i7 920 Bloomfield upgrade to i7 2600k question. Worth it for gaming?

[q011519]

I'm trying to get my PC ready for BF3 and I am looking at upgrading a few things.

I'm trying to figure out if it is worth getting a whole new MoBo and CPU or just sticking with what I have and upgrading just my vid card and maybe memory.

Currently running

i7 920 Bloomfield OC'd to 3.4g
12gig Memory DDR3 1333
EVGA E758-A1 Mobo
ATI 5870 1gig

Thinking about upgrading to

i7 2600k
ASRock P67 EXTREME4
EVGA GeForce GTX 580
Kingston HyperX T1 Black Series 12GB 1600

What do yall think? More of a sidegrade then upgrade? I haven't been keeping up with CPU's lately to really know.

Thanks

 

[dpk33]

In terms of gaming, the 2600k performs exactly the same as the 2500k. You will see a decent performance gain from the upgrade though.

 

[Arachnotronic]

No, that's definitely a sidegrade. Save your money for a more substantial upgrade. If you really wanna do a good upgrade, snatch an i7 970, grab a GTX 580, and let 'er rip.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I'm trying to get my PC ready for BF3 and I am looking at upgrading a few things.

I'm trying to figure out if it is worth getting a whole new MoBo and CPU or just sticking with what I have and upgrading just my vid card and maybe memory.

Currently running

i7 920 Bloomfield OC'd to 3.4g
12gig Memory DDR3 1333
EVGA E758-A1 Mobo
ATI 5870 1gig

Thinking about upgrading to

i7 2600k
ASRock P67 EXTREME4
EVGA GeForce GTX 580
Kingston HyperX T1 Black Series 12GB 1600

What do yall think? More of a sidegrade then upgrade? I haven't been keeping up with CPU's lately to really know.

Thanks

It's an upgrade, but a very minor one at that. Since it looks like you do mild over-clocks on your CPUs, a 2600K at 4GHz would give you a boost of around 10% in gaming. So, in a nutshell: no, it's definitely not worth it. Your CPU shouldn't produce any bottlenecks, so go for the GTX 580 and forget the 2600K. As for the RAM, leave it as-is. The most you're gonna get in performance in gaming using DDR3 1600-1866MHz instead of 1333MHz is around 2%.

Also, just so you know: there's no difference in gaming between the 2500K and 2600K.

 

[aphelion02]

Dude, the 2500k and 2600k outperform the 990x for gaming. That said, I think it's too minor an upgrade from his current rig.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Arachnotronic]

Besides, for gaming, who needs more than an a quad core first gen i5/i7 right now?

 

[nyker96]

i think u probalby won't see too much jump w/ this 'upgrade'. 920 is capable chip. wait for s2011 6core ivy to something out of the upgrade.

 

[nenforcer]

Definitely hold off until you've had a chance to play the game on that system. I don't think you will complaining about the CPU but possibly the GPU.

Then you can decide whether you need a new CPU or GPU after the game is out.

 

[E6700]

O'C your 920 to 4.0ghz and wait for S2011 if i were you.

 

[RussianSensation]

I'm trying to get my PC ready for BF3

The game is not out till October 25th! Honestly, if there is 1 rule you should stay true to: Never upgrade for any game until it is released (because we have no idea which brand it will favour, what prices of GPUs will be by then, what newer GPUs will be available by then, what GPU power is actually necessary to max it out and most importantly, will the game be released on time? ** Half Life 2 **).

I'm trying to figure out if it is worth getting a whole new MoBo and CPU or just sticking with what I have and upgrading just my vid card and maybe memory.

Just for BF3? There is no way a Core i7 920 3.4ghz will bottleneck you in BF3 before your GPU does. You'd be way better off grabbing a 2nd 5870 for CF. If you played games like SC2, WOW or Civ5 which love SB's fast cores, it would be worth it. 920 can go all the way to 4.2ghz-4.4ghz; so I think you are still leaving 400-800mhz+ on the table.

Thinking about upgrading to

EVGA GeForce GTX 580

No. I would never advise anyone to buy a $400+ GPU when AMD7000 series or Kepler are probably less than 6 months away. GTX580 is really from the same generation as HD5870 (i.e., Sept 2009). The next big GPU performance increase is coming with 28nm. If you want more GPU power, a 2nd hand HD5870 is still my recommendation.

BTW, DDR3-1600 vs. DDR3-1333 is also very minor. It's not worth throwing away your 12GB just for a 1-3% performance gain that DDR3-1333 will offer in games.

 

[Jacky60]

I wouldn't go with the 580 at this stage as newer quicker cards will be here in 3 months. Another 5870 will give you more than the 580 for less money. I've been thinking about a similar cpu upgrade but dismissed it as a sidegrade -I can't see it giving you more than 15% more performance. Wait until BF3 release or if you must upgrade now squeeze a higher overclock out of the 920 and get another 5870.

 

[BD231]

Rule of thumb, never upgrade within the same CPU/GPU architechture unless u know exactly what youre gaining. In this case youll be gaining almost nothing, and unless youll be running an insane resolution bf should be fine on your setup.

 

[pantsaregood]

Rule of thumb, never upgrade within the same CPU/GPU architechture unless u know exactly what youre gaining. In this case youll be gaining almost nothing, and unless youll be running an insane resolution bf should be fine on your setup.

i7 920 to i7 2600K isn't upgrading within the same architecture, though. The 2600K clocks about 25% higher at stock speeds. Overclocked, 920s and 2600Ks usually land around 4.0 GHz and 4.5 GHz respectively, giving the 2600K ~12.5% clock advantage when overclocked.

Sandy Bridge is supposed to be "up to 17% faster" than Nehalem, clock-for-clock. A 2600K at stock should, therefore, be about 45% faster than a 920 at stock. This is purely theoretical and isn't going to happen in actual use. When overclocked to the nominal values provided, the 2600K's advantage shrinks to about 30%.

As far as gaming is concerned, you're not going to see any significant improvement going from Nehalem to Sandy Bridge. You won't see a significant improvement going to Ivy Bridge, either. Ivy Bridge is a die shrink.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Nope.

Don't be the joker I saw in my local computer store today who spent twice as much money on LGA1366 i7 + mobo over a 2500K combo. I thought nobody can be THIS dumb but I'm not making this up.

 

[john3850]

I got a 930 at 200x21 which I like better for gaming.
Will you see or feel a difference in games no.
If I wanted to upgrade my 1366 I would go with trifire which you will see and feel.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

i7 920 to i7 2600K isn't upgrading within the same architecture, though. The 2600K clocks about 25% higher at stock speeds. Overclocked, 920s and 2600Ks usually land around 4.0 GHz and 4.5 GHz respectively, giving the 2600K ~12.5% clock advantage when overclocked.

Sandy Bridge is supposed to be "up to 17% faster" than Nehalem, clock-for-clock. A 2600K at stock should, therefore, be about 45% faster than a 920 at stock. This is purely theoretical and isn't going to happen in actual use. When overclocked to the nominal values provided, the 2600K's advantage shrinks to about 30%.

As far as gaming is concerned, you're not going to see any significant improvement going from Nehalem to Sandy Bridge. You won't see a significant improvement going to Ivy Bridge, either. Ivy Bridge is a die shrink.

Sandy Bridge has 11% higher IPC than Nehalem. Gaming also needs to be taken into account, and there going from Nehalem to Sandy Bridge is a very minor improvement. On average, with the same GPUs, he should only see around 10% higher FPS going from a Core i7-9xx at 500MHz lower than a Core i7-2600K. If you ask me, that's not worth a complete platform overhaul.

Talking of normal applications that are only dependent on the CPU, though, the difference between a Core i7-2600K at 4.5GHz and a Core i7 920 at 4GHz should be around 21%, give or take 1%. Sandy Bridge isn't as much as an improvement as people make it out to be. The jump from Core 2 45nm to Nehalem was much bigger than the jump from Nehalem to Sandy Bridge.

 

[exar333]

I don't think it is justified unless you REALLY need the extra CPU horsepower and just cannot get it from the Bloomfield you already have. For example, if I NEEDED an extra ghz from 4 cores over what I currently have (i7 920) then it would make sense. From what I have seen, SB was a great upgrade for those who had C2D or C2Q machines, and IB will be the place for quad i5/i7 machines to upgrade to for the next 'leap'. Just my $0.02.

 

[blckgrffn]

Nope.

Don't be the joker I saw in my local computer store today who spent twice as much money on LGA1366 i7 + mobo over a 2500K combo. I thought nobody can be THIS dumb but I'm not making this up.

Tell me he loaded it 24GB of ram for VMs or something - otherwise it doesn't make any sense

 

[JAG87]

OC towards 4 Ghz, upgrade your CPU cooling if you have to.

Find one or two used 5870s for cheap.

 

[q011519]

Thanks guys for responding. I figured it would be more of a sidegrade. I just wasn't sure as I haven't been keeping up with the newer PC tech.

I may look into getting a second 5870 but I'm trying to stick with a single GPU for heat/energy efficiency. If the price is right though I may just pick one up to play with crossfire. Haven't built a multi GPU system yet.

 

[tynopik]

stock 920 vs stock 2600k

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/47?vs=287

or if you want to compare an overclocked 920 to a stock 2600k, this should be fairly close

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/157?vs=287

 

[mb]

Funny, I am actually going from a 920 to a 2600k. Should get my order from newegg tomorrow.

My mobo was crapping out on me, and I figured I might as well go with a 1155 board. I also got 16GB of DDR3 and two 2GB 6950s :awe: I've got the money to burn so I figured why not.

Plus I've already got an SSD and my 920 was never a good overclocker.

 

[Piano Man]

I'm in the same boat op, and although I love me some upgrades, there really is no reason to go from a 920 to a 2600k right now, unless you are completely against overclocking your 920, and even then, its iffy.

If you just have to upgrade something, I'd go with a SSD if you don't have one, or perhaps a nice HeatSink/Fan for that CPU and push it up to 4GHz (I'm assuming you have a D0 stepping 920). Also perhaps find another 5870 and XFire for a bit until new AMD/nV cards pop out?

I'd think you'd be set for BF3 at that point.

 

[Spikesoldier]

buy top end cooler: ~$80-$100
OC CPU to 3.8/4.0 : Free

use top end cooler on next true upgrade: Free and impressive OC on day 1.


920 -> 2600K not worth it IMO, especially for BF3. i would like to say that i7 @ 3.4 is enough already. 3.8 or 4.0 would be no slouch.

 

[lau808]

everyones recomending stick wwith the 920 and oc and i have to agree. id also wait for hd7000 and kepler for gpu upgrade too.