Looking to buy a new Intel CPU...should I wait for Haswell EE?

[mishuk3]

Hi there,

I currently have i7-970 Gulftown hexacore chip. It is running at stock speeds and runs all my games and applications without a hiccup. Registers 7.8 on Windows Experience Index on Win7 Ultimate. But it is still from the 1st Gen. i7 and I have been itching to upgrade to a new EE cpu. I was thinking of getting i7-4960X EE (Ivy Bridge EE) but according to the reviews the performance gain is only 5% more than i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge EE). Question is, should I wait for i7-5960X (Haswell EE) which I heard is going to be octacore and will have 2 unlocked cores which will give me a significant performance gain over my existing CPU or should I buy the current Ivy Bridge EE?
I mostly do 1080p gaming with all the settings cranked up and HD video rendering.

 

[dmoney1980]

stick with what you have! At your resolution, it's not like you are gaming with 2 or 3 video cards that would require you to have a top of the line, fastest IPC processor available.

I currently have an x58 setup with a Xeon L5639. It's a 6 core / 12 thread cpu I picked up on ebay for $85- best investment ever. I game on a 1440p monitor and I never see hiccups. I would recommend you stick with what you have, and wait for next year to see what Haswell-e brings, which should be a lot (DDR4, PCIE storage, etc).

 

[NTMBK]

Wait for Haswell E.

 

[wasabiman123]

Same dilemna, but I'm tempted to go the non EE side as it's comparable/better than the 980X for gaming, and runs alot cooler/less power so I can have a small form factor build. Then again there will probably be Micro ATX Haswell-E so all is not lost.

 

[mishuk3]

Yes, I am thinking the same. Guess, it is better to wait and see if Haswell EE brings a much more performance increase than the one I have. I guess once Direct X 11.2 games come out, I will be needing a definite upgrade. The good thing from this predicament is that since AMD is no longer in the game when counting high-end CPUs, Intel, naturally, does not bother with speedy upgrades as they used to do before so there is a traditionally longer waiting time and hence more return on the investment you get on your high end CPUs.

 

[Unoid]

Haswell-E looks like t'll be the real choice for next gen Enthusiasts. DDR4 and SATA Express.

Unfortunately the price will suck. 8+core will likely be a premium over comparably clocked 6 core Ivy-E instead of a direct replacement. DDR4 will be expensive.

I plan to do a Has-E upgrade next fall, unless desktop broadwell is amazing and has 6core support.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Haswell-E looks like t'll be the real choice for next gen Enthusiasts. DDR4 and SATA Express.

Unfortunately the price will suck. 8+core will likely be a premium over comparably clocked 6 core Ivy-E instead of a direct replacement. DDR4 will be expensive.

I plan to do a Has-E upgrade next fall, unless desktop broadwell is amazing and has 6core support.

Are you sure it will have SATA Express?

 

[snouter]

I just bought a 4930k. I do video and 3d stuff and the 3770k I replaced joined the render farm.

Unless you are hitting a wall, Haswell-E will offer DDR4 and a new chipset. X79 is pretty long in the tooth.

FWIW, BF4 is working my 4930k harder than I thought it would, so, maybe games will start to stress the CPU more, but BF4 also still feels like beta in a lot of ways, so, maybe future patches will chill it out some.

Since your still on Gulftown, it seems like maybe you'd keep the next build a while, so, maybe wait for Haswell-E Octo?

Also, I don't think I would get the Extreme processor. My 4930k was $530 at Microcenter. Pretty sure the Extreme is not $470 better.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Surprised you haven't gave it a little bit of FSB/BCLK inscrease aka overclock. While 3.2 is quick there is plenty of safe overclocking headroom to be had. I'd keep it mild like 3.8GHz at the most until you are really really itching to upgrade then overclock further until those prices drop for Has E 8 cores and by that time you should know more about the increase in performance etc and if it's worth it.

 

[Anarchist420]

wait for haswell e because regular haswell isn't fluxless solder and doesnt have much oc headroom unless it has been successfull delidded, successfully de-tim'd, and successfully replaced with good tim.

 

[guskline]

Hi there,

I currently have i7-970 Gulftown hexacore chip. It is running at stock speeds and runs all my games and applications without a hiccup. Registers 7.8 on Windows Experience Index on Win7 Ultimate. But it is still from the 1st Gen. i7 and I have been itching to upgrade to a new EE cpu. I was thinking of getting i7-4960X EE (Ivy Bridge EE) but according to the reviews the performance gain is only 5% more than i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge EE). Question is, should I wait for i7-5960X (Haswell EE) which I heard is going to be octacore and will have 2 unlocked cores which will give me a significant performance gain over my existing CPU or should I buy the current Ivy Bridge EE?
I mostly do 1080p gaming with all the settings cranked up and HD video rendering.

What video card (or cards) do you have? The reason I ask is the I7-970 is still a very powerful cpu. I play around with cpus and gpus with the 3930k rig being my latest build. If you upgrade to the latest video card it will be useable in a Haswell EE rig when it comes out AND you'll see a significant improvement in gaming now. Spending @ $1,400 (4960X EE plus x79 mb) is not cost effective when you already have the I7-970 unless you have the latest video cards.

 

[tweakboy]

Why the EE. wtf is EE. Its just one E

The fastest desktop processors right now are Ivy Bridge E 6core12threads.

Next year Haswell E will be fastest desktop CPU. But it probably not coming out until Late 2014.

gl

 

[mishuk3]

What video card (or cards) do you have? The reason I ask is the I7-970 is still a very powerful cpu. I play around with cpus and gpus with the 3930k rig being my latest build. If you upgrade to the latest video card it will be usable in a Haswell EE rig when it comes out AND you'll see a significant improvement in gaming now. Spending @ $1,400 (4960X EE plus x79 MB) is not cost effective when you already have the I7-970 unless you have the latest video cards.

I have AMD Radeon HD 6870 VisionTek OEM. It is aging but I bought it for BF3 and StarCraft II. So far so good. I do plan to upgrade my video card soon, eyeing on the R9-290X. As far as OC, yes, I could but seriously I don't need to at the moment. Plus, I am using the 1st gen. Intel Extreme SLC 60 GB SSD which still is a speed demon despite lacking TRIM functionality. So, to be honest, I could live by this current workstation for a while. But just wondering if Ivy Bridge EE gives me a significant increase and also to future proof my workstation for the next 4 years or so.

 

[mishuk3]

Surprised you haven't gave it a little bit of FSB/BCLK inscrease aka overclock. While 3.2 is quick there is plenty of safe overclocking headroom to be had. I'd keep it mild like 3.8GHz at the most until you are really really itching to upgrade then overclock further until those prices drop for Has E 8 cores and by that time you should know more about the increase in performance etc and if it's worth it.

I was thinking of overclocking but I really don't need to at the moment since my rig is still plenty fast and having Intel Extreme Edition 60 GB SLC and 24 GB DDR3 RAM definitely helps. This is my first workstation that I haven't upgraded (CPU) in 4 years or so, so I need to pickup another flagship CPU which will not turn completely obsolete in 4 years or so.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If your intentions are for gaming then I would say wait till after you upgraded your GPU first then decide if you need a faster CPU.

IMO I don't think Ivy Bridge EE will be a worth while upgrade. Yes it will be faster but for the money I don't think it will be worth it.

 

[JDG1980]

Is it yet known if Haswell-E will incorporate the FIVR?
Having a soldered lid will definitely help some with temperature control/overclocking, but that's only one of several factors that makes Haswell in its current form disappointing to enthusiasts. The FIVR definitely drives up heat, and Intel's 22nm process seems to be optimized much more for low power than 32nm was.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Is it yet known if Haswell-E will incorporate the FIVR?
Having a soldered lid will definitely help some with temperature control/overclocking, but that's only one of several factors that makes Haswell in its current form disappointing to enthusiasts. The FIVR definitely drives up heat, and Intel's 22nm process seems to be optimized much more for low power than 32nm was.

It will contain a FIVR yes.

 

[Anarchist420]

The FIVR definitely drives up heat, and Intel's 22nm process seems to be optimized much more for low power than 32nm was.

it does drive up heat (as in TDP) but it doesnt drive up temps anywhere near as much as the lack of fluxless solder does. im not sure whether integrating the vreg was a good idea because you could get a motherboard with better vregs... they really should've integrated the pch/controllers/codecs first imo.

im guessing that solder will be reserved for intel's high end parts. but im also hoping nvidia or someone else comes up with an architecture that will be equivalent to the generations old x86.