Is IB worth it over SB for a $1000 gamin rig?

[chelos]

I'm currently in the process of selecting components for the new gaming rig I plan to build during May. Since IB just became available, I'm wondering if it's worth it to pay the extra $50 or so for an i5-3570K over an i5-2500K (with ASRock Z77 Pro3).

I'd mostly be playing Old Republic, with some Photoshop and 3D modeling (SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer) tossed in occasionally.

If I do chose IB, then what MB should I go for? I'm not too familiar with IB, so not sure which MBs will be compatible.

 

[dma0991]

IB is a good choice if you don't overclock or aiming for a moderate overclock ~4.5GHz. Any Z77 motherboard should be compatible, the ASRock board you've listed is compatible.

 

[chelos]

IB is a good choice if you don't overclock or aiming for a moderate overclock ~4.5GHz. Any Z77 motherboard should be compatible, the ASRock board you've listed is compatible.

Oh, that's fantastic! I had sort of assumed that because of the new architecture, I'd have to go for a whole new MB. I do plan to overclock, although I'll need to do a bit more research before I pull the trigger on that.

 

[Stochastic]

I'm in a similar position as you. I had been delaying my build for months waiting for Ivy Bridge. Now it looks like all that waiting was done in vain given the launch prices.

It's a shame that I don't live near a Microcenter.

 

[Don Karnage]

IB is a good choice if you don't overclock or aiming for a moderate overclock ~4.5GHz. Any Z77 motherboard should be compatible, the ASRock board you've listed is compatible.

D14 is plenty for 4.6-4.8ghz.

These chips can take the heat. Don't be afraid to push them

 

[dma0991]

D14 is plenty for 4.6-4.8ghz.
These chips can take the heat. Don't be afraid to push them

Not every Core i5 3570Ks will do 4.6-4.8GHz at the voltages you have. Mine wouldn't even Prime95 for more than a few minutes at 4.6GHz @ 1.35V. 4.5GHz is far more common and easily achieved, more if the chip is capable of doing so.

 

[Don Karnage]

Not every Core i5 3570Ks will do 4.6-4.8GHz at the voltages you have. Mine wouldn't even Prime95 for more than a few minutes at 4.6GHz @ 1.35V. 4.5GHz is far more common and easily achieved, more if the chip is capable of doing so.

Push more voltage through it then

 

[SickBeast]

I don't see why Ivy should be any better at "taking the heat" than Sandy. 80C+ is alarming IMO. I wouldn't want to run my system like that 24/7. People are hitting 80C+ as well even with a Noctua D14 when pushing the chip to 4.6/4.7ghz.

OP, there is little to no value in going with Ivy over Sandy. You will gain slightly lower power consumption and a tiny boost in IPC, but you will lose overclocking headroom and your temps will be worse.

 

[Stochastic]

I don't see why Ivy should be any better at "taking the heat" than Sandy. 80C+ is alarming IMO. I wouldn't want to run my system like that 24/7. People are hitting 80C+ as well even with a Noctua D14 when pushing the chip to 4.6/4.7ghz.

OP, there is little to no value in going with Ivy over Sandy. You will gain slightly lower power consumption and a tiny boost in IPC, but you will lose overclocking headroom and your temps will be worse.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think you're right. Do you think there's any chance that Ivy Bridge prices will drop in the next month or so?

 

[SickBeast]

As much as I hate to admit it, I think you're right. Do you think there's any chance that Ivy Bridge prices will drop in the next month or so?

Someone posted an i5 at Microcenter for $189, so maybe.

If you can still get the 2600k for $199 that is your best bet by far.

I'm sure Microcenter will continue to offer good deals.

I was under the impression that Ivy's prices were supposed to be *lower* than Sandy's.

 

[Don Karnage]

Someone posted an i5 at Microcenter for $189, so maybe.

If you can still get the 2600k for $199 that is your best bet by far.

I'm sure Microcenter will continue to offer good deals.

I was under the impression that Ivy's prices were supposed to be *lower* than Sandy's.

Tigerdirect has the 3770K for 319.99 and the 3570K for 219.99

 

[dma0991]

Push more voltage through it then

Nahh, I want less downtime as it BSODs ever so often wanting more vcore and faulty HyperX RAMs that becomes unstable when I dial in the XMP profiles.

Running stock right now with fans off at night to keep dust off my rad and still low temps. Watercooling temps is addictive. I will of course set it back to 4.5GHz when I want to post some benches.

 

[Stochastic]

Someone posted an i5 at Microcenter for $189, so maybe.

If you can still get the 2600k for $199 that is your best bet by far.

I'm sure Microcenter will continue to offer good deals.

I was under the impression that Ivy's prices were supposed to be *lower* than Sandy's.

Yeah, I was under that impression as well. I would go to Microcenter but the nearest one is over four hours away from me.

EDIT: Tigerdirect is offering the 3570K for $210 after coupon, I may go with that: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=I69-3570K

 

[SickBeast]

It's funny how both Sandy and Ivy chips seem to be happiest at 4.5ghz. It's like breaking the sound barrier. I wonder how Haswell will do.

 

[infoiltrator]

At the moment, unless tou need on chip 3.0x16 or 1600 base memory speed, I would stick with SB unless you can get IB at a considerable discount.
IB appears to run hotter when extreme overclocking.

 

[Puppies04]

I don't see why Ivy should be any better at "taking the heat" than Sandy.

Because intel gave it a higher TJMax, or do you know something they don't?

 

[SickBeast]

Because intel gave it a higher TJMax, or do you know something they don't?

Didn't they give it 5C more? That's not much at all. So now it's 105C instead of 100C, right?

If you're hitting 85C under load you're within 20C of the TJMax. That's not safe IMO.

With my Sandy Bridge 2500K I'm barely hitting 58C under full load at 4.5ghz which is a good 40C below the TJMax.

 

[CPUarchitect]

Oh, that's fantastic! I had sort of assumed that because of the new architecture, I'd have to go for a whole new MB.

Ivy Bridge has the same micro-architecture as Sandy Bridge (except for a few very minor tweaks). But it's on a smaller semiconductor process, which is aimed at lowering the power consumption at modest clock frequencies.

So for a desktop system, if you're not using the integrated GPU, there's no significant reason to pick Ivy Bridge over Sandy Bridge. Just go for the one that you can get the cheapest.

It's the next generation, Haswell, which will have major new micro-architectural features, and will require a new motherboard.

I'd mostly be playing Old Republic, with some Photoshop and 3D modeling (SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer) tossed in occasionally.

Haswell should help with the latter because it has twice the vector processing power (AVX2) and more efficient multi-core communication (TSX). Depending on your current system, you might not see much of an improvement with Ivy Bridge. So consider waiting for Haswell instead.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I don't see why Ivy should be any better at "taking the heat" than Sandy. 80C+ is alarming IMO. I wouldn't want to run my system like that 24/7. People are hitting 80C+ as well even with a Noctua D14 when pushing the chip to 4.6/4.7ghz.
.

This

 

[rgallant]

just saying
re: 80C+ is alarming IMO

sb @ 1.45v+ became ok for 7/24 = more watts/real heat
-ib @ 80c -90c will become ok also for 7/24 , but that's only when the 4 cores are at 100% , in the real world that's unlikely.= higher temp read out but less watts/real heat just higher numbers.

-for sb you paid for better mb\vreg's for the higher current\watts.[which one had the socket pins burning out?]
-for ib all the z77 look solid ,so you might need to get better cpu cooling .if you don't have it.

also think of $500.00 gpu's running 80c+ stock ,and that's ok for most people lol ,others adapted and get better coolers$$$.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Gpus don't have a 105c Tjmax. Under occt load you should be at least 25-30c apart from Tjmax and under prime load at least 30-40c apart. So for ivy 75-80c is the max rec if you want it to last around 2+ years. For 5+ years prolly sub 60c and with 90+ c prolly a few months at those settings

 

[CPUarchitect]

Didn't they give it 5C more? That's not much at all. So now it's 105C instead of 100C, right?

If you're hitting 85C under load you're within 20C of the TJMax. That's not safe IMO.

It's perfectly safe. TjMax is what the chip is designed for to be considered stable 24/7 for its entire lifetime (at least 5 years). Every degree you stay below that will significantly increase its lifetime expectancy. It will start speed throttling at around the same temperature anyway.

Also keep in mind that heatsinks become more efficient when the temperature difference against ambient is higher. So don't be alarmed when you're within 20 °C of TjMax. It would still take a whole lot more heat to create a 10 °C difference.

So I wouldn't let that affect the choice between Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. That said, Haswell will be using a more mature 22 nm process and design...

 

[SickBeast]

It's perfectly safe. TjMax is what the chip is designed for to be considered stable 24/7 for its entire lifetime (at least 5 years). Every degree you stay below that will significantly increase its lifetime expectancy. It will start speed throttling at around the same temperature anyway.

Also keep in mind that heatsinks become more efficient when the temperature difference against ambient is higher. So don't be alarmed when you're within 20 °C of TjMax. It would still take a whole lot more heat to create a 10 °C difference.

So I wouldn't let that affect the choice between Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. That said, Haswell will be using a more mature 22 nm process and design...

That's fair, but I guess my point is that there is no use in generating all that heat for the sake of an extra 200mhz on the core. Just keep the thing at 4500mhz and be happy.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

It's perfectly safe. TjMax is what the chip is designed for to be considered stable 24/7 for its entire lifetime (at least 5 years). Every degree you stay below that will significantly increase its lifetime expectancy. It will start speed throttling at around the same temperature anyway.

Also keep in mind that heatsinks become more efficient when the temperature difference against ambient is higher. So don't be alarmed when you're within 20 °C of TjMax. It would still take a whole lot more heat to create a 10 °C difference.

So I wouldn't let that affect the choice between Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. That said, Haswell will be using a more mature 22 nm process and design...

Wrong. Tjmax is the warning level, so that you back off. To last 5+ years you will need to be like half of Tjmax

 

[theevilsharpie]

You will gain slightly lower power consumption and a tiny boost in IPC, but ... your temps will be worse.

I admit I've been out of the loop on the latest CPU technology, but (assuming equal coolers) how is it physically possible for a chip to operate more efficiently and consume less power than its predecessor, while more heat?