If I had an unlocked Sandy Bridge like that I'd overclock and sit tight.
The OP --
pcslookout -- Gave a happy response to VirtualLarry and then went out for coffee and never came back.
If he had to ask about upgrade choices from the Sandy on a skt-1155 motherboard, he doesn't seem like much of a candidate for joining the Omega-Xi fraternity (of both brothers and sisters, of course.)
When Ivy Bridge was first released, I'd just completed building my 2600K system with the Z68 chipset. I happened to wander into the forums again several months later, when IDontCare launched his "De-Lidding" thread.
Immediately, I took a dislike to the IB's because of Intel's cheap-assed fabrication changes with the notorious TIM putty.
Last fall, I happened to acquire an unabused, year-old 3570K as part of a bundle in which all three items were approximately worth $200 or more each, so I figure I got it for ~$100. We popped it into a budget-end ASUS Z77-A board -- so far without over-clocking it -- and I was fairly impressed with the processor.
But right now, I can't justify upgrading either my 2600K or 2700K systems for anything other than my computer-building addiction. Even if Passages Malibu treated it, I couldn't afford the treatment as easily as I can afford the addiction. I'm planning to do it, though -- "build a Haswell." But I can't even make up my mind between an "E" processor and the 4790K. Put it another way: I keep "flip-flopping."
If someone HAD a 2500K and asked about upgrading, you could only SUGGEST that they overclock it. Sheesh!! I know a woman my age who got her BS later in life for "Computer Information Systems." She's afraid to open up a PC and play with circuit-boards and wires. Any number of mainstreamers are skittish about fiddling with their BIOS, and I'd seen others who created their own disaster because of unprepared, untutored curiosity.