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Real benefits of SB-E/IB-E over IB/HW i5-i7


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My roommate and I are looking to upgrade our hardware again. His upgrade is prompted out of necessity (i7-920, HD-5750 x2) where mine is a result of my addiction. We've been debating which chips to build our next rigs around. I'm leaning towards an Ivy Bridge Extreme "budget" build where as he is leaning towards an i7-4770k Haswell build. Now I'm not about to start comparing piece for piece, considering the IB-E is still months away from release, my real questions is about the Extreme Editions chips as a whole. 

 

How would a 6c/12t processor benefit me on a regular basis? I'm a gamer first and foremost, but I use my PC as a HTPC as well. I'm running a 55" tv, and two 32" monitors on it. There is always a movie, or Hulu running on the large screen, while browsing and gaming on the other two monitors. That about sums up my computer use. I'm looking at the "long term" with an investment in an EE processor. I figure I could hold off until the Haswell-E and maybe upgrade to that, if performance improvements warrant it. Is daily use improved from a non-EE to an EE rig? I can't find any information about upcoming or existing games that utilize the 6 core processors. Will there be more of them coming out now that the next gen consoles will be x86 based with higher core counts?

 

Even if the FPS increase is minimal, I want to squeeze the most out of my rig and I would like to convince him to do the same. 

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If you have the same computer that's in your sig I wouldn't change a thing, really his computer is fine too.

 

Haswell's best improvements would be seen most in the laptop department I feel (as Intel is moving towards better efficiency more than higher performance, which doesn't show much for desktops).

 

I'm very much happy with my Bloomfield 920 though, sure I'd love a 970 (6C/12T and 32nm instead of my 4C/8T 45nm) for the badassness of it but truthfully I don't need it (might consider picking one up if selling my 920 pretty much makes cost me virtually nothing), so I think your friend won't see an appreciable day to day difference moving from a 950 (is his overclocked?)

 

If you aren't doing heavy video conversion/encoding/rendering or something else super CPU intense, you won't be really justifying the upgrade.

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The E chips really, from a gamer point of view do not bring a lot to the table. The quad channel vs dual channel sounds great but is really of benefit in professional environments that need a ton of memory bandwidth. The SB-E was an advantage over the SB due to offering more PCIe bandwidth as well. In the end the E just does not benefit gamers enough for the cost.

 

As for your friend with the 920, I am typing this on my system at my inlaws, on vacation and it is using an i7 875. I still have a very solid gaming machine here with the only complaint I have being the WD Green drive in the system because my Father wanted a cheap gig of storage when we built it.

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Thanks for the replies. You guys are definitely not enabling my addiction, lol. Coming from a 920, my roommate is looking at a 4770k with a 250$ asus m/b running him 600$ for the combo. If the new bottom of the barrel IB-E ends up costing 350$ added a $300 m/b, would it not be smart or beneficial to spend an extra 50-100?

 

Looking at games like crysis and battlefield miltiplayer, wouldn't the extra power on the 4 and 6 core chips be beneficial? I read the new id engine will be utilizing upto8 cores.

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I guess my concern is coming from my experience with this 3570k. When I'm playing a game or loading some larger flash apps on a Web site my streaming media [hulu or wmc cable card tuner] will stutter. That's something I assumed a beefier cpu would rectify. Am I incorrect?

Edited by tbris84

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simple. If you are gamer. current i5s (1155/1150) or i7 (1366) are all thats needed. If you looking for a little edge a i7 of the current generation...(errr last now since the 1150 is out.) is all you will ever need. the Sandy-E (2011) are really only for Heavy CPU work. nothing a game will do past using 2 cores.
 

I guess my concern is coming from my experience with this 3570k. When I'm playing a game or loading some larger flash apps on a Web site my streaming media [hulu or wmc cable card tuner] will stutter. That's something I assumed a beefier cpu would rectify. Am I incorrect?


no that sounds normal for most of us. Flash and streaming can be iffy. It's either the flash fault or your internet not loading fast enough. Also more ram might help. Windows 7/8 eats up 4gb just to turn the computer on.

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imo unless you are doing a lot of video editing or encoding (on a professional level) save your money and stay with what you have. However if you want bragging rights and have money to burn go for the best, but you won't see a great improvement for what your doing. :no:

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My friend just watches stuff and games, and other than having a fairly recent graphics card (660Ti).... He still games happily with just a C2D e8400 (1920x1080)

Edited by IVIYTH0S

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I guess my concern is coming from my experience with this 3570k. When I'm playing a game or loading some larger flash apps on a Web site my streaming media [hulu or wmc cable card tuner] will stutter. That's something I assumed a beefier cpu would rectify. Am I incorrect?

 

That's a common incident. You are no exception. :)

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Heck, if I had your system the only thing I'd add is another GTX 680   :)   and depending on how much memory is currently installed up that a bit.  While I believe everyone that says you can get by with 4 or even 8Gb, I'm more of a 12 or 16Gb guy myself (depending on socket 1366 or socket 1155).

 

Honestly (and this is just my opinion) if you are already gaming on socket 1366 with an i7 950 or better... or socket 1155 with i7 2600K or better, I don't see a lot of benefit to moving to Haswell.

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