anyway. if IB CPUs were available with a refreshed socket 2011 MB, then maybe...

if you have the itch, upgrade something else like higher spec'ed/more RAM (that you could carry across to next MB upgrade), a SATA3 PCIe card or a off shelf/custom WC for your CPU/GPU (again carry across to next platform upgrade). finally, OC your 980X. as 'jhwk6957' mentioned, whats the point of having a 'X' chip if your not going to push it past stock clocks?
 
Be happy there is nothing new. Feel glad that you can put that money towards something else in your life.
 
P4rD0nM3 said:
The 980 still has a loooooong lifespan man. I'd give it a year.
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This..As many others have said, jack the multiplier up and let that still badass CPU show you what it can do! I had a 970, and since they are not unlocked, overclocking was a little trickier but still only took a few adjustments to get to 4.2Ghz stable with a 24hr stress test..

My 970 took 1.45V to get to 4.2Ghz, which is actually lower then most other 970 results I found when searching various forums..Every 980X I saw can do 4.2-4.4Ghz with less than/equal to 1.4V on the high side..If you are willing to feed it 1.45V, I saw literally 15-20 setups that were reaching the 4.6-4.7Ghz range with good chips..
 
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