Choosing a new Intel chip

[lupi]

Here's the background: I have 2 desktops that see use split at around 45/55%. One is running a quad core with a 480 the other an e6600 with a 280. Generally I buy at least one component a year and cycle the parts down to keep them both fairly current.

Late last year when I started looking at a new cpu (quad core machine is still pretty good but the e6600 is really starting to show age; and this would be a more substantial upgrade given new ram and motherboard specs required) the sandy's were just around the corner. With the initial problems to them though I decided to wait till they got fixed and the new z boards came out. Now that we are about at that point, I also hear about the new chip due "soon". Question 1 is how soon will it be released? If within a few months I can probably wait but otherwise it would be really nice to retire the e6600 to the lan data storage machine. Question 1a would be will this new chip be compatible with the current board chipsets.

For Question 2, if I do go for a chip now, how valuable would it be to get the 2600 over the 2500 given that in addition to the use it sees now the expected length of service once it gets shifted down to the secondary machine?

 

[Soleron]

The next big Intel releases are the 4-core ~$300 Socket 2011 chip and the ~$500+ 6-core chips. Unless your budget is in that range I don't think you should wait.

The next set of releases in the <$200 range are Ivy Bridge and Bulldozer/Llano.

 

[lupi]

Yeah I was talking about buy now or wait for ivy between those choices.

 

[dma0991]

If you could wait then I would say that wait till Bulldozer is released. Even if you're not into getting an AMD rig, the prices of the current SB processors by the time Bulldozer is released would be considerably cheaper compared to what it is now. It is normal for prices to drop when there is competition.

You don't have to wait till Ivy Bridge if you're not interested in the 7 series Panther Point chipset. The current 6 series Cougar Point P67/H67 chipsets will be able to support Ivy Bridge with a BIOS update if you wish to drop in an Ivy Bridge CPU by then.

The LGA2011 is more of an enthusiasts board and it is not a definite promise of future proofing. I think either the SB or IB will do just fine for most mainstream consumers. If the programs that you run likes more threads then the Core i7 2600 is the way to go but if it isn't then just get a Core i5 2500 or better still a Core i5 2500K which is able to overclock in case you need extra performance 2-3 years from now.

 

[lupi]

Waiting for the next mitherboard chipset wasn't so much about future-proofing as it was getting a board that combined the h67/p67 so you didn't have to choose a limiting capability (I run mainly nnvidia gpus and there are a few older games that have problems running on nvidia since they stripped some of the older dx9 routines from their latest releases. Ran into this recently when I started playing one on a laptoip with an amd gpu then went to finish on the desktop when I got home and couldn't get it to run. So interested in the on chip graphics for those)


Good point about waiting for the amd release for price. If I had a microcenter local I'd probably get it now so hoping for the price drop.

 

[lupi]

The egg just put the 2600k on sale for 300, which makes it just a bit more than $10 above the microcenter price before the 3.5 hour round trip drive. Do I hold out any longer or just go with it...looking pretty good right now.

 

[Kenmitch]

The egg just put the 2600k on sale for 300, which makes it just a bit more than $10 above the microcenter price before the 3.5 hour round trip drive. Do I hold out any longer or just go with it...looking pretty good right now.

If you by chance live near a Fry's it's in the add for $250

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/FSI/Page.aspx?advid=200177&loc=53824&fsi=16101&version=Mercury

 

[lupi]

Yeah, nice price but not sure how many states I'd have to drive through to get to a frys.