Should I wait for Haswell if I don't care about on-board video?

ParseMeHard

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Sep 4, 2012
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I've been on and off about Haswell... I'm ready to upgrade... Should I grab a an i7 3930k now, or wait for Haswell? I've read, one of the main benefits of Haswell is better power consumption, and better on-board video. Neither of those I care about...

Should I wait and see, or just pick up a 3930k?
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
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Haswell is alot more than IGP. The IGP might even be the least important part.

The main benefit of Haswell is its new 256bit wide execution engine for singlecycle AVX/AVX2 and 2 extra issue ports. The addition of AVX2 and TSX. 10-15% IPC improvement as well for unoptimized code. Plus you can BCLK OC again on the LGA1150 platform.(Perhaps only for K models tho.)

But it depends what you do. if you game, then a 3930K and LGA2011 is a waste too.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
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Its hard to say really without seeing what haswell can do and how well it will OC. I expect it to be the best yet of course, but how much better remains to be seen. The 3930k of course plays games great, and if you do additional things that can use the extra threads then it is a good choice. Haswell is not likely to out perform a 3930k in multithreaded stuff, but regarding gaming you are taking a risk by going with a 3930K now. Imagine a Haswell with a 15% ipc boost and a nice stable OC at 4.6ghz or greater...that would scream. But, its going to be a long wait for Haswell. Its not exactly right around the corner. And we have all seen how early adopters can get screwed with buggy motherboards etc. So waiting an extra few months is a good idea anyways. Do you want to wait 9 months or more for your upgrade?

EDIT: I have a 3930K @ 4.3 and believe me, it doesn't exactly suck.
 
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IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
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I've been on and off about Haswell... I'm ready to upgrade... Should I grab a an i7 3930k now, or wait for Haswell? I've read, one of the main benefits of Haswell is better power consumption, and better on-board video. Neither of those I care about...

Should I wait and see, or just pick up a 3930k?

Actually the benefits of waiting is that you'll get close to 3930K performance in nearly every application(exceptions are those VERY parallel ones) at a cheaper price in both CPU and platform.

Look how 3930K fares versus a 3930K here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/552?vs=551

Just a 10% increase with Haswell will get it really close in the few applications that 3930K leads and it'll end up faster in all others. And at a price of ~$350 at max versus $500+ for 3930K.

And the benefit for iGPU board for you are because they are usually aimed at mainstream, boards are cheaper too, in addition to the fact that less routing required for dual channel DDR3 makes it even lower.
 

Bubba77

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Apr 22, 2012
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Is the thought now 3rd quarter on haswell? I thought the general consensus was 1st quarter 2013. Ive been waiting to out a rig together and was thinking the same thing as the OP by going sandy-e . wont sandy bridge e mobos be compatible with ivy e?
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
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Is the thought now 3rd quarter on haswell? I thought the general consensus was 1st quarter 2013. Ive been waiting to out a rig together and was thinking the same thing as the OP by going sandy-e . wont sandy bridge e mobos be compatible with ivy e?

Haswell is March 2013.

SB-E should be compatible with IB-E. However IB-E comes in late 2013.
 

Bubba77

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Apr 22, 2012
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If it is March I am fine with waiting. If it is going to be late summer or so, Id rather jump on Sandy-E with the option for Ivy-E down the road.
 

ShintaiDK

Lifer
Apr 22, 2012
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If it is March I am fine with waiting. If it is going to be late summer or so, Id rather jump on Sandy-E with the option for Ivy-E down the road.

SB-E to IB-E makes as much sense as SB to IB. About zero.
 

tweakboy

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Jan 3, 2010
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In 2013 Haswell CPU will be 2 core 4 threads,, and 4 cores 8 threads and this is all of 2013. So in late 2013 or 2014 they release Haswell which is for consumers not enthusiasts....... I bought this CPU just so I know 2 years from now or 3 , I can get the same ram kit and max out 64GB ram

In 2014 Haswell will slowly show what it can do with 6 cores 12 threads 12MB cache

Until then Im probably going to Ivy E when it comes out, and keep it for many years....
 

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
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Is the thought now 3rd quarter on haswell? I thought the general consensus was 1st quarter 2013. Ive been waiting to out a rig together and was thinking the same thing as the OP by going sandy-e . wont sandy bridge e mobos be compatible with ivy e?

It's late Q1/early Q2 for Desktop and high end quad core mobile Haswell. The ULT is slated for late Q2 and SV duals are coming a quarter after that.
 

rgallant

Golden Member
Apr 14, 2007
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march release but you might want to wait a couple of months like moonbogg said about the mobo's
-endless bios up date's even if they work.
-vreg. on the die so new mb designs , so it will take a while to pick the winners and losers.
-even with all the sb mb's designs ,the z77\ib boards still came out messed up or just basic boards for 2 months.
 

IntelUser2000

Elite Member
Oct 14, 2003
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Actually some slides said Mar-May, meaning it could be anytime between that. If it goes well, we'll see it in March, if not its possible that it'll come in May.

Considering Ivy Bridge came in late April though, I'd bet on Haswell doing the same. March would indicate being early, and that usually does not happen with CPU cycles.
 

Lepton87

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2009
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The initial haswell will be 4cores only so if you really need more cores you're in for a long wait.
Haswell will be released before IVY-E so Haswell-E/EP will be on the market more than a year later. So if you really need the cores go grab that SB-E.
 

mikk

Diamond Member
May 15, 2012
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It's late Q1/early Q2 for Desktop and high end quad core mobile Haswell. The ULT is slated for late Q2 and SV duals are coming a quarter after that.


April for desktop and mobile Quadcores, ULT is slated for a Q3 start.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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What do you do with your PC OP? And if you game, what's your GPU budget? I say this because if you don't run pro apps for encoding/content creation that really use more than 4 cores/8 threads, the best use of your budget is 3770K + Z77 + as much GPU as you can buy for gaming. Example, 3770K + $100 Asrock Z77 + 7950CF is going to game way better than say a 3930K + $200+ mobo + 7970GE.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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Also, I agree that 8150 is stout enough that waiting a few months is no biggie.