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

[Genx87]

Perhaps I do not understand the business end of things as well as others, but without competition, why would Intel stick to their yearly Tick-Tock schedule? They can simply release faster versions of an uArch to prolong their lifespan. Or they can add features like more cache, more cores, better memory support, etc. I do not think releasing new uArch every 2 years would be required at that point. Just my opinion.

Tick Tock gives a tangible bonus to performance. A 100Mhz bump in clocks on a 3.4Ghz part wont entice upgrades. Intel without AMD should still keep on a similar schedule due to needing to give people a reason to upgrade.

Who would upgrade in 24 months when the 2600K is still there?

 

[Genx87]

Does it mean I am old if I have no clue what a 2400 SAT scores means? When I was in HS the max score was 1600.

lol I was thinking the same thing

 

[RussianSensation]

Comparing SB dual channel to Nehalem tri channel is not vaild due to the fact that SB has a much improved memory controller:

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.

 

[RussianSensation]

Does it mean I am old if I have no clue what a 2400 SAT scores means? When I was in HS the max score was 1600.

As of March 25, 2005 the SAT was changed to include a writing section. Each section is worth 800 points. So the scale is now 2400, not 1600. <No I am not in HS>. Just did a 1 min google search.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Wonder how the i7 3820 will compete against the 2600k.

Think we just hit the point where games just don't need nothing better then a 2500k.

Perhaps the next gen games will push 6 cores and the 2500k will be a has been like the q6600 was for many people including myself.

Nice to know a 2600k holds its own in gaming but i don't expect anyone buying a $1,000 i7 3960x for gaming .

 

[blackened23]

Perhaps the next gen games will push 6 cores and the 2500k will be a has been like the q6600 was for many people including myself.

Not bloody likely since the industry is driven by cross platform AAA titles. The only exception are MMOs, valve, and blizzard - and even blizzard wants to go cross platform now. Anyone else except that has a nearly impossible time getting published unless they're cross platforming to x360/ps3.....The future of PC gaming is scary, PC's are mostly an afterthought to most developers now outside of the bargain (simcity) and mmo crowd. Most top PC games now are designed with x360/ps3 in mind and thus will never take full advantage of modern PC's, and that probably won't change in the near future.

I saw a post from one of Epic's developers that had a nice writeup about this, i'll try to dig it up. But the future of PC gaming is scary indeed.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Wonder how the i7 3820 will compete against the 2600k.

Think we just hit the point where games just don't need nothing better then a 2500k.

Perhaps the next gen games will push 6 cores and the 2500k will be a has been like the q6600 was for many people including myself.

Nice to know a 2600k holds its own in gaming but i don't expect anyone buying a $1,000 i7 3960x for gaming .

It will be UP TO 1% FASTER THAN THE 2600K AT THE SAME CLOCK SPEED!!!

/caps

No, really. It's a waste of money.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Not bloody likely since the industry is driven by cross platform AAA titles. The only exception are MMOs, valve, and blizzard - and even blizzard wants to go cross platform now. Anyone else except that has a nearly impossible time getting published unless they're cross platforming to x360/ps3.....The future of PC gaming is scary, PC's are mostly an afterthought to most developers now outside of the bargain (simcity) and mmo crowd. Most top PC games now are designed with x360/ps3 in mind and thus will never take full advantage of modern PC's, and that probably won't change in the near future.

I saw a post from one of Epic's developers that had a nice writeup about this, i'll try to dig it up. But the future of PC gaming is scary indeed.

Some might think games not taking advantage of a pc is a blessing.

Sad knowing my old 9800gtx can play console ports at 1080p still.

Prob means if the trend continues most gamer's with a 2500k and a gtx560ti could very well get 5 years of gaming with no upgrades.

 

[Makaveli]

+1

The average computer buyer wants more cores for less $$. Period.

The average computer buyers are also dumb asses when it comes to technology.

 

[SHAQ]

Not bloody likely since the industry is driven by cross platform AAA titles. The only exception are MMOs, valve, and blizzard - and even blizzard wants to go cross platform now. Anyone else except that has a nearly impossible time getting published unless they're cross platforming to x360/ps3.....The future of PC gaming is scary, PC's are mostly an afterthought to most developers now outside of the bargain (simcity) and mmo crowd. Most top PC games now are designed with x360/ps3 in mind and thus will never take full advantage of modern PC's, and that probably won't change in the near future.

I saw a post from one of Epic's developers that had a nice writeup about this, i'll try to dig it up. But the future of PC gaming is scary indeed.

We should have a new console in 2 years. By then it may be possible for a 6 core CPU to be worth it depending if the next gen consoles push the envelope at all. Until then I'll stick with what I have or get a 2500K if I feel the need to upgrade.

 

[Black96ws6]

Looking Forward


We’re at least a month or two away from Sandy Bridge-E’s launch, and a lot is expected to happen in that time

SB-E is still a month or 2 out, yet Intel allows Tom's Hardware to benchmark it.

Wish AMD would do the same.

 

[greenhawk]

Think we just hit the point where games just don't need nothing better then a 2500k.

we hit it before the 2500K was released. It is consoles / console ports (as other have mentioned).

Any improvement will be questionable as I see it as it will need a new console range to up the performance limit. But given that Microsoft and sony like saying the consoles are a "10 year" item (or something to that effect), then we still have a while to go. Not even romours of a new console from those two.

Of course, inital release will be like the xbox->xbox 360 change over. Most games for the newer unit was more of a graphics update to the same program code. Actually taking advantage of it was another 12 months.

Given that, it will be something after Ivy bridge's successor that will be in line as the current system when games take a "step up".

And by "step up", it is not going to be a great thing for most people as TV's that the consoles use will still be 1080p units. So same screen size will proberly more detail and greater distance generation. Like that helps with some game types. AI might improve with more cpu time to work with, but I suspect game developers will skip that feature as AI is not needed for playing against other humans. So even a better single player experence is also shot as being viable in the future.

The more I think about the future based on what I see/read/hear is that the gaming style I grew up with is gone. The replacement is the console/mobile phone that I do not find attractive. By the time it comes back around (if it does), I will be too old / out of it too long to care.

Only reason for a increase in PC performance I can see is for non-gaming tasks, and I do not do that many that often.

It is nearly sad enough for the tinker in me to think that my next "gaming machine" will be a laptop (possibly a desktop replacement class, but still a laptop).

 

[BlueBlazer]

SB-E is still a month or 2 out, yet Intel allows Tom's Hardware to benchmark it.

Wish AMD would do the same.

Intel has "shown their cards", so what is AMD "waiting for". :hmm:

 

[HendrixFan]

It will be UP TO 1% FASTER THAN THE 2600K AT THE SAME CLOCK SPEED!!!

/caps

No, really. It's a waste of money.

Better upgrade path though.

 

[RussianSensation]

Just about every NF200 board has been discontinued. Again, I could be wrong. You tell me, RS, do you feel a 350$ motherboard is a viable solution to get x16/x16 sli? Or would you rather for a chipset to support it natively. I'm aware of the current performance difference between dualx8 / dual x16 ( I mentioned it in the above linked post), however, i'm thinking that could well change with the next generation of cards, which is what I had in mind --

It's not going to change for a few reasons:

1) PCIe 8x is only 2&#37; slower than PCIe 16x 2.0, but even PCIe 2.0 4x is still only 7-8% slower:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-Express_Scaling/24.html

This means a GTX480 isn't even enough to stress PCIe 2.0 8x. We'll probably need GPUs 4-5x faster before PCIe 16x is an issue, if not faster GPUs.

2) I already linked a $280 board with at least 3x PCIe 2.0 16x slots courtesy of NF200 chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157269

If you plan to run 3x GTX680s / or HD7970s (i.e., spending $1000+ on a GPU setup), then you may want all the performance you can get (so in this case even 3% may matter to you). Also, in that case a board that does 8x/8x/4x is not ideal. At that point, you might as well go with X79 (but that really is a tiny fraction of the market).

Certaintly for 3 high-end $500 GPUs, it makes way more sense to get the X79 chipset (but I am assuming people running 3 top-end-GPUs don't blink at $1000 CPUs, $350 motherboards, etc.)

Otherwise, I don't see any problems with 8x/8x even in the next round.

 

[RussianSensation]

Think we just hit the point where games just don't need nothing better then a 2500k.

Perhaps the next gen games will push 6 cores and the 2500k will be a has been like the q6600 was for many people including myself.

Nice to know a 2600k holds its own in gaming but i don't expect anyone buying a $1,000 i7 3960x for gaming .

I agree. Microsoft and Sony keep delaying next generation consoles. It seems they won't be launched in large volumes until 2013 at the earliest. Even then it will take developers another 2-3 years to start coding games efficiently with 6-8 threads. So at the current pace, it probably won't be before 2014-2015 before majority of games need 6-8 cores. By then SB/BD will be ancient and slow.

It's only with BF2, GTAIV, Resident Evil 5, Dirt 3, Witcher 2, Civ5 and of course BF3 (maybe a couple others) that we are starting to see a quad-core being utilized, finally. I feel as if it will be still be a while before quad-core CPUs are "mainstream" for games on the PC.

Given that, it will be something after Ivy bridge's successor that will be in line as the current system when games take a "step up".

Ya, the first 12 months of new consoles usually have 1-2 games with good graphics and the rest don't look next generation yet. It takes them some time to actually learn the new consoles and start tapping into the available power. Of course as you said, it seems PS4/Xbox720 are still ways away.

 

[Rifter]

If you read the article, it says that PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, SAS, and the 10 SATA III ports will all be omitted. Their board only has 2 SATA III ports, same as P67 boards. So thats why I said they are "nerfed".

I noticed this too, this is a big loss as i was considering 2011 but not in its currently butchered state. Looks like i will wait for IB and probably go 1155 at that time. Unless they release a full featured X79 replacement.

 

[Idontcare]

If you read the article, it says that PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, SAS, and the 10 SATA III ports will all be omitted. Their board only has 2 SATA III ports, same as P67 boards. So thats why I said they are "nerfed".

D:

You are being charitable calling this "nerfed"...I'd call it "borked " if it is true.

 

[Rifter]

D:

You are being charitable calling this "nerfed"...I'd call it "borked " if it is true.

yeah i was going to use some harsher words but didnt want to get a infraction over it

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

D:
You are being charitable calling this "nerfed"...I'd call it "borked " if it is true.

Well, if this is true, SB-E is out for me. The stinker is, if BD disappoints as well, you might as well have been running a 2600K from the get go and enjoying it from the beginning of the year :|

 

[Arachnotronic]

That's why you buy when you need it and don't worry about what's around the corner. I bought my i7 860 just before SNB was released, yet I am glad I didn't keep my clunking Q6600 + 8800 GT system going for any longer.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

well, I was extremely interested in X79 when it featured 4 direct PCI-e 3.0 lanes to the CPU for up to 10 SATA 6 ports, but now that its no better than what my Z68 gives me I now have little to no interest in upgrading at all.

What a major letdown, first faulty Sand Bridge chipsets earlier this year, then no news/bad news/time-and-again delayed Bulldozer, now this...2011 is turning out to be a terrible year for the desktop PC.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Better upgrade path though.

If you're gonna go SB-E you should go straight for the Six-Cores. Ivy Bridge is supposed to have up to Quad-Cores only, unfortunately.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

If you're gonna go SB-E you should go straight for the Six-Cores. Ivy Bridge is supposed to have up to Quad-Cores only, unfortunately.

are you suggesting there won't be Ivy Bridge for s2011?

I'm pretty sure there will eventually be cheaper 6 or even 8+ core CPUs available for s2011 based off of Ivy Bridge, it really wouldn't be too crazy to go for a quadcore for s2011 to hold over until such options become available

although I'd ultimately agree, with all the nerfing they've done to X79 it really doesn't make sense to go with anything other than a 6 core part considering the overall platform ultimately isn't much better for desktop use vs. current s1155 options, heck, X79 looks hardly better than X58. SB-E vs. Westmere and X79 vs. P67/Z68 is really underwhelming

 

[blackened23]

are you suggesting there won't be Ivy Bridge for s2011?

I'm inclined to think that intel didn't expect SB to be as strong as it is currently --- and that IB-e will follow shortly after IB's release. SB is just the strongest budget or mainstream processor to be released, ever. Thinking back to the previous "budget" enthusiast champions, celeron 300a, i7 860, i7 920, etc, none of them were anywhere near as good as the SB's are currently.

Never before have E processors been trumped by budget processors, I may be wrong but i'm pretty sure that in the past that E processors have always been unquestionably faster than budget processors in all applications -- not just rendering. I think intel will likely fix this problem in future generations, and I think IB-e will come out shortly after IB.