Glad I skipped Sandy Bridge

[MrCrispy]

I was tempted to do an upgrade since my current pc is 3+ year sold and prices of RAM are low. But I couldn't make it to MicroCenter so by happy accident it will have to wait.

Z68 is going to be better anyway and it should be available Q2/Q3. The thing I most want is to use the IGP, overlclock and use QuickSync, since gaming is no longer a priority.

 

[996GT2]

Well, yeah, there will always be something better to come along. You can play the waiting game forever.

 

[Sp12]

In my opinion, a Core2Quad overclocked is still fine for a bit longer if you're on a single-GPU. Sandy Bridge-E or Bulldozer will be a more worthwhile upgrade.

 

[shabby]

Well, yeah, there will always be something better to come along. You can play the waiting game forever.

So true, the waiting game sucks, glad i upgraded to sandybridge.

 

[combust3r]

I have waited for a year now and I'm glad I did - timing now is perfect

 

[OCGuy]

I was tempted to do an upgrade since my current pc is 3+ year sold and prices of RAM are low. But I couldn't make it to MicroCenter so by happy accident it will have to wait.

Z68 is going to be better anyway and it should be available Q2/Q3. The thing I most want is to use the IGP, overlclock and use QuickSync, since gaming is no longer a priority.

Cool...I...guess?

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Z68 is still Sandy Bridge, so you're not skipping anything. Just more waiting.

 

[gevorg]

If you'll wait for Z68, 22nm Ivy Bridge will be around the corner. And the cycle goes on.

 

[Arkaign]

SB is freaking awesomely fast and admirably affordable, but I'm just not super excited about it, as I don't have any performance issues even on my C2D notebook, let alone my PhII X4BE desktop that are related to CPU performance. My next upgrade will be to a GTX560 or HD68XX I think, followed by SSD for boot drive and maybe a NAS with 4 1 or 1.5TB HDDs. I think I'll go with whatever is good for a $250ish combo about a year from now, unless I suddenly find myself hurting for CPU performance for some reason.

I game a little, I do almost no encoding, I do some remote tech support / VPN / FTP / Dameware, general web browsing, play BluRays/DVDs, and to be honest I could probably get by on an E5200 or Athlon II X2 245 or so, so long as I still had my WD Black HD + 4GB decent ram + 5770.

 

[Zargon]

If you'll wait for Z68, 22nm Ivy Bridge will be around the corner. And the cycle goes on.

this!

I almost jumped to an i5-750 this fall, and am glad I waited.

to be honest I could have maybe waited for Ivy, but I have wife controlle dhouse projects looming and was afraid I wouldnt have the spare cash for a *real* build for another 18 months atleast, and I dont know if the q9550 would last that long!

 

[HOOfan 1]

Well, yeah, there will always be something better to come along. You can play the waiting game forever.

I've been doing that since 2002...

I have a Pentium 4 Willamette 1.9Ghz
and a Geforce 3 Ti 200

First I waited for Athlon FX
then I waited for Geforce 5800
then I waited for Geforce 7800
then I waited for Conroe
then 480 GTX
then Nehalem
now I am about to buy Sandy Bridge and GTX 570.....I think...or I might wait for socket 2011

 

[cmdrdredd]

In my opinion, a Core2Quad overclocked is still fine for a bit longer if you're on a single-GPU. Sandy Bridge-E or Bulldozer will be a more worthwhile upgrade.

I agree. For most tasks except those who are doing high end 3D or some extreme video editing and shaving a few seconds off the time really makes a difference, a C2Q is really not bad at all.

this!

I almost jumped to an i5-750 this fall, and am glad I waited.

to be honest I could have maybe waited for Ivy, but I have wife controlle dhouse projects looming and was afraid I wouldnt have the spare cash for a *real* build for another 18 months atleast, and I dont know if the q9550 would last that long!

Your Q9550 is good for a while yet. Unless a few seconds savings in video encoding or the like tickles you in a special way. Personally I'm not itching for upgrades yet.

 

[Lee Saxon]

I think the trick with the waiting game is to figure out exactly how limited you are by what you have now. How much of an upgrade it's going to be.

I have an Athlon X2 5600+ and a 7800GTX. Upgrading to 2500K and a GTX 570 gives me like a 9 zillion percent performance boost. Would ugrading to 2600K and a GTX 580 and getting a 9.0000002 zillion percent performance boost, or waiting till whatever appears in Q2 and getting a 9.0000003 zillion percent performance boost have been noticeably different for me? I doubt it. So i went for it.

If you have an i5 750...maybe wait. lol

 

[thedosbox]

I'm glad I waited until now before going Quad Core

 

[Nemesis 1]

The thing about z68 is its not that far off . and sandy bridge and later ivy bridge on the same M/B . Z68 is worth the wait . I like how ya want to O/C IGP . This spring I going to maybe put up on line O/C contest . Were the overclocks on the Gpu and CPU count . I was thinking a $1000 winner take all. We could do it here in the forums it would be great fun and best part is it would be Intel against intel. In other words no GPU debates.

 

[scooterlibby]

Your Q9550 is good for a while yet. Unless a few seconds savings in video encoding or the like tickles you in a special way. Personally I'm not itching for upgrades yet.

I think you're right that a Q9550 is still adequate, but I also think that Sandybridge represents more than just a few less seconds of video encoding. I was impressed by it's clock to clock gains over Nehalem and the C2Q generations. I think it'd put my 5970 to work pretty well compared to my Q9550.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm glad I waited for SB so I can finally get off this damn P133!

 

[tonyjones]

In my opinion, a Core2Quad overclocked is still fine for a bit longer if you're on a single-GPU. Sandy Bridge-E or Bulldozer will be a more worthwhile upgrade.

Amen, i have QX6700 and it's still rocking, not worth the upgrade to Sandy Bridge yet, maybe IVY bridge or octocores!

 

[GrumpyMan]

I thought I would wait for Demonbridge in 2021 Q1, but there is no use overclocking in hell, it's too hot already.


But seriously, SB sounds really good for now, for me at least, since I'm on a C2D E8500. And with an SSD and a 6950 I should be good to go for another 3 years.

 

[Doggiedog]

Some of the MCs near me have SBs back in stock. They were sold out yesterday.

 

[BBMW]

Glad I skipped Sandy Bridge

I hate to tell you this, but if yoiu go with a Z68 chipset motherboard, you won't be skipping Sandy Bridge. You're just skipping the P/H67 chipsets.

Sandy Bridge isn't the chipset, it's the processor codename. Z68 supports Sandy Bridge.

 

[RussianSensation]

You guys make computer upgrades way too complicated . Just buy and sell very often. This way your upgrade cost is $150-200 per year and you always have a fast system. In 5 years you end up spending $750-1000. This sounds like a lot until you realize that some people spend $1000 and hold that system for 4-5 years at which point it's already mid-range starting in year 2, and in 5 years it's worth close to $50. Same amount of $ spent, but in 1 case you have something that is completed outdated in 5 years.

 

[jihe]

this!

I almost jumped to an i5-750 this fall, and am glad I waited.

to be honest I could have maybe waited for Ivy, but I have wife controlle dhouse projects looming and was afraid I wouldnt have the spare cash for a *real* build for another 18 months atleast, and I dont know if the q9550 would last that long!

It almost certainly would.

 

[Castiel]

Ivy Bridge is going to be just like Westmere... Nothing Special

 

[jihe]

You guys make computer upgrades way too complicated . Just buy and sell very often. This way your upgrade cost is $150-200 per year and you always have a fast system. In 5 years you end up spending $750-1000. This sounds like a lot until you realize that some people spend $1000 and hold that system for 4-5 years at which point it's already mid-range starting in year 2, and in 5 years it's worth close to $50. Same amount of $ spent, but in 1 case you have something that is completed outdated in 5 years.

And you time reinstalling systems is worth?