Advice for upgrading a i7 950.

[sketchus]

Hi all,

I'm currently thinking of upgrading my processor (and consequently my mono). I have an i7 950 3ghz oc'd to 3.7. Recently performance has not been as good as I'd liked and I'm thinking it must be my CPU.

Here is the rest of my spec:

12GB 1600mhz RAM
2x 7970 Crossfired
Rampage II Extreme Motherboard
1 TB HDD
60GB SSD
Windows 8.1

Is my CPU now a weak point? And if so what should I go for. I'm looking at the Devils Canyon chips, or is there something else I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ylurien]

Give details regarding what you use your PC for. Video editing? Gaming?

 

[TreVader]

Haswell-E would be the best option. Hexacore 5930K will wax a 4790K easy, plus pcie lanes.

 

[sketchus]

Oh yeah of course.

Pretty avid gamer really, tend to do all my gaming on it if its multiplatform. Budget wise is not unlimited, but I don't mind stretching for some of the high end stuff.

@Vader I've seen others say that Hexcores and so forth might not be right for gaming yet?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

the i7 950 isn't a bad CPU, particularly when overclocked, but it is starting to get pretty long in the tooth, a new Haswell could end up providing a ~50+% performance increase, as well as providing a slew of new features along with the new platform

that being said, you're coming from an Intel HEDT platform, and Intel's newest HEDT platform (Haswell-E/X99) is just a couple months away. While you certainly could benefit from upgrading to a new Devils Canyon setup, it might be worthwhile to hold out and see what the new HEDT brings, as it would likely be another long-life platform

 

[Techhog]

Yeah, you don't need 6 cores for gaming. Most people here will say to get an i5 4670K or 4690K (once that is released), but I'd only recommend that if you plan to upgrade within 2 years. If you plan to keep the CPU longer than that, I'd say get the i7 4790K when that comes out. I expect a ton of hate here, but the fact of the matter is that, if it turns out that 4 threads isn't enough 3 years from now, your choices are to upgrade earlier than intended and spend more money overall, or to deal with what you have. The i7 likely hits higher clocks too.

 

[AtenRa]

Wait for Haswell-E, it will launch in a few months. Make your decision then when you will have data both for DC and HW-E.

 

[jihe]

Hi all,

I'm currently thinking of upgrading my processor (and consequently my mono). I have an i7 950 3ghz oc'd to 3.7. Recently performance has not been as good as I'd liked and I'm thinking it must be my CPU.

Here is the rest of my spec:

12GB 1600mhz RAM
2x 7970 Crossfired
Rampage II Extreme Motherboard
1 TB HDD
60GB SSD
Windows 8.1

Is my CPU now a weak point? And if so what should I go for. I'm looking at the Devils Canyon chips, or is there something else I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

Bit hard to tell, which apps/games do you find performance lacking?

 

[Ayah]

Oh yeah of course.

Pretty avid gamer really, tend to do all my gaming on it if its multiplatform. Budget wise is not unlimited, but I don't mind stretching for some of the high end stuff.

@Vader I've seen others say that Hexcores and so forth might not be right for gaming yet?

I have a similar getup and I'm waiting for Haswell-E as it's pretty damn close, I'd suggest you do the same. world is getting more parallel, even games - just at a slower rate than productive applications (think EDAs, CADs, sims, etc).

also, speculative lowest end haswell-e will be a quad core so you don't really need to buy a hexa or octa.

 

[sketchus]

I'm so torn now...

Obviously the longer life would be nice. Assuming I did wait this would mean a switch to DDR4 right? I'm just wondering about the pricing of the devils canyon versus waiting.

@jihe, a fair few modern games now, Assassins Creed, Far Cry 3, Wolfenstein, Watch Dogs etc.

 

[tweakboy]

There is a patch for WatchDogs,, to run for everyone. They released it too I believe.. check your steam...... gl