Worth While Upgrade?

[Waco]

you should expect it to run perfectly maxed out at 1080p

I don't expect that at all.

 

Just because you can't run it smoothly doesn't mean it's poorly optimized. The shots I've seen of ubersampling versus not are pretty distinctive.

[Fogel]

If you are playing everything maxed out, minus a few worthless settings (like uber sampling) why upgrade at all? You have a really nice machine. I say save the money and wait for a real architecture upgrade from Intel - Haswell. Build all new then.

 

If you really need to upgrade now - I would wait for a nice deal on a Z77 board, then decide to go SB/IB based on the deals then. Keep in mind though, Haswell will have its own socket so whether you go Z68/Z77 it is only to satisfy your current desire.

 

I bet you think Crysis had a problem with being "poorly optimized" as well don't you?

 

Developers just can't win. They either get reamed because they make a "console port" that can run on a lot of hardware or they get reamed for creating games that push even the best systems past their limits.

Crysis WAS poorly optimized. That is pretty well known in the gaming developer community.

 

There are ways of pushing the limits without making technology 2-3 generations in the future cry foul.

[Waco]

Crysis WAS poorly optimized. That is pretty well known in the gaming developer community.

 

There are ways of pushing the limits without making technology 2-3 generations in the future cry foul.

I don't know if I agree with that. Crysis maxed out looks absolutely amazing even today. People just don't like it when their super-expensive rig can't play something with all the settings maxed out.

[Fogel]

I don't know if I agree with that. Crysis maxed out looks absolutely amazing even today. People just don't like it when their super-expensive rig can't play something with all the settings maxed out.

Whenever you are intentionly optimizing a game for hardware that doesn't exist yet (that was their goal), you are going to run into optimization issues.

 

I found the game to be pretty... meh. Maybe if i had played it when it first came out and I hadn't heard all the hype I would be more impressed. Though the physics for its time impressed me.

 

By the way, even a couple of their own developers admitted to the poorly opitmized engine. Crysis Warhead improved both the optimization AND the graphics over the original. I'm too lazy to look for the quotes right now, so if you wanna prove me wrong I'll let you look.

[Waco]

Well they did have to guess on a few things. I actually like that it couldn't be run smoothly until the most recent batch of hardware came out. It's one of the few games you can go back to from years ago and still have it look better when you upgrade your machine.

 

I will say that Crysis 2 is extremely poorly optimized especially when it comes to tessellation. That is without a doubt a huge blunder on their part.

[InCrYsIs]

If you are playing everything maxed out, minus a few worthless settings (like uber sampling) why upgrade at all? You have a really nice machine. I say save the money and wait for a real architecture upgrade from Intel - Haswell. Build all new then.

 

If you really need to upgrade now - I would wait for a nice deal on a Z77 board, then decide to go SB/IB based on the deals then. Keep in mind though, Haswell will have its own socket so whether you go Z68/Z77 it is only to satisfy your current desire.

 

Yeah, I'm starting to think that is the way to go. This doesn't look like the right jump. Obviously I don't know what games will smash my machine in the future but everything runs and looks great now.

Edited April 26, 2012 by InCrYsIs

[Fogel]

Yeah, I'm starting to think that is the way to go. This doesn't look like the right jump. Obviously I don't know what games will smash my machine in the future but everything runs and looks great now.

If everything looks and runs great now it has at least a year in it before even gamers like us get annoyed with perceived lack of performance. Since Haswell releases sometime March - June next year you can think of an upgrade as only being a year away.

 

Stuff carried over from Ivy Bridge

1. A 22 nm manufacturing process.
   
2. 3D tri-gate transistors (Ivy Bridge processors and onwards).
   
3. A 14-stage pipeline (since the Core microarchitecture).
   
4. Native support for Dual Channel DDR3.
   

 

Haswell's Expected Features

• 32 nm PCH
  
• A new cache design.
  
• Thunderbolt technology (optional).
  
• There will be three versions of the integrated GPU: GT1, GT2, and GT3. According to vr-zone, the fastest version (GT3) will have 20 execution units (EU).[11] Another source, SemiAccurate, however says that the GT3 will have 40 EUs with an accompanying 64MB cache on an interposer. Haswell's predecessor Ivy Bridge will have a maximum of 16 EUs.
  
• New advanced power-saving system.
  
• Base clock (BClk) increase to 266 MHz.
  
• Up to 8 cores.
  
• 128 Bytes cache line.
  
• 64KB data + 64KB instruction L1 cache per core.
  
• Execution Trace Cache will be included L2 caching design.
  
• 1MB L2 Data cache per core and up to 32MB L3 cache shared by all cores.
  
• New sockets — LGA 1150 for desktops and rPGA947 & BGA1364 for the mobile market.
  
• Fully integrated voltage regulator, thereby moving another component from the motherboard onto the CPU.
  
• 25, 37, 47, 57W TDP mobile processors.
  
• 77/65/55/45/35W and ~ 100W+(extreme edition) TDP desktop processors.
  
• 15W TDP processors for the Ultrabook platform (multi-chip package like Westmere).
  

[InCrYsIs]

If everything looks and runs great now it has at least a year in it before even gamers like us get annoyed with perceived lack of performance. Since Haswell releases sometime March - June next year you can think of an upgrade as only being a year away.

 

Stuff carried over from Ivy Bridge

1. A 22 nm manufacturing process.
   
2. 3D tri-gate transistors (Ivy Bridge processors and onwards).
   
3. A 14-stage pipeline (since the Core microarchitecture).
   
4. Native support for Dual Channel DDR3.
   

 

Haswell's Expected Features

• 32 nm PCH
  
• A new cache design.
  
• Thunderbolt technology (optional).
  
• There will be three versions of the integrated GPU: GT1, GT2, and GT3. According to vr-zone, the fastest version (GT3) will have 20 execution units (EU).[11] Another source, SemiAccurate, however says that the GT3 will have 40 EUs with an accompanying 64MB cache on an interposer. Haswell's predecessor Ivy Bridge will have a maximum of 16 EUs.
  
• New advanced power-saving system.
  
• Base clock (BClk) increase to 266 MHz.
  
• Up to 8 cores.
  
• 128 Bytes cache line.
  
• 64KB data + 64KB instruction L1 cache per core.
  
• Execution Trace Cache will be included L2 caching design.
  
• 1MB L2 Data cache per core and up to 32MB L3 cache shared by all cores.
  
• New sockets — LGA 1150 for desktops and rPGA947 & BGA1364 for the mobile market.
  
• Fully integrated voltage regulator, thereby moving another component from the motherboard onto the CPU.
  
• 25, 37, 47, 57W TDP mobile processors.
  
• 77/65/55/45/35W and ~ 100W+(extreme edition) TDP desktop processors.
  
• 15W TDP processors for the Ultrabook platform (multi-chip package like Westmere).
  

 

Thanks for all the information. I think it is best to wait since my rig is running well. I just get that techy need to upgrade its been to long feeling.

[Fogel]

Thanks for all the information. I think it is best to wait since my rig is running well. I just get that techy need to upgrade its been to long feeling.

 

Oh I hear ya, trust me!

I'm glad IB isn't significant upgrade over SB - makes that upgrade itch less bothersome.

 

I can easily wait till Haswell or beyond now. I have a GTX 570 as well, and even though I would truly love a 680... there is absolutely no need.

[Ronsanut]

Did you check Microcenter? I got my i5 2500K for $180, which was $50 less than newegg. At the time, the i7 2700K was under $300. Not sure why you'd bother with the i7 2600K at that price point.

 

And the 2600K's at Micro Center are right now at $279