Wait or Ivy Bridge? Or Bite the Sandy Bridge?

[geokilla]

So as you guys may remember from http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/cpus-motherboards/49169-replace-my-am2-setup-around-500-a.html, I was planning to do an upgrade last year. Yes I didn't do it yet, but I'm going to do it soon. I'm just wondering whether I should continue to wait for Ivy Bridge, or just build a Sandy Bridge PC. I have no need for whatever extra power Ivy Bridge may bring, but if it's more efficient then maybe it's worth the wait. I don't really tax my Phenom II that much anyways.

I know that Ivy Bridge has been delayed, probably for business purposes. Wiki said the launch of dual core Ivy Bridge would be June 2012.

The tempting thing about Sandy Bridge is that Memory Express has been having lots of Core i5-2500K bundle deals, albeit with Gigabyte motherboards and not with the ASRock Extreme 3 Gen 3 that I want.

 

[lehtv]

You said you don't really stress the CPU that much, so why upgrade it? You'd get a bigger increase in framerate by upgrading to 7850 or 7870. (Or waiting for NVIDIA 660/670)

 

[geokilla]

You said you don't really stress the CPU that much, so why upgrade it? You'd get a bigger increase in framerate by upgrading to 7850 or 7870. (Or waiting for NVIDIA 660/670)

I don't need such a powerful GPU as I don't play much games aside from SC2 and probably Diablo III at the moment and in the near future, so hence why I think a CPU upgrade would be better.

 

[mfenn]

I don't need such a powerful GPU as I don't play much games aside from SC2 and probably Diablo III at the moment and in the near future, so hence why I think a CPU upgrade would be better.

What is your computer not doing well? That'll help us figure out what part would be the best to upgrade.

 

[geokilla]

What is your computer not doing well? That'll help us figure out what part would be the best to upgrade.

I'm just itching.... Play some SC2 and Diablo 3 when it comes out... Multitask but not extreme multitasking to the point where I do video editing.

Honestly, the Phenom II is good enough lol

 

[lehtv]

/thread

Too soon?

 

[JimmiG]

Very similar system here and I'm also waiting for Ivy at which point I'll build a new system (new case, PSU, GPU, RAM, Mobo, CPU). I'm in no hurry, the old Ph-II is still doing allright and is a good match for my GTX460 video card in games.

 

[geokilla]

/thread

Too soon?

Care to elaborate?

 

[DSF]

Care to elaborate?

I was actually pondering making a similar comment to lehtv's.

You asked for upgrade advice, and then made it clear that you don't actually have any use for an upgrade. You're not taxing your current machine in any way.

You even went to the point of saying:

Honestly, the Phenom II is good enough lol

So...

the thread's over, right?

 

[lehtv]

/thread means "thread over, nothing more to discuss". The idea was that you should not upgrade because you think your current CPU is good enough.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

If you're experiencing performance issues in SC2, it could be your CPU or your GPU. It's usually touted as an undemanding game, but I've found that in the right situations (a lot of units in the match/onscreen or playing at high res when there are a lot of transperencies onscreen) it can tax a pretty powerful system.

Lower your graphics detail settings and see if that fixes the problem. If not, it's probably your CPU. In general, Blizzard games do poorly on AMD CPUs. In my case, I had a PhII 940 for a few months and got rid of it because of its heat output and because I felt it was inadequate for SC2.

 

[lehtv]

In my case, I had a PhII 940 for a few months and got rid of it because of its heat output and because I felt it was inadequate for SC2.

So, how much did your upgrade to 2500K increase frame rates?

 

[Insomniator]

I don't think any upgrade right now would be worth it just for occasional SC2 and D3 which isn't out yet.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

So, how much did your upgrade to 2500K increase frame rates?

That's tough to answer, as I never actually benched the system before or after. I also switched around the same time from playing on an LCD TV (used to have a combined gaming+HTPC) to playing on a monitor, which shouldn't have had any effect on frame rates but did have a major effect on how I perceived the game.

The only time I notice any slowdown now is when there are a lot of cloaked things on the screen, especially on certain maps, or when I select a pylon in a large base with many other pylons. I assume this must be a consequence of my 6870. I actually feel that my secondary rig (i5 750 @4.0 + 560Ti) runs the game better than my 2500k + 6870, which suggests that having a faster CPU helps to a point (but only to a point) and that GPU architecture/drivers also matters.

Again, however, this is entirely subjective.

 

[mfenn]

/thread

Too soon?

Pretty much. You should definitely wait if you feel like you current setup is doing everything you ask of it.

 

[vailr]

Memory Express has been having lots of Core i5-2500K bundle deals, albeit with Gigabyte motherboards and not with the ASRock Extreme 3 Gen 3 that I want.

Gigabyte boards + Intel CPU's are the easiest Hackintosh (installing OSX) combos, if you were wanting to experiment with Apple's operating system.
http://www.kakewalk.se/compatibility/

 

[geokilla]

Well it got confirmed Ivy Bridge is coming out in a month. Unless Sandy Bridge drops to Micro Centre-like pricing, I'll wait it out. I just hope the wait will be worth it.

While /thread may be suitable because I said the Phenom II is pretty much good enough for my needs, the relatively cheap pricing for Sandy Bridge makes me want to upgrade. Plus I got a Crucial M4 and some DDR3 RAM to use.

If you're experiencing performance issues in SC2, it could be your CPU or your GPU. It's usually touted as an undemanding game, but I've found that in the right situations (a lot of units in the match/onscreen or playing at high res when there are a lot of transperencies onscreen) it can tax a pretty powerful system.

Lower your graphics detail settings and see if that fixes the problem. If not, it's probably your CPU. In general, Blizzard games do poorly on AMD CPUs. In my case, I had a PhII 940 for a few months and got rid of it because of its heat output and because I felt it was inadequate for SC2.

I definitely can't play on max or near max settings. Fighting against muta-ling or the Colossi death ball at those settings in 1080P is suicidal. FPS drops like mad.

 

[geokilla]

Hrm... seeing this thread http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2237805&page=6, it's making me think twice about this purchase... Maybe I'll just bite the Sandy Bridge afterall.