[Tom's Hardware] Sandy Bridge-E and X79 Platform Preview

[bunnyfubbles]

There really isn't much in the way of input lag with an nVidia SLI setup. nVidia's AFR/AFR2 methods are very quick with almost zero input lag. SFR is where you'll notice input lag.

there's always lag with AFR if only because of terrible microstuttering all but requiring vsync to reduce/eliminate, of which vsync definitely adds input lag

 

[greenhawk]

I think IB-e will come out shortly after IB.

true, but not too close as intel need to allow time for the cpus to sell. Going straight to IB-E within 6 months of SB-E will not allow for time to reclaim development time.

of course, the s2011 motherboard range needs to be updated to reflect the features that were originally promised before looking at IB-E.

 

[greenhawk]

Most of the major PC games coming out are all going to be available on consoles:

A good list, but to balance out a a point.

Battlefield 3 is on both, but it looks like the PC version and the console versions are noticably different. Time will tell if this is a big enough difference to be seen as worthwhile approach vs the normal(crap) console ports the PC sees.

As to Dragon Age Origins (aka #1), I do not think their was a console version of the game.

but then, that is two "maybes" from a list of a dozen of the latest big releases.

 

[exar333]

A good list, but to balance out a a point.

Battlefield 3 is on both, but it looks like the PC version and the console versions are noticably different. Time will tell if this is a big enough difference to be seen as worthwhile approach vs the normal(crap) console ports the PC sees.

As to Dragon Age Origins (aka #1), I do not think their was a console version of the game.

but then, that is two "maybes" from a list of a dozen of the latest big releases.

Dragon Age 1 was released for consoles, FYI.

 

[blackened23]

Dragon Age 1 was released for consoles, FYI.

Yup.

The unfortunate truth is that consoles are the priority for nearly every developer , PC game sales are pretty horrible. The only bright spot is budgetware, blizzard, and MMO's, for everything else, PC game sales suck. Now even blizzard is planning on making games for consoles...sigh.

Its a damn shame too because games don't really take advantage of current PC hardware fully (due to cross platforming). Another annoying quirk is that many new RPG's don't take full advantage of the PC with the UI, naturally a keyboard/mouse should be superior in every way UI wise but we're stuck with point and click inventory/quest interfaces due to console-ization. The cumbersome UI in witcher 2 comes to mind, it was designed that way to be usable on the console. Simple tasks take way too long with the UI when it shouldn't..... although its still a good game nonetheless.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

"AMD FX-8150 (Zambezi) 3.6 G...Alright, that's just mean. Sorry guys, we'll have to wait a bit longer for benchmark results on this one."

I loved that little touch of humor

 

[bunnyfubbles]

naturally a keyboard/mouse should be superior in every way

in every way except for the fact that controllers can have analog buttons and joysticks which destroy digital nature of keyboard keys in terms of input flexibility

 

[AtenRa]

Intel Displays Self-Branded Water Cooling Solution for Sandy Bridge-E

 

[BlueBlazer]

Intel Displays Self-Branded Water Cooling Solution for Sandy Bridge-E

That water cooling unit is made by Asetek (same manufacturer as Corsair's water cooling solution). :hmm:

 

[Makaveli]

Once I graduate college and get a real job, you can bet that I will be buying only extreme edition CPUs. (Until then, I buy i7 2600k price segment chips that maximize performance per dollar)

I was following you until this.

Even if you were making a million a year buying Extreme editions cpu's are still a waste of money. You'll buy that Extreme edition cpu in a market that will have a superior cpu out in a year or two.

AKA Nelahem/westmere vs SB this comparison alone should show you why they are not the best purchase.

Once you own a house have a wife and maybe some kids i'm pretty sure your tune will change.

It always looks pretty easy when you are a student.

 

[Makaveli]

I hear this alot and this is what I don't get. Why is it that do most people think everyone only uses their machine for gaming?

The reason for this I think is simple, with all the adults that come to this site there are still alot of children that live with their parents in these forums also. There primary use for their computers is gaming!

That's also why you see people nitpicking and fighting over NV vs Ati with one card having 3 fps more than the other and same goes for CPU's and it just goes down hill from there.

Pretty soon you get use to just zoning out the kids and the trivial crap that happens on all internet forums these days.

 

[Makaveli]

We know from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-2133 testing on current SB platform, that memory bandwidth is not important for desktop apps on this platform. Of course for server apps, this is different.

I agree with you russian but his point still stands.

Its not a level comparison because of the work intel did on the Memory controller.

 

[Makaveli]

I wonder out of curiosity how many of us are even running video cards which are CHEAPER then the monitor its powering on your main system.

With all the cheap TN panels out there now that is a very good question.

I just got off the TN boat and picked up a IPS monitor so now my screen is worth more than my videocard the way it should be

 

[blackened23]

Intel Displays Self-Branded Water Cooling Solution for Sandy Bridge-E

Hmm, bracket compatible with the corsair H50/70 and antech kuhler 620/920. Wonder how it will perform in comparison to those.

 

[Edrick]

Hmm, bracket compatible with the corsair H50/70 and antech kuhler 620/920. Wonder how it will perform in comparison to those.

I would guess almost identical.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I was following you until this.

Even if you were making a million a year buying Extreme editions cpu's are still a waste of money. You'll buy that Extreme edition cpu in a market that will have a superior cpu out in a year or two.

AKA Nelahem/westmere vs SB this comparison alone should show you why they are not the best purchase.

Once you own a house have a wife and maybe some kids i'm pretty sure your tune will change.

It always looks pretty easy when you are a student.

The 980X came out March 16th, 2010 @ $999. The only other alternative anywhere near that level of performance was the i7 970, of which we had to wait until July 19th, 2010 for, and still fork over $885+ to obtain.

A full year and a half later the 980X is still basically the fastest desktop CPU money can buy, and won't have a true replacement until s2011 arrives.

Really, your argument about the waste of EE CPUs only works if there is an alternative CPU that can do 95+% of the EE CPU can do, and at a fraction of the cost, say i7 920 vs. i7 965 Extreme Edition. It wasn't until the i7 970's significant price drop that you could say the same about the 980X, but by then you'd have missed out on the better part of a year computing with the fastest desktop CPU in the world.

 

[Makaveli]

A full year and a half later the 980X is still basically the fastest desktop CPU money can buy, and won't have a true replacement until s2011 arrives.

This depends on workload now. The 2600k equals its performance or betters it more than it loses on "Desktop workloads". So me personally I wouldn't say its the fastest desktop cpu you can buy now its more of a draw.

Really, your argument about the waste of EE CPUs only works if there is an alternative CPU that can do 95+% of the EE CPU can do, and at a fraction of the cost, say i7 920 vs. i7 965 Extreme Edition. It wasn't until the i7 970's significant price drop that you could say the same about the 980X, but by then you'd have missed out on the better part of a year computing with the fastest desktop CPU in the world.

This I agree with.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I wonder out of curiosity how many of us are even running video cards which are CHEAPER then the monitor its powering on your main system.

I'm running two GTX460 1GB OC cards from Gigabyte in each of my two desktops, and both desktops have 26" KDS 1920x1200 LCDs.

The GFX cards were $180 ea from Newegg last Nov, the monitors I've had longer, and I thought at the time that I got them for a steal at around $250 each, plus $30 2nd-day shipping. (Didn't want to risk shipping them ground, figured they would get here in one piece by choosing 2nd-day air.) Turns out the monitors were so cheap because they were being discontinued. Still, they are really nice. I don't use the speakers, because I had issues with the HDMI ports on my GTX460 cards. Had to use a HDMI to mini-HDMI adaptor that came with the card, and it sticks out, and pulls, and sometimes the display blanks out on me.

I think that problem would go away if I purchase a proper HDMI-to-mini-HDMI cable.

 

[CHADBOGA]

It will be interesting to see what the sales are like for SB-E.

I'm struggling to see how it will be a success.

The x79 platform isn't what many had hoped for, and unless you have a burning desire for 6 cores/12 threads(which in percentage terms ain't a lot right now in the desktop market), why would one fork out the dollars for this expensive beast, knowing that a SB platform will be able to take an Ivy Bridge CPU.

There is also the looming spectre of Haswell that will surely holding people back from opening the wallet for what I see as a product that right now, just doesn't bring enough to the table.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

The 980X came out March 16th, 2010 @ $999. The only other alternative anywhere near that level of performance was the i7 970, of which we had to wait until July 19th, 2010 for, and still fork over $885+ to obtain.

A full year and a half later the 980X is still basically the fastest desktop CPU money can buy, and won't have a true replacement until s2011 arrives.

Really, your argument about the waste of EE CPUs only works if there is an alternative CPU that can do 95+% of the EE CPU can do, and at a fraction of the cost, say i7 920 vs. i7 965 Extreme Edition. It wasn't until the i7 970's significant price drop that you could say the same about the 980X, but by then you'd have missed out on the better part of a year computing with the fastest desktop CPU in the world.

Not really a good argument now. From now on, the Extreme Edition CPUs will remain at $1000, but the chips just below will be $600, and both will be Six-Cores. The $600 chip can do 99-100% of what the $1000 one can (see Core i7-980 vs Core i7-990X and Core i7-3930K vs Core i7 3960X), especially if you OC (and if you're an enthusiast, you will). You're just buying into the moniker and the status symbol if you get the more expensive one. Case in point: the 3960X should be 2-3% faster than the 3930K stock, and the chances of you getting an EE that's higher binned are from slim to none. The 3930K is given complete stability validation at 3200MHz; the 3960X 3300MHz. The cache difference won't make any difference in performance, so just ignore it.

What I'm getting at: the 3930K is just a 3960X lowered by 100MHz and with a bit of disabled cache because the $600 chip will sell a lot more, and for some (artificial) product differentiation so the $1000 chips don't go unsold.

Seeing the difference in performance is 2-3% stock, it's very hard to see how it's even worth it for people that will use it for work.

/Awaits comments regarding cache making a "huge" difference in performance and 100MHz difference meaning the 3960X is "higher binned".

 

[lol123]

in every way except for the fact that controllers can have analog buttons and joysticks which destroy digital nature of keyboard keys in terms of input flexibility

How about the analog nature of mouse movement?

 

[Edrick]

/Awaits comments regarding cache making a "huge" difference in performance and 100MHz difference meaning the 3960X is "higher binned".

I do not think anyone ever claimed that 3MB more L3$ made a "huge" difference. But for the people who do not mind spending $400 more for that extra few % points of performance, then they will buy the 3960X. If I had unlimited resources, I would buy that too.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I do not think anyone ever claimed that 3MB more L3$ made a "huge" difference. But for the people who do not mind spending $400 more for that extra few % points of performance, then they will buy the 3960X. If I had unlimited resources, I would buy that too.

Here we go again. The only way there's "a few percent" more performance is if you're gonna leave both completely stock. Overclocked, let's say at an average 4.5GHz for both, they'll perform the same.

Just because you have "unlimited resources" doesn't mean you're gonna spend more money on the same thing. If you do, that's what intelligent people call "being a fool".

Like I said, even if you'll use them for work, the performance difference is only from 2-3% higher. May be worth it to some huge corporations...

 

[AdamK47]

[/B]

Here we go again. The only way there's "a few percent" more performance is if you're gonna leave both completely stock. Overclocked, let's say at an average 4.5GHz for both, they'll perform the same.

Just because you have "unlimited resources" doesn't mean you're gonna spend more money on the same thing. If you do, that's what intelligent people call "being a fool".

Like I said, even if you'll use them for work, the performance difference is only from 2-3% higher. May be worth it to some huge corporations...

Here we go again. Telling people what they should and should not buy. Why do you persist? You do this in every single post you make. People are different. Let it slide man.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Here we go again. Telling people what they should and should not buy. Why do you persist? You do this in every single post you make. People are different. Let it slide man.

Yes, I understand: people love status symbols, even if they're from the same brand.

If people admitted it I wouldn't have such a problem with it. What annoys me is the people that try to rationalize it using things like the L3 cache, which makes no difference in performance.