Haswell now or Broadwell later questions

[campbbri]

I'm ready to upgrade my i7 920, but I need help deciding whether to go with Haswell or wait for Broadwell desktop. I know a lot is still speculation, but I think there is still some stuff enthusiasts would have a good idea about.

1. Assuming Broadwell gets Iris Pro 5200 graphics or equivalent, what kind of desktop card does that compare to? Is that even an upgrade to my AMD 6450?

2. I have this computer on 24/7 and electricity is expensive where I am, so idle power is very important to me. Do you think broadwell will have substantially lower idle? Looks like Haswell gets between 35 and 60 watts depending on the site. S0ix inclusion in Broadwell is probably speculative, but is there even much room for improvement? I don't know how much of the remaining idle power is due to the board and other peripherals.

3. The most speculative question - do you think they will bump the price higher than the 4770K sells for now?

Thanks for your help.

 

[ShintaiDK]

IGP, we have to see.

Idle, it will be the same as Haswell. SOix is not for desktops. (Haswell supports SOix as well btw.)

Also the only Broadwells for desktop is LGA1150 K models and later on Broadwell-E.

The system in my specs idle at around 40W. PSU efficiency at very low powerdraw and the GPU are the biggest idle consumers of that amount.

Prices will be same as now, with possible added price index/inflation correction.

 

[tweakboy]

Then your going to want skylake heheh. That is imo .......It never ends, Stick to a nice rig and use it, instead of running benchies all day long. gl

 

[Pheesh]

I would recommend waiting until later this year so you see Haswell-E and where haswell refresh-K comes in.

You are asking about graphics..what usage do you have with your computer?

 

[Blue_Max]

Even the current HD4600 is better than your Radeon 6450, so the next-gen should be even better.

 

[2is]

I would recommend waiting until later this year so you see Haswell-E and where haswell refresh-K comes in.

You are asking about graphics..what usage do you have with your computer?

I think for his concerns, which appear to be power consumption, waiting for those products is pretty meaningless since neither are going to do much, if anything for power consumption. Haswell refresh is simply a higher clocked version of Haswell, and Haswell E is almost undoubtedly going to consume more power.

If you're going to buy, just buy now, if you're going to wait, Broadwell is the only thing that makes sense to wait for. As far as the IGP, they're already better than a 6450.

 

[campbbri]

Thanks everyone for your help.

I do heavy photo editing on large RAW files (all CPU bound) that is too slow for me, which is why I want something faster. I also use my computer as a 24/7 media server and to watch blu-ray copies and record/watch live HD TV, which is why I want lower power.

A couple years ago I overclocked my i7 920 to 4.0 ghz but the thing is practically a space heater.

To offset some of the power usage I actually downgraded my video card to a 6450. Unfortunately this was a mistake, since now simple programs like Google Earth and some movies can stutter on my 2560x1600 primary monitor.

I think I'll just go ahead and upgrade now. If I ever feel the need to play a game like Portal 2 or have another reason for better graphics I can always add a mid-range discrete card, since it looks like modern cards don't really use power for long idles.

 

[Blue_Max]

Sounds like your machine may very well be doing a lot of things at once... The Radeon 6450 should have no problems with movies, but Google Earth's 3D wouldn't be much better on the new Intel IGP... but double the speed should at least reduce the stutter.

Since you need low power usage first and foremost, don't forget the lower-power "S" variants! The previous-gen 3770 used less power as well...

 

[tweakboy]

Skylake is the way to go.