Would going to a 2500k from X6-1100T be a sidegrade?

[amenx]

1100t vs 2500k on wide range of benches:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288

 

[poohbear]

thanks for all the feedback guys!!! Falconhorse & Arkaign inparticular, i'll take your advice!

I can get the Asrock w/ 970 chipset for $100 shipped, or the Asus 970 EVO for $140 shipped. I dont live in the USA so prices are a little more expensive (currently living in Tokyo). You think i'd notice a difference in overclocking between those two?

the asrock ($93 shipped) is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

& the Asus one is here ($122 shipped):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131757

The main thing for me is which will overclock my X6-1100 best & stable. I know my current AM2+ mobo can't make my X6-1100T shine, so which of the above 2 you guys think is best? The Asrock has the fancy bios like the Asus one, and both have Digital voltage as well. I used to own an Asrock way back and i was actually quite impressed with its overclocking. With Asus im just paying for brand name & extra ports? I only go single card, so the 970 chipset is plenty for me.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Ride the X6 out on a good motherboard, preferably a 990 so you can overclock comfortably.

At this point, the 2500k is mostly "superior" because very few games actually care to notice the X6/i7x has 6 cores.

 

[magomago]

i have both the 1100T, the 2500k, and skyrim. I wouldn't replace either as its just a side grade. the 2500k is clearly a better processor in benchies, but i just don't see it as i'm actually using it. the 1100T is just good enough lol

hell even in sc2 (i have that as well), the differences are over rated when actually playing it

 

[poohbear]

i have both the 1100T, the 2500k, and skyrim. I wouldn't replace either as its just a side grade. the 2500k is clearly a better processor in benchies, but i just don't see it as i'm actually using it. the 1100T is just good enough lol

hell even in sc2 (i have that as well), the differences are over rated when actually playing it

thats exactly what i wanted to hear! i notice most of the benchmarks show differences above 60fps, i.e. X6 1100t is 65fps & 2500k is 75 or 80. But really will i notice anything above 60fps? fast is already fast! The minimum FPS might also be an issue, but it just doesnt justify a $300 upgrade cost.

Ravenseal, the NB chipset these days is just a glorified PCI-E switch, no? everything else is the same w/ the 970 & 990 except for the PCI-E slots available (since they both use the 950 SB), but i really only use one 16x PCI-e Socket. all the extra PCI-E slots are gone to waste.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Ravenseal, the NB chipset these days is just a glorified PCI-E switch, no? everything else is the same w/ the 970 & 990 except for the PCI-E slots available (since they both use the 950 SB), but i really only use one 16x PCI-e Socket. all the extra PCI-E slots are gone to waste.

I guess if you don't plan to go xFIRE, a 970 set should be fine.

 

[FalconHorse]

thanks for all the feedback guys!!! Falconhorse & Arkaign inparticular, i'll take your advice!

No problem, glad to be of help.

As far as Asus vs ASRock. I think the two companies used to be related (ASRock being Asus' OEM brand or something), but not sure if that is still the case. If so, I would imagine the boards would overclock similarly. ASRock boards used to be known as good overclockers, but that was a couple of years ago. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help you with that.

Edit: poohbear, I just saw this thread. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2205440

I don't know if an 880 would fit your needs, or about him shipping to Japan, but $60 sounds nice!

 

[poohbear]

Thanks again everyone, lotsa help & good info here!

@ falconhorse, thanks but w/ the shipping it'd cost considerably more! There are also forums around here where i can buy em used if need be. I'll ask my Japanese GF for help.^^ cheers!

 

[zlejedi]

IMHO that's a waste of cash.

Since you have to replace mobo anyway you would be better getting 2500K for faster cpu.

$100 on am3 mobo $100 from selling your own X6 and you have 60% of budget for 2500K and good single PCi-ex slot mobo.

 

[zlejedi]

IMHO that's a waste of cash.

Since you have to replace mobo anyway you would be better getting 2500K for faster cpu.

$100 on am3 mobo $100 from selling your own X6 and you have 60% of budget for 2500K and good single PCi-ex slot mobo.

 

[poohbear]

IMHO that's a waste of cash.

Since you have to replace mobo anyway you would be better getting 2500K for faster cpu.

$100 on am3 mobo $100 from selling your own X6 and you have 60% of budget for 2500K and good single PCi-ex slot mobo.

but most of the mid-level & good Z68 mobos are $200, they're much pricier than AM3+ mobos. The X6-1100T @ 4.1ghz is not too shabby, to pay $200 for a cpu that won't show a huge difference @ 1920x1080 is more of a waste of money, no?

$200 for mid level Z68 mobo.
$200 for 2500k.

lets say i can sell my x6-1100T for $120, that still leaves me with a $280 bill just to upgrade to a 2500k from an already decent X6-1100T? Doesnt make sense. I'd rather drop the $120 for a solid & stable AM3+, wait till next year, then get Ivy Bridge.

 

[zlejedi]

Noone forces you to buy $200 mobos

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128506
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157251
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157271
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138320

 

[Wuzup101]

but most of the mid-level & good Z68 mobos are $200, they're much pricier than AM3+ mobos. The X6-1100T @ 4.1ghz is not too shabby, to pay $200 for a cpu that won't show a huge difference @ 1920x1080 is more of a waste of money, no?

$200 for mid level Z68 mobo.
$200 for 2500k.

lets say i can sell my x6-1100T for $120, that still leaves me with a $280 bill just to upgrade to a 2500k from an already decent X6-1100T? Doesnt make sense. I'd rather drop the $120 for a solid & stable AM3+, wait till next year, then get Ivy Bridge.

While I certainly would not normally point you in the direction of "upgrading" to a 2500k, I would like to point out that when you do get Ivy Bridge you'll still have to buy a new mobo. If you get a z68 mobo now... Ivy will drop right in...

All things considered, I personally would not swap from a 1100T system to a 2500k system (it's definitely a poor price/performance "upgrade"). That being said, if you do plan to go Ivy in the future, you will end up buying 2 new boards instead of 1 if you buy a new AMD board now. It's also very likely that AMD won't actually develop anything useful to put in that socket in the near future (IE: by the time Ivy comes out and is better than what you already have). You are just in a sucky situation... mobo deaths suck! :/

 

[happy medium]

No it would be a upgrade. I cant believe your letting these guys talk you into another AM3 project. The platform is a dead end!
JUNK!

Grab a 2500k system now, and for the future.

Excellent Z68 motherboard for 114$AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157271

Grab the 150$ 2500k deal

Memory is like 50$ for 8gb

314$ for a superfast future proof system.

Now sell the 1100t for $120 and memory for 50$, total cost 150$
Edit: You can also sell the 80$ cpu cooler for 50$, the 2500k will easily do 4.0 on stock cooler, with stock voltage ,or buy a 16$AR cooler to do 4.6+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065
So 100$ total upgrade cost.

Remember you can use the same motherboard for Ivybridge and the same memory also.

You are lucky ,if my motherboard crashed, I 'd be buying a 2500k system.
DO you think I would buy another motherboard? NO freaking way!
I'd sell the parts and upgrade, not buy a new motherboard for a dead platform.

 

[railven]

Stop spreading lies, there's no real world difference between a 2500k and an X6 at 3.8ghz. At those speeds the x6 easily competes with i7's encoding/transcoding which is about the hardest thing you can subject a CPU to. The fact that you chose a game that's *HORRIBLY* threaded is evidence enough you're promoting false information.

Get a cheap mobo and ride that chip out OP, the 2500k is grossly over popular due to IPC alone. People around here just seem to forget physical cores really do make a difference, and with the bulldozer catastrophy, aka " fake " 8 core shinanigans I don't blame them.

Well this is ironic, considering you sort of said the exact same thing the guy you quoted did, and then you attacked him for linking a bench to a game the OP was mostly concerned about.

Reading comprehension fail? Oh yes!

 

[Arkaign]

No it would be a upgrade. I cant believe your letting these guys talk you into another AM3 project. The platform is a dead end!
JUNK!

Grab a 2500k system now, and for the future.

Excellent Z68 motherboard for 114$AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157271

Grab the 150$ 2500k deal

Memory is like 50$ for 8gb

314$ for a superfast future proof system.

Now sell the 1100t for $120 and memory for 50$, total cost 150$
Edit: You can also sell the 80$ cpu cooler for 50$, the 2500k will easily do 4.0 on stock cooler, with stock voltage ,or buy a 16$AR cooler to do 4.6+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065
So 100$ total upgrade cost.

Remember you can use the same motherboard for Ivybridge and the same memory also.

You are lucky ,if my motherboard crashed, I 'd be buying a 2500k system.
DO you think I would buy another motherboard? NO freaking way!
I'd sell the parts and upgrade, not buy a new motherboard for a dead platform.

OP is in Tokyo, prices are higher across the board. OP is also interested in IB.

Given his location, it probably won't be too hard for him to sell a fully working complete X6 system, I've heard from numerous people that the used market in Japan for electronics and capable PCs is quite robust.

SB is better, no question about it, I made the move myself so I'm not a hypocrite here. Still, with a single GPU @ 1080p, heavily multithreaded apps will run close enough on the X6 not to make a huge difference, and ditto with gaming. Sure it's better to have 110fps than 65, but if OP is going to usually be GPU limited at 1080p, it's not a big deal.

If this was a new build, 2500k all day. Given that he just needs a cheap board to get his already capable system operational, I think that makes sense. It's not like it's going to be lost money or anything, he will get a decent return on it.

Bonus is that OP will probably have access to Z77, Z75, and H75 mobos with moderate upgrades, more mature USB3, etc.

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/...upport-both-thunderbolt-and-usb-3-0-20110414/

 

[happy medium]

Given that he just needs a cheap board to get his already capable system operational,

I thought he needed a board and ram? If thats the case, well he should upgrade.

I was just gonna get a $140 Asus AM3+ Pro mobo, buy some new DDR3 RAM, and call it a day.

 

[mrcmtl]

You can't really compare a cheap 2500k combo with a AM3 motherboard in terms of price because the combo most probably comes with a H67 budget motherboard while if he buys an AM3 motherboard, it will be a decent full size ATX. If you want to compare apples to apples, you need a 2500k + a good P67 combo. And for that price, he should better grab the AM3 motherboard with some DDR3 RAM.

 

[Arkaign]

I thought he needed a board and ram? If thats the case, well he should upgrade.

Yeah he could go either way. Just an AM2+ board w/DDR2 slots for dirt cheap, or a cheapish DDR3 board like the Asrock + some basic DDR3.

Either way, get a working system, sell as complete, rebuild with all-new on IB.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Let the OP be, it really doesn't matter whether he upgrades to a 2500k or not. As a matter of fact, there would be no point, any increase, if at all depending on his uses, would just be blind performance.

Why go waste $400-500 on a new chip+mobo+ram when he can just go out and grab an amd mobo w/sli+xfire support and 8gb of ram for less than $200 on a set he can ride for 1-2 more AMD architectures.

 

[Arkaign]

I may be mistaken, but OP doesn't seem the type to want to mess with dual GPU, which means he doesn't have to go all that expensive on mobo anway

 

[happy medium]

Why go waste $400-500 on a new chip+mobo+ram

I just gave a great example for 314$AR- sell his old stuff= 100$ total

I mean if my motherboard broke, would you tell me to buy a x48 board for 120$ and some ddr3 memory?

Of coarse not, I would sell my cpu , memory, and CPU COOLER, and buy something faster than what I already had. The only thing faster than my chip @ 4.0 would be yes you guessed it a 2500k system.

I wouldn't sidegrade to a 1100t x6 @ 4.0 or 965 x4 @ 4.0 system, dum, dum, dum

 

[guskline]

Poohbear: I have the Asrock 970Extreme 4 mb in rig 2 below and love it. PLUS it is Crosss fire and SLI capable. Great MB for your 1100T and Newegg has it for $99!

 

[bradley]

I have both chips. Personally, I think it would be a waste to "sidegrade"... unless the money is burning a hole in your pocket. Get a cheap AM3/+ that supports DD3 and wait for the next iteration.

For instance, how about this one?
ECS A885GM-A2 (V1.1) AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard $39AR free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135272

 

[blackphoenix]

If you still have DDR2 why not just pick up one of these and call it good for now?
http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=1126