Upgrade or not?

D

DeadByDawn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 3, 2004
Messages
477
I am an enthusiast and currently have a gulftown LGA1366 hexacore system. I have 2 GTX 580 in SLI and mostly sata 2 intel SSDs.

I have a unopened Sandy Bridge LGA2011 3930K hexacore processor gatthering dust.

My primary uses are gaming and some light video editing and encoding.

The biggest reason i want to upgrade:
- Take advandage of sata 3 with some new SSDs that i have. Maybe setup a raid 0 for my game drive.


What should i do?
1. Build a new system with LGA2011?

2. Sell my Sandybridge hexacore, Then build a quadcore LGA 1155 system with a Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge?

3. Sell my Sandybridge hexacore, save my money until a Ivy Bridge hexacore comes around and windows 8?


In summary:
The biggest thing i want is sata 3.0 speeds and possibly any benefits from PCI express 3.0 (only on LGA1155/ivy)

Thoughts?
 
Run the hexacore.

Dont listen to all the people that are going to be telling you can get higher clocks etc.... you as well as I and others who actually own hex core processors know just how damned powerful they are.

From a gaming only perspective, i'd sell the hexcore, and put the money into a I5-3xxx chip instead.

If you are like me and like to do heavy threaded work then keep your hex core hands down. Plus you said you have 2 gtx 580s. How does 32 dedicated full PCI-E lanes sound?


Well you will get those on your sandy 6 core. You will NOT on any 1155 system. Atleast without some kind of latency adding NF200 chip in the loop.

I'd say hands down without listening to others argue the merits of overclock-ability as your only platform to base your decision on, the 6 core. Nuff' said!
 
If you've got the money and want something new to play with then by all means jump on it. Will you see a big jump in performance? Probably not.

So I'd say in terms of value, it ain't worth it. In terms of fun in building a new rig, go for it. Depends on which you're looking for.
 
MacLeod said:
If you've got the money and want something new to play with then by all means jump on it. Will you see a big jump in performance? Probably not.

So I'd say in terms of value, it ain't worth it. In terms of fun in building a new rig, go for it. Depends on which you're looking for.
Click to expand...

What he said too!
 
If you mainly game and only do light video encoding then the change in platform is just not worth it. I haven't calculated the exact figures but you can probably sell the 3930K and the 2 GTX 580's and buy 2 GTX 670's. That will give you a way bigger fps boost than switching CPUs.
 
slh28 said:
If you mainly game and only do light video encoding then the change in platform is just not worth it. I haven't calculated the exact figures but you can probably sell the 3930K and the 2 GTX 580's and buy 2 GTX 670's. That will give you a way bigger fps boost than switching CPUs.
Click to expand...

In this case, i have no issues with framerate on my current system. I am more interested in sata 3.0 with my sata3 SSDs instead of sata 2. Super fast load times ;) I think i will stop being so picky, stick with my sata 2 ssds, and wait until winter to see how windows 8 is doing.
Also, i feel there is no point in upgrading my vid cards until th 4gb 680s are out and in-stock. Even still, I am way above 60fps for the BF3 and anything else i can throw at it. I only run 1920 x 1200.


Thanks for your replies.
 
SATA3 only really increases sequential read/write performance. Load times, boot and desktop use has more to do with 4K random IOPS, which doesn't get much from SATA3 since the numbers are well under 300MB/s. If you have the money and want new toys go for it though :).

tangoseal: PCI-e lanes are not an issue for 2 card SLI setups with Z77 bringing PCI-e 3.0 (x8/x8 is more than enough for dual 680s).
 
Why not build a new system with the LGA2011? No way of knowing which socket has a longer upgrade path, why not go the most versatile route?
 
DJ Big T said:
Why not build a new system with the LGA2011? No way of knowing which socket has a longer upgrade path, why not go the most versatile route?
Click to expand...

I thought about it, but based on some of the research i have seen from Maximum PC and even [H]ardOCP, it sounds like if you are going to upgrade, you may as well go Ivy.

SATA3 only really increases sequential read/write performance
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Makes sense.
 
It makes the most sense to sell the Gulftown and mobo since right now you'll get more money for it than you will later. Then get an LGA2011 board and drop in the SB that is waiting for you. Then when Ivy-E hits you'll be inline to easily trade out your 3930k.
 
I agree, iff you are going to sell your current system then it makes sense to use the already aquired CPU in a new 2011 build. Keep the rest of the components the same for now if budget is an issue.
 
Better to get current gen GPU's than what your saying.

Also get yourself a 120FPS capable monitor/screen. You basically bought a Lambo with a 100 mph govenor chip/rev limiter. You know that RIGHT?

Unlock that beeyotch of a setup to 200mph or in this/your case 120fps ;) See my point yet?
 
teletran8 said:
Better to get current gen GPU's than what your saying.

Also get yourself a 120FPS capable monitor/screen. You basically bought a Lambo with a 100 mph govenor chip/rev limiter. You know that RIGHT?

Unlock that beeyotch of a setup to 200mph or in this/your case 120fps ;) See my point yet?
Click to expand...
turn Vsync off, There done. Save money or get a Panasonic Plasma TV and you will never see ghosting and you will get over 8 billion color palette. You will never want to game on anything else ever again.
 
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Probably the choice that makes the most sense is sell the 1366 system and buy a 2011 motherboard to go with the 3930, since you already own it, but I might consider trying to sell both of them (the 1366 system and the 3930) and just buy down to a 1155 Ivy system. Nothing you are doing takes much advantage of a 6 core processor, so you might be able to clear some money that way.
 
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