Upgrade thoughts. X79 or not from X58?

[lehtv]

In heavily multithreaded performance, going from i7-980 6C/12T to haswell 4C/8T would be a sidegrade. But in gaming performance it'd be very nice, especially if Intel improves the heat transfer to the IHS in which case you could hit 5GHz. To actually benefit from the increased gaming performance, you would need really fast GPU or two. 7970/680 class or better

I guess I'd need a new cooler too, the Noctua NH-D14 came with 1366/1156 connections.

Negative, Noctua will supply you mounting brackets for any socket for free.

 

[Makaveli]

In heavily multithreaded performance, going from i7-980 6C/12T to haswell 4C/8T would be a sidegrade. But in gaming performance it'd be very nice, especially if Intel improves the heat transfer to the IHS in which case you could hit 5GHz. To actually benefit from the increased gaming performance, you would need really fast GPU or two. 7970/680 class or better

Negative, Noctua will supply you mounting brackets for any socket for free.

We will have to wait and see about that. You have to remember the IPC different will be like 30%+ from Gulftown to haswell so it may be on par or faster.

It won't be the same as SB/Ivy where gulftown is faster when able to use all cores. And yes I know ivy closed that gap and sometimes will equal it.