i7 2600k vs 3770k on H67

[rusifald]

Hi guys, first time around here but need some advice. My primary machine for the past year or two has been an i7 860 with an ati 5770 graphics card. A few months back I built an HTPC with an i3 second gen cpu and an H67 asrock motherboard. I was thinking about building a complete new system but have since decided to just upgrade the cpu in my HTPC and make it my main machine and give my wife my i7 860 to play sims on. Primary use on the machine is programming/video encoding (converting mkv's to mp4 for apple tv support)/some gaming (diablo 3/xplane/wow). I purchased an ati 7850 as a replacement for my 5770 but it didn't make much of a difference due to the 860 only having pci-e 1.1. Long story short my question is: will I benefit any going with a 3770 vs 2600k architecture wise while keeping my H67 board. In the future I very well may upgrade my motherboard to a solution with Crossfire and more ram capabilities, and if I did the obvious choice would be a Z77 variety. The only upgrade at this point that I'm considering though is the CPU on my current H67. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Edit: Forgot to mention I have no desire to do any overclocking at this point as I have stock cooling on a relatively small HTPC case. If all goes well a month or so after the CPU upgrade I will probably go with a different case.

 

[AtenRa]

I would sell the 860+mobo and i would buy the 3770K + Z77 mobo. Give your wife the Core i3 + H67 mobo + 5770, it should be more than enough for sims.

 

[rusifald]

I would sell the 860+mobo and i would buy the 3770K + Z77 mobo. Give your wife the Core i3 + H67 mobo + 5770, it should be more than enough for sims.

Thanks for that suggestion. I have considered it but it was a Gateway computer with gateway motherboard and probably not useful to many people. I've never had much luck selling older parts and its a perfectly functional/fast computer.

 

[MentalIlness]

Forgot to mention I have no desire to do any overclocking at this point as I have stock cooling on a relatively small HTPC case.

Whichever chip you decide on, Why not just get the non K chip ?

 

[Schmide]

What 1366/1156 motherboard would have a pci-e 1.1 spec? They were released 2 years after the pci-e 2.0 spec came out!

Edit: Not that it should bottleneck a video card (especially a 7850) anyways.

 

[rusifald]

What 1366/1156 motherboard would have a pci-e 1.1 spec? They were released 2 years after the pci-e 2.0 spec came out!

Edit: Not that it should bottleneck a video card (especially a 7850) anyways.

I'm not sure but GPU-z is reporting 1.1 PCI-e on the Gateway with the i7 860 and on the H67 is reporting 2.0. I do get better performance on the i3 with the 7850 than i do on the i7 with the same card.

With regard to the K vs non K, I like having the ability to overclock if I wanted to, I've seen some major results from it, but its something I am not planning for the immediate future. I've recently had a change of career and have more money/time to mess around with these features I might start playing around more.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I bet he is confusing GPU idle mode (PCIe 1.1) with what it runs when loaded (PCIe 2.0).

 

[rusifald]

I wouldn't put it past me. I had x-plane 10 running in a window with gpu-z next to it and it still reported 1.1. I don't know if I have to do something to update it. Here is a link to my computer

http://support.gateway.com/s/desktop/2010/gateway/fx/fx6840/FX6840sp2.shtml

regardless, I am ready to upgrade the htpc board to an i7. The main goal is whether i should spent the extra hundred bucks on 3rd gen vs 2nd gen on an H67 board.

edit: I do see on intel's website that the H57 chipset was pci-e 2.0. Not sure if thats something Gateway would have had to implement or if it would have benefited them costwise to only support 1.1. Either way I'm probably mistaken on the PCI-e

edit 2: sorry for being such a noob in this department, last time i actually spent time to build a decent machine was 2003.

 

[AtenRa]

Thanks for that suggestion. I have considered it but it was a Gateway computer with gateway motherboard and probably not useful to many people. I've never had much luck selling older parts and its a perfectly functional/fast computer.

What games do you play ??? perhaps you could keep the Core i3 + 7850 for a few months and then upgrade to a Z77 + 3770K.

 

[Termie]

I'm not sure but GPU-z is reporting 1.1 PCI-e on the Gateway with the i7 860 and on the H67 is reporting 2.0. I do get better performance on the i3 with the 7850 than i do on the i7 with the same card.

With regard to the K vs non K, I like having the ability to overclock if I wanted to, I've seen some major results from it, but its something I am not planning for the immediate future. I've recently had a change of career and have more money/time to mess around with these features I might start playing around more.

You can't overclock on an H67 motherboard, hence the suggestion that you not spend money on a K chip.

Building on that, I'd say buy the 3770. Because you can't overclock, you'll get the advantage of 100MHz higher clock and 5-10% higher performance per clock, plus lower power use.

My only concern is whether that older H67 can support IVB. Check the AsRock website and flash to the newest BIOS before upgrading, but make sure it says something about IVB before investing any money.

As for the PCIe 1.1/2.1 issue, all I can say is that there's no way your i3 should outperform your 860 in any discipline. With two cores active, the 860 clocks up to 3.33, which would at least equal an SB i3 at 3.1. Obviously there's something borked about that Gateway (surprise?) if the 7850 works better on the i3.

 

[rusifald]

You can't overclock on an H67 motherboard, hence the suggestion that you not spend money on a K chip.

Building on that, I'd say buy the 3770. Because you can't overclock, you'll get the advantage of 100MHz higher clock and 5-10% higher performance per clock, plus lower power use.

My only concern is whether that older H67 can support IVB. Check the AsRock website and flash to the newest BIOS before upgrading, but make sure it says something about IVB before investing any money.

As for the PCIe 1.1/2.1 issue, all I can say is that there's no way your i3 should outperform your 860 in any discipline. With two cores active, the 860 clocks up to 3.33, which would at least equal an SB i3 at 3.1. Obviously there's something borked about that Gateway (surprise?) if the 7850 works better on the i3.

This is mostly the response I was looking for. I kind of figured that the Gateway should have seen increased performance from the 7850 but its not. I know I have a ton of upgrade options such as waiting and getting a motherboard, but I have a computer that is H67 sitting around not using it and would like to spend as little money as possible in the short term. I have read that the H67 can't be overclocked but my ASRock motherboard claims it can. I have also checked the website and it does support Ivy Bridge cpu's with a firmware upgrade. For reference its the H67M-GE. I am still not sure that I would see any gain from going with 3rd gen as opposed to the 2600k but there's only about a 40$ difference in price on amazon so I guess I would go 3rd gen anyways. Thanks a lot for the responses.

 

[Termie]

This is mostly the response I was looking for. I kind of figured that the Gateway should have seen increased performance from the 7850 but its not. I know I have a ton of upgrade options such as waiting and getting a motherboard, but I have a computer that is H67 sitting around not using it and would like to spend as little money as possible in the short term. I have read that the H67 can't be overclocked but my ASRock motherboard claims it can. I have also checked the website and it does support Ivy Bridge cpu's with a firmware upgrade. For reference its the H67M-GE. I am still not sure that I would see any gain from going with 3rd gen as opposed to the 2600k but there's only about a 40$ difference in price on amazon so I guess I would go 3rd gen anyways. Thanks a lot for the responses.

There is limited overclocking on an H67. The overclocking available will not differ between a 3770 and a 3770k. Therefore, buy the 3770: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i7-...&keywords=3770

 

[rusifald]

There is limited overclocking on an H67. The overclocking available will not differ between a 3770 and a 3770k. Therefore, buy the 3770: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i7-...&keywords=3770

Cool thanks, I was just looking at my bios and noticing that I really can't do much. Maybe I am better off just upgrading my Motherboard as well. Stupid technology!

 

[AtenRa]

The overclocking on the H67 is referring to the iGPU overclock and not the CPU. You can only OC the CPU with the P67, Z68 and Z77 chipsets.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The overclocking on the H67 is referring to the iGPU overclock and not the CPU. You can only OC the CPU with the P67, Z68 and Z77 chipsets.

Thanks I was just getting down to post this.

 

[rusifald]

Thanks I was just getting down to post this.

Thanks for all the advice guys. It helps a ton.