Nehalem i7 920 to Kaby Lake... upgrade or wait?

[Senpuu]

I bought an i7 920 on release at the end of 2008. Over time I've upgrade my gfx card once (nV 260 to 580ti, due for another upgrade now...), added an SSD boot/app drive, and doubled my RAM to 12GB. I've honestly never felt like my system wasn't snappy. I don't really even feel like I need to upgrade, despite my system being 8 years old now. It still feels blazing fast. When I play with computers at places like Best Buy with current gen processors I don't notice any difference.

So, my question is: is there a real reason to upgrade, even 7 generations on? Would I notice any real difference? I'm sure there are platform improvements that I could benefit from, but on the basis of speed I feel like I can't justify the expense.

 

[witeken]

It still feels blazing fast.

You've answered your question yourself. If you don't have any problems, there's nothing to worry about.

 

[NTMBK]

If it feels fast enough, why bother? Save the money.

 

[Yakk]

Still run one 920 @ 4.2 rig with no need to upgrade in sight.

The cpu incremental upgrades have been so small it's ridiculous .

 

[witeken]

The cpu incremental upgrades have been so small it's ridiculous .

Why is it ridiculous? They just can't do any better. The frequency wall has been at 5GHz for ages, even despite the focus shifting to performance/watt efficiency. Intel already has lower transistor density than any other CPU/SoC to improve performance.

 

[Senpuu]

If it feels fast enough, why bother? Save the money.

For sure, that's the most rational thing to do. It's been 8 years since building a rig though and I have the itch. I don't think I will scratch just yet, but it's gnawing at me a bit now.

I was hoping people might be able to point to some killer platform features that may be worth having in 7th gen that 1st didn't have available. For instance, usb3 isn't easily or optimally available to me.

 

[witeken]

For sure, that's the most rational thing to do. It's been 8 years since building a rig though and I have the itch. I don't think I will scratch just yet, but it's gnawing at me a bit now.

I was hoping people might be able to point to some killer platform features that may be worth having in 7th gen that 1st didn't have available. For instance, usb3 isn't easily or optimally available to me.

Since you're not in a hurry I don't think it hurts to play the waiting game to see what Cannonlake 10nm brings. Although I would guess mainly power improvements and not much performance since there will be Coffee Lake before that.

 

[Rifter]

Still run one 920 @ 4.2 rig with no need to upgrade in sight.

The cpu incremental upgrades have been so small it's ridiculous .

Me too 920@4.2 and see no need to upgrade yet.

Intel is killing their own market by releasing these to small to care incremental upgrades.

They need to get back on track like they did in the old days, just look at what they did from P4 release till the i7 920 release, how much improvement that was. Vs i7 920 till now, which is the same amount of time but with pathetically low improvements in comparison.

Intel has really shot themselves in the foot IMO.

 

[daxzy]

Still run one 920 @ 4.2 rig with no need to upgrade in sight.

The cpu incremental upgrades have been so small it's ridiculous .

You realize that Skylake has around a 50% IPC advantage over Nehalem? The TDP is also about 40% less. That's a bigger performance (and power consumption) delta than Core 2 Duo had over Pentium 4.

 

[Arachnotronic]

You realize that Skylake has around a 50% IPC advantage over Nehalem? The TDP is also about 40% less. That's a bigger performance (and power consumption) delta than Core 2 Duo had over Pentium 4.

Skylake also clocks better on cheaper cooling.

 

[Denithor]

On an SSD, anything feels snappy. If you aren't in dire need of more true processing power or the latest greatest connectivity, there's no reason to upgrade.

Perhaps another GPU update will provide a little relief from the itch?

 

[Dave2150]

I bought an i7 920 on release at the end of 2008. Over time I've upgrade my gfx card once (nV 260 to 580ti, due for another upgrade now...), added an SSD boot/app drive, and doubled my RAM to 12GB. I've honestly never felt like my system wasn't snappy. I don't really even feel like I need to upgrade, despite my system being 8 years old now. It still feels blazing fast. When I play with computers at places like Best Buy with current gen processors I don't notice any difference.

So, my question is: is there a real reason to upgrade, even 7 generations on? Would I notice any real difference? I'm sure there are platform improvements that I could benefit from, but on the basis of speed I feel like I can't justify the expense.

Depends what you're doing with your PC. If you're just playing minesweeper and browsing the web, an i7 920 will feel like a monster. If you're playing the latest games, or some older games that only scale with IPC/frequency (arma3 engine etc) then the 920 really struggles, if coupled with a good GPU (1070 and above).

I upgraded from a i7 920 (C0 stepping, December 2008) that was clocked at 3.6Ghz (maximum it could do, original stepping didn't clock as well as the D0's) to a 6700k @ 4.7Ghz. The 6700k felt much power powerful, doubled my minimum FPS in many games, runs far quieter, produces far less heat and uses far less electricity. I also got all the nice I/O improvements, PCI-E V3, M2 PCI-E X4. USB3.1, UEFI BIOS (awesome for fan control and in depth overclocks).

Really was a fantastic upgrade.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yes to all of it. My own incentive to upgrade is corrupted by more than needs. My curiosity grows and I might think I'll "get too far behind." I have a hardware addiction, trying to administer my own 12-step therapy.

But if you're not playing demanding games, doing a lot of rendering in quantity or anything that uses significant clock-cycles, and the machine is fast enough to satisfaction, continuing to squeeze more use out of it is a rational choice.

Dave2150 also has some good points.

Also, I'll say that building a Skylake system has been a kick in the ass for fun.

 

[Rifter]

You realize that Skylake has around a 50% IPC advantage over Nehalem? The TDP is also about 40% less. That's a bigger performance (and power consumption) delta than Core 2 Duo had over Pentium 4.

Lets do a real comparison, in the year 2000 the best intel CPU was the 1.5Ghz single core P4, for around $300. 8 years later we get Nehalem 4 cores for around $300, which is well over 10 times faster.

From 2008 Nehalem release untill now we get skylake for around the same price but with only a 50% increase in performance is pathetic.

 

[witeken]

From 2008 Nehalem release untill now we get skylake for around the same price but with only a 50% increase in performance is pathetic.

And your point being?

If you want more performance, Intel is so kind to let you freely overclock their processors. So if you want 10x performance, then all you've gotta do is increase its clock speed to 40GHz. Voila. No one is holding you back!

 

[Rifter]

And your point being?

If you want more performance, Intel is so kind to let you freely overclock their processors. So if you want 10x performance, then all you've gotta do is increase its clock speed to 40GHz. Voila. No one is holding you back!

Trust me if that was possible i would have upgraded already.

And my point was intel dropped the ball, and has shown zero drive lately to improve their products.

 

[Insomniator]

Trust me if that was possible i would have upgraded already.

And my point was intel dropped the ball, and has shown zero drive lately to improve their products.

What do you want to be 10 times faster today? Opening IE? How many x performance increase do you want before upgrading something?

 

[Arachnotronic]

What do you want to be 10 times faster today? Opening IE? How many x performance increase do you want before upgrading something?

Yep. A 50% improvement in performance (more than that when you factor in clocks) is the difference between being able to push 60fps and 90fps, which actually matters if you run a high-refresh rate monitor.

 

[Brekyrself]

If your motherboard supports it, drop in a 6 core x5670 for $70. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/xeon-l5639-overclocking-on-x58.2335636/

These things overclocked keep up just fine with "modern" cpu's...

 

[ElFenix]

Trust me if that was possible i would have upgraded already.

And my point was intel dropped the ball, and has shown zero drive lately to improve their products.

intel has been improving its products, just not in the way you want. which may not even be possible with any technology that's going to be available anytime soon - doubling clock speed just isn't sitting out there anymore.

 

[jaydee]

Lets do a real comparison, in the year 2000 the best intel CPU was the 1.5Ghz single core P4, for around $300. 8 years later we get Nehalem 4 cores for around $300, which is well over 10 times faster.

From 2008 Nehalem release untill now we get skylake for around the same price but with only a 50% increase in performance is pathetic.

You must have been even more disappointed in 2008? 2000 PIII --> 2008 Nahelem wasn't nearly as big as going from the 1992 66MHz 80486 --> 2000 1.5GHz PIII. And nothing in 1984 was even able to run a GUI.

In other words, it's all part of the logarithmic technology curve. Returns are almost always diminishing.

 

[happy medium]

If your not playing the latest games with todays gpu's, your cpu is fine.

 

[Senpuu]

Yes to all of it. My own incentive to upgrade is corrupted by more than needs. My curiosity grows and I might think I'll "get too far behind."

I agree with this. I think everyone feels this to a greater or lesser degree, but lately with the new gfx card die shrinks I've been kicking around the idea of a whole new system.

If your motherboard supports it, drop in a 6 core x5670 for $70.

These things overclocked keep up just fine with "modern" cpu's...

This... is a really interesting idea. I may do just that.

 

[Burpo]

You'd be amazed what these hex-cores can do @ 190/200bclk.. Add GTX1070 for gaming?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...316948?hash=item1ebab31354:g:33IAAOSw-KFXfrKS

 

[MajinCry]

Intel CPUs are much better (>3x) at handling draw calls than their AMD equivalents. i7 920 With no hyperthreading? Trounces my 965 BE in games with lots of stuff on-screen, but performs pretty much the same in everything else.

Hell, if I had a Nehalem, I'd be a happy camper. Only thing my CPU chugs on are those open world games, since draw calls are through the roof on D3D 9/11.