How far off is my (nearly full) system upgrade?

[LxMxFxD4]

I am currently using the aging system (2.5years old for core components) in my signature. I usually upgrade complete systems every 3-4 years or when cpus are at least 2x as fast (for reasonable money). For my next upgrade I'd like to see the following:

1. Mobo with PCI Express 3.0 with xfire or sli 2 slots
2. USB 3.0 Ports
3. Intel ICH10R RAID controller (or compatable on board/on die controller) with at least 6 RAID slots (8 ideally). In a perfect upgrade world, all 8 slots would be SATA 6Gib ports, but not absolutely necessary
4. CPU > 2x q9550 - i7-2600k ($330) or i5-2500k ($220) is about this speed in content creation benchmarks
5. Replacing all memory with DDR3 8GB or 16GB total
6. New case with front usb 3.0 ports.

From what I can see the biggest jump is the cpu and pci express 3.0. I am sort of hoping these will come in the Z68 chipset paired with at least a i7-2600k or i5-2500k. Is this a pipe dream or is Q4 2011 with Z68 realistic?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

 

[LxMxFxD4]

Well, more research has largely answered my questions.

1. LGA 2011 Sandy and Ivy will both have PCI express 3.0 support.
2. Only Ivy cores will have native usb 3.0 support (as of current info). The 2011 Sandy bridge may have it, but "no processor specifications have been released" as per the wikipedia page.
3. Don't know if there will be an 6 or 8 port onboard raid controller available in 2011 sandy or ivy. 1155 sandy does NOT have even 6 port.
4. Ivy should be 20% faster than sandy so even if i7-2600k stays at the top of the pack the ivy processor version will guaranteed be 2x faster than my q9550.
5. Up to quad DDR3-1600 will be available on the 2011 sandy
6. No doubt cases with 3.0 usb will be made or are already being made.

Now it just comes down to whether 2011's raid controller will have 6+ ports. Since "No processor specifications have been released" its possible. Lets hope!

 

[KingstonU]

I have a very similar system and told myself I'd also be upgrading by mid/late 2011, and now I find my 3 year old system is still more than I need.

We'll see what happens when the PS4/Wii2/Xbox720 come out and bring game requirements up.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

yeah my q9550 is really great, I have no complaints except perhaps my ddr2 ram. I think Q4 is probably when the time will be right, exactly 3 years after I got my q9550. Hopefully my wishlist comes true!

 

[KingstonU]

Wow I just noticed that you are running your rig with a 430 Watt power supply? I opted for the 625W after figuring the 525W version was cutting it too close, and I wanted the overclocking headroom, never would have thought 430 to be enough.

Is your Q9550 a C1 or the E0? If I knew the E0 was just a few weeks away I might have waited, but I don't even really notice the difference between say 3.3 and 3.6 GHz so it didn't matter.

 

[Martimus]

I have the system you are talking about now, although I do not RAID disks. From what I have heard, you don't want to use on-board raid anyway, so you should just buy a dedicated card.

I don't see a reason you couldn't buy the setup you are talking about right now. I don't know why you would want to buy it sicne you already have a very nice setup, but the upgrade you are talking about already exists.

 

[Topweasel]

I have the system you are talking about now, although I do not RAID disks. From what I have heard, you don't want to use on-board raid anyway, so you should just buy a dedicated card.

I don't see a reason you couldn't buy the setup you are talking about right now. I don't know why you would want to buy it sicne you already have a very nice setup, but the upgrade you are talking about already exists.

Outside the request for for PCIe 3.0. Yeah most of it exists.

The target use case (the level of Raid and the performance of an 8 core CPU) implies your best best is IB, SB-EX, FX-8k, or Valencia product, though I don't know when either of the last two are supporting PCIe 3.0.

Probably best to wait out since your system isn't hurting for performance till early 2012 to see what is available with IB, let 2011 mature a bit, and to get a better idea of how the 2012 hardware is going to shape up.

 

[Martimus]

I see, I thought that P67 had PCIe 3.0. Oh well, that just shows what I know.

Bulldozer will likely have this, since AMD is usually more aggressive with releasing newer features on their chipsets. (Just look at the year old 890FX compared to the new P67, and the 890FX is superior in every way.)

 

[Topweasel]

I see, I thought that P67 had PCIe 3.0. Oh well, that just shows what I know.

Bulldozer will likely have this, since AMD is usually more aggressive with releasing newer features on their chipsets. (Just look at the year old 890FX compared to the new P67, and the 890FX is superior in every way.)

A lot of people are claiming that the 900 series is just a rebranded 800 and since AMD seems to only push out one chipset series a year. I wanted to hold of any declaration of features. We know it will have USB 3.0 and Sata 6Bbs.

Edit: Looks like the Z68 won't have it either.

Also looks like the 990FX might be the first one out with native support out of the box with 2 16x PCIe slots.

 

[Martimus]

A lot of people are claiming that the 900 series is just a rebranded 800 and since AMD seems to only push out one chipset series a year. I wanted to hold of any declaration of features. We know it will have USB 3.0 and Sata 6Bbs.

Edit: Looks like the Z68 won't have it either.

Also looks like the 990FX might be the first one out with native support out of the box with 2 16x PCIe slots.

I am pretty sure that 790FX chipsets had native support out of the box for 2 16x PCIe slots. Let alone the 890FX and soon to be released 990FX.

 

[Topweasel]

I am pretty sure that 790FX chipsets had native support out of the box for 2 16x PCIe slots. Let alone the 890FX and soon to be released 990FX.

Hmmm.. I was reading something on the 990FX that basically implied that the most other chipsets required extra chips on board to support enough lanes. But yeah looks like the 790FX, 890FX, and 990FX will all support 40ish lanes on chip. As for the 990FX still no telling if its 2.0 or 3.0.

 

[nenforcer]

There have been so few details leaked about the AMD 9XX series chipsets (including rumors of SLI support) that I'm hoping they do include PCI-E 3.0.

Supposedly there were some problems with the 9XX chipset which may be responsible for the lack of information.