Upgrade to I7 3960x worthwhile?

[DnaAngel]

SO its the end of the year and like every year that means PC upgrade time..but theres not as much to really go into as opposed to last year and now im at that "thinking point"..wanted to get into the 2011 socket and go with the I7 3960x but not really sure if its worth it yet? should i wait? surely the 3960 is just a taste of the 2011 socket CPu that will be introduced this coming year but the realworld benchies if seen so far have been truly jaw dropping ot say the least...whats ur take guys?

 

Prolly just roll over my GTX 570s for now with Nvidias 6xx series and AMDs 7xxx series on the horizon i dont forsee the need to upgrade those at the time being

 

And what about RAM..with DDR4 on the horizon this year should i wait for the new ram, gpus and new 2012 cpus to emerge or jump on the current cpu the i7 3960x

[El_Capitan]

I would decide upon going to a custom watercooling solution before going to something like an i7 3960x. If you really need that extra power and speed, you're not going to fully utilize it without a proper custom watercooling setup. Even right now, you could probably overclock your 2600K to 4.8GHz, or even 5.0GHz with proper cooling.

 

With the 3960x, you'll be hitting 4.7GHz at temps in the mid 80's with the Intel RTS2011LC that comes with it, which usually costs around $85 for an equivalent self-contained watercooling kit, so more likely you'll be at 4.5GHz with that if you really want to take care of a $1000 CPU.

[d6bmg]

With 3960X, you will need custom loop water cooling to be able to attain stable 4.8-5GHz.

Othwise, better option would be to wait for IB.

[VaporX]

This has been a ho-hum year for CPUs and GPUs. The FX was a bomb and actually a step backwards in performance from the Phenom II, the extremes from Intel proved to only be truly extreme in price and while the 7970 looks nice on it is not available for anyone to buy until next year and the price looks anything but nice.

 

This though is testament to the strength of the last generation of parts. The Phenom II may not be the fastest at anything it does but it is a solid chip that has excellent value. The Sandy Bridge release was one of the best Intel has ever had with reasonable pricing for the first time from Intel, both chips are still today very solid for any system build.

 

Ivy Bridge looks interesting but it is basically Sandy Bridge on a smaller die. This will mean, hopefully, less heat and power and the potential for higher overclocking but overall not anything big in performance. Intel is claiming "as much as a 20% boost". This however typically translates into a 10% to 12% boosted averaged out in real world usage. In other words nothing earth shattering. We also have the second run of FX coming up in 2012 but even with a decent boost in performance in all likelihood it will just pass the Phenom and not be anything spectacular.

 

On the GPU side the concern a lot of us is that the AMD 7000 series will price itself out of being a good buy. The intial launch at $550 is a bit steep when looking at the performance gains it offers. Add to this the fact that nVidia will launch it's new chip and will likely price it even higher.

 

This however is GREAT news for most of us as this means we can actually get comfortable in the builds we have now. If you already have a Sandy Bridge based system there will likely not being anything compelling you to upgrade, you are probably set for now. If you have a Phenom II then you are likely at your safe spot if staying with AMD for right now. If you have a 6870/GTX560 or up then you are in good shape for the first part of the year.

 

If you skipped the previous upgrade rush then upgrading might be worth while but for most of us I would say sit tight until the fall refresher begins.

[bishop245]

yup so far the newest CPUs are just a price grab for Intel and amd the sandy bridge and phenom 2s kick the snot outta the newest ones

[Nyt]

yup so far the newest CPUs are just a price grab for Intel and amd the sandy bridge and phenom 2s kick the snot outta the newest ones

 

Sandy Bridge kicks the snot out of the 6 core Sandy Bridge E's ? Keep telling yourself that and maybe oneday you will believe it

 

Mainstream aka affordable DDR4 is still quite a while away and LGA2011 is THE best socket for enthusiasts - Ivy Bridge E 6 core 22nm processors are going to be released around Q4 2012 if you have to upgrade from SB-E

[MercuryDoun]

yup so far the newest CPUs are just a price grab for Intel. And as for AMD, the sandy bridge and phenom 2s kick the snot outta the new bulldozer ones.

 

^ Fixed

 

Sandy Bridge kicks the snot out of the 6 core Sandy Bridge E's ? Keep telling yourself that and maybe oneday you will believe it

 

Mainstream aka affordable DDR4 is still quite a while away and LGA2011 is THE best socket for enthusiasts - Ivy Bridge E 6 core 22nm processors are going to be released around Q4 2012 if you have to upgrade from SB-E

 

bishop failed to accurately speak his mind. But you didnt even try to understand what he was really trying to say!

[Nyt]

bishop failed to accurately speak his mind. But you didnt even try to understand what he was really trying to say!

 

I read it as

 

yup so far the newest CPUs are just a price grab for Intel and amd , the sandy bridge and phenom 2s kick the snot outta the newest ones

 

Amazing what punctuation can do, some people should use it more often