Different type of 3930k to 4930k question... advice needed...

[bigblueshock]

This is going to be an abnormal question.

Right now I have an Asus Sabertooth X79 board with a 3930k stable at 4.7 GHz.

Within the next couple of months, I may have the opportunity to upgrade to the 4930k. In theory, this would be at no cost, but that is besides the point.

My 3930k has no degradation yet that I know of, not sure if there will eventually be. Temps are pretty good with H100.

After doing the obvious research, on average, I noticed there's a sweet spot with the 4930k @ 4.5 GHz.

Would you stick with the 3930k @ 4.7 ghz, or go with the 4930k at 4.5 GHz? That's assuming I even get a 4930k which can hit 4.5 GHz with reasonable voltage/temps. With my luck... not so much lol.

Would I be at a "loss" with this so called "upgrade"? Thoughts please

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd say keep what you have. I think that a 4930K @ 4.5, and a 3930K @ 4.7, would be largely the same as far as performance goes.

However, MechBgon might say to upgrade, as his web site details new features of the Ivy Bridge micro-architecture, that add "anti-viral security features" to the CPU, in conjunction with Windows 8 or 8.1.

 

[bigblueshock]

I'd say keep what you have. I think that a 4930K @ 4.5, and a 3930K @ 4.7, would be largely the same as far as performance goes.

However, MechBgon might say to upgrade, as his web site details new features of the Ivy Bridge micro-architecture, that add "anti-viral security features" to the CPU, in conjunction with Windows 8 or 8.1.

Ahh gotcha. I have to look into the feature set and compare Sandy-E vs Ivy-E. Granted, probably wont make a big difference. I am running 8.1 though.

Thank you for the reply

 

[guskline]

This is going to be an abnormal question.

Right now I have an Asus Sabertooth X79 board with a 3930k stable at 4.7 GHz.

Within the next couple of months, I may have the opportunity to upgrade to the 4930k. In theory, this would be at no cost, but that is besides the point.

My 3930k has no degradation yet that I know of, not sure if there will eventually be. Temps are pretty good with H100.

After doing the obvious research, on average, I noticed there's a sweet spot with the 4930k @ 4.5 GHz.

Would you stick with the 3930k @ 4.7 ghz, or go with the 4930k at 4.5 GHz? That's assuming I even get a 4930k which can hit 4.5 GHz with reasonable voltage/temps. With my luck... not so much lol.

Would I be at a "loss" with this so called "upgrade"? Thoughts please

What temps do you get at 4.7Ghz running prime95 torture test?

 

[DigDog]

Right now I have an Asus Sabertooth X79 board with a 3930k stable at 4.7 GHz.

I'm amazed you are even considering an upgrade.

 

[Techhog]

If I had your CPU and board, I wouldn't even consider upgrading until Intel has 8 cores on the enthusiast platform, and even then not until a few years later when games start to see the benefits... You're already overkill. That sidegrade is just throwing money away.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Yeah... I only upgraded to a 4770k recently because my q9450 was finally showing its age (badly) in BF4.

 

[FiLeZz]

I run a 3930k at 4.8Ghz stable on custom water loop. No way in hell would I upgrade even if it was free the hassle alone would not be worth it not to mention I will not be any faster. I also have a 2nd spare computer running a 3930k at 4.7Ghz on a corsair h100.

The only benefit would be less power consumption.

Stick with what you have and wait until 8 core as mentioned above already.

 

[NTMBK]

I run a 3930k at 4.8Ghz stable on custom water loop. No way in hell would I upgrade even if it was free the hassle alone would not be worth it not to mention I will not be any faster. I also have a 2nd spare computer running a 3930k at 4.7Ghz on a corsair h100.

The only benefit would be less power consumption.

Stick with what you have and wait until 8 core as mentioned above already.

A spare 3930k?

 

[Ajay]

I'm amazed you are even considering an upgrade.

Sound like it's free, so why not at least consider it.

 

[Techhog]

Oh yeah, he does say it's free... If you can really get it for free, go for it! lol

 

[guskline]

If it's free and you can keep the 3930k for a few days to compare I would do it.

 

[saratoga172]

The enthusiast in me would want to but the fact that it can be a hassle to swap out components would probably deter me from actually doing it.

Depends on my mood. I like building PC's but sometimes it's just a hassle.

 

[AdamK47]

IB-E @ 4.5GHz has roughly the same performance as SB-E @ between 4.7GHz and 4.8GHz.

IB-E is better in terms of power usage and temps though. It also "officially" supports PCI-E 3.0, although I've never had a problem with a 3960X using PCI-E 3.0.

 

[Ajay]

The enthusiast in me would want to but the fact that it can be a hassle to swap out components would probably deter me from actually doing it.

Depends on my mood. I like building PC's but sometimes it's just a hassle.

It's a CPU swap, difficulty level = basic, unless you have some custom water cooling loop.

 

[DigDog]

if i got a 4930k for free, i would seriously consider turning it into a second full system; that's not exactly a "everyday CPU", using it for a minor sidegrade would still be a waste, regardless of the 5% boost you might get.

 

[SKORPI0]

A spare 3930k?

If I had a spare 3930k, I would sell it for a reasonable price, add a few $$ and get a 4940k. Do a performance comparison.

 

[bigblueshock]

What temps do you get at 4.7Ghz running prime95 torture test?

It's been a while since I've primed. However, after priming for 30 minutes, highest core tops out under 70, lowest close to 60, some cores in the middle. My vCore is around 1.38-1.39ish @ 4.7. I have the original H100 with cougar push/pull configuration. Not true water cooling but it's doing the job.

4.8 GHz with added vcore puts me in the upper 70's, possibly even 80c. Definitely not worth it in my book. Last thing I want to do is degrade this chip.

Yeah. I asked because of exactly the same answers you guys are giving me. The time and hassle for a 5% increase, not sure about that.

Ajay is also right, with these x79 boards, the only setting I would be messing with is the vcore. All other settings I set wouldn't really require touching. It would still take a day or two to find solid stability.

I guess it would depend If I wanted to fully enable PCI-E 3.0 without using a hack/mod. I don't trust the mod out there. Read some reports of worse performance and not playing nice. I tried it once, didn't notice any difference in benchmark scores

 

[Carfax83]

Are you only using Vcore to hit that clockspeed? My 3930K seems to be stuck at 4.5ghz no matter how much Vcore I use.

 

[bigblueshock]

Are you only using Vcore to hit that clockspeed? My 3930K seems to be stuck at 4.5ghz no matter how much Vcore I use.

Some settings are stock, some are not. Luckily the x79 platform doesn't need a lot of tuning to get to 4.7GHz. 4.8GHz and above you need to really fine tune settings. It depends on the motherboard brand and the quality of the parts on the motherboard. Also RAM, amount of sticks and clock. Some cheap boards do not fare as well. I have a Sabertooth x79, so I'd consider it one of the better OC'ing boards.

I'm technically on 1.37v with "high loadline" (assists with vdroop). After I found my perfect fixed vCore, I changed to Offset, did some testing, and matched up the voltage values so my motherboards not constantly at 1.37v. When CPU drops speed due to speedstep and less activity, my vcore also drops.

I would recommend setting most values in the BIOS manually rather than auto, even if it's the same as the AUTO value. Sometimes motherboards tend to raise/lower voltages unnecessarily. Manual helps with this. For instance, even though my XMP timings are 8-9-9-24 2T for my DDR3 1866 RAM, I set the values manually anyway...

What board do you have?

 

[Carfax83]

I'm technically on 1.37v with "high loadline" (assists with vdroop). After I found my perfect fixed vCore, I changed to Offset, did some testing, and matched up the voltage values so my motherboards not constantly at 1.37v. When CPU drops speed due to speedstep and less activity, my vcore also drops.

I'm going to have to try increasing my loadline setting a bit. Right now, it's on medium. I heard that going above medium might damage the CPU so thats why I never did it.

Still, I have to wonder at the use of trying it, as I play games at GPU limited rez and settings. An extra 100 or 200mhz on the CPU clock won't make one bit of difference except in CPU bound games like BL2. The lure of seeing how high I can push my CPU is strong though :biggrin:

I would recommend setting most values in the BIOS manually rather than auto, even if it's the same as the AUTO value. Sometimes motherboards tend to raise/lower voltages unnecessarily. Manual helps with this. For instance, even though my XMP timings are 8-9-9-24 2T for my DDR3 1866 RAM, I set the values manually anyway...

Your board doesn't pick up your XMP timings automatically? Mine does. The only settings I used manual input for was the offset voltage and the LLC level.....CPU wise at least.

What board do you have?

AsRock Extreme6.