Is Sandy Bridge REALLY worth the wait?

[MrTransistorm]

Oh and the 950 is 199.99 at Microcenter.

That deal is in-store only. Not everyone lives near Microcenter.

 

[CosmicMight]

WTF.. you guys are confusing me.

I'm stating in black and white to go I7 950?. This is what you are saying does not make sense?

I am advocating against waiting and buying the sandy bridge.

Prices are even cheaper for the I7 board/mem combo even n

Again WTF are you guys smoking? Are you guys recommending SANDY BRIDGE? Because I'm NOT read my previous posts....

English is not the first language for many people on this board. If you are one of them, I will cut you a little slack.
I have been crystal clear. Your poor reading comprehension is not my problem.

Time to go to school son. Read my post in its complete form. I'm telling him to use Nehalem.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.574735

This is the Sabertooth x58 board combo with 12 gb of DDR 3 RAM at 295 and then you can further reduce this by 15% off the memory using a DKMEM15 code to bring it to 273.

This is crazy cheap.

Kid - I'm not your son. And if you want to make yourself look like a fool, be my guest. I'm a fan of rational conversation, but if you want to act like a child we can play it that way too.

1. Why the hell do you NEED 6 gig of ram for the applications OP is talking about? Oh wait, you don't. I guarantee you the price/performance on the $54 DDR1333 I picked up already is FAR in my favor over $140 for 6 gigs of that ram, knucklehead.
2. Why do you need to spend $200 on a mobo that is DEAD TECH when by all accounts the SB mobos will be CHEAPER and FASTER. Time to go to school? Yes, it is - for you. I recommend you start with 6th grade English.
3. Again, seeing as how reading comp is so tough for you - the initial #'s are in. Some website called AnaisNin Tech or something did benches months ago, as have others. Here, in nice pretty underlined letters for the slow bus: there isn't a bench out there showing the 950/880 ahead of the 2600k, nor the 760 ahead of the 2500k (and the latter comparison is even more lopsided performance-wise) and those are both apples-to-apples price-wise.
4. I don't care what the 950 is at MC. It's highly unlikely it will over-ride the price-performance ratio, and if it does by a little, so what? I don't see any rebuttal to your points about future upgrades, power consumption, performance, heat, and on and on.

But please, keep talking smack.


You need to knock off the insults. This is your first warning. I will not give an infraction since you are a relatively new member. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if you don't agree with it.

Markfw900
Anandtech Moderator

 

[Hogan773]

Post like this SEEM to make sense and kinda make me second guess...Hmmmmm

The post assumes that the great prices for current i7s will be gone once SB comes out. Prices are going to RISE for old tech? I doubt it. If you dont like the SB options NEXT WEEK once unveiled officially, then buy your i7 950 at that time. Oh but I'm sure the prices will be higher cause EVERYONE will decide that SB sux and they will all flock to the current 1366 tech and there will be a huge demand for them. Or not.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Oh and the 950 is 199.99 at Microcenter.

So will the 2600 on jan 9

 

[Zargon]

The post assumes that the great prices for current i7s will be gone once SB comes out. Prices are going to RISE for old tech? I doubt it. If you dont like the SB options NEXT WEEK once unveiled officially, then buy your i7 950 at that time. Oh but I'm sure the prices will be higher cause EVERYONE will decide that SB sux and they will all flock to the current 1366 tech and there will be a huge demand for them. Or not.

um high end lga 775 stuff went up in price.

2 years ago you could get a q9550 for 200 bucks, now they are almost 300 bucks.


the price diff between the lower q9 and q8 quads and the i5 is 50 bucks now.

its unlikely prices are going much of anywhere for the 1156 and 1366 but up as they get lower in stock and harder to find, and since they are old, after the first month or so, great sales on them will dissappear because everyone is schleping SB

 

[Vdubchaos]

Is Sandy Bridge REALLY worth the wait?

It's an answer that everyone needs to answer for themselves.

To me, it's not worth spending $800-1000 to upgrade my PC to gain minimal FPS in games (as that's my primary PC use). Simply doesn't make sense especially since my current PCs do just fine.

What's the point?

To some it can be as they might do video /music editing and time is money.

Another words, everyone needs to decide for themselves.

 

[busmaster11]

I'm not recommending sandybridge.

I'm recommending LGA 1366.

1366 is absolutely the worst way to go unless you need absolute top of the line right this minute and have cash to spare. You're still paying 175-250 for a mobo and getting locked into triple channel ram with negligible benefits. You can go 1156 and get an i7-87X and save 50-75 bucks on the mobo and another 50-75 on the cpu depending on whether you can get a good deal at microcenter, but 1366 makes no sense right now.

I highly recommend - even if you don't go SB, to wait and see the final benchmarks and prices upon release. You only have a week and a half to wait, and unless you have the money to build every six months which I don't, you don't want buyers remorse.

 

[Magusigne]

1366 is absolutely the worst way to go unless you need absolute top of the line right this minute and have cash to spare. You're still paying 175-250 for a mobo and getting locked into triple channel ram with negligible benefits. You can go 1156 and get an i7-87X and save 50-75 bucks on the mobo and another 50-75 on the cpu depending on whether you can get a good deal at microcenter, but 1366 makes no sense right now.

I highly recommend - even if you don't go SB, to wait and see the final benchmarks and prices upon release. You only have a week and a half to wait, and unless you have the money to build every six months which I don't, you don't want buyers remorse.

Honestly it is the best thing to do is wait. You are right. Wait it out a few weeks, but of course don't wait forever.

Oh and I apologize for my inflammatory comments. Everyone has their own opinion.

 

[taltamir]

@OP: don't get sandy bridge, but wait 1 month for it to be released for cheaper prices on current tech.

Prices really go down only when newer tech replaces older tech. phenom2 and nehalem are both the "latest tech" but they are both also old and about to be replaced in ~1. wait a month just for the price drops on current tech

 

[Minjin]

@OP: don't get sandy bridge, but wait 1 month for it to be released for cheaper prices on current tech.

Prices really go down only when newer tech replaces older tech. phenom2 and nehalem are both the "latest tech" but they are both also old and about to be replaced in ~1. wait a month just for the price drops on current tech

Then DDR2 memory should be dirt cheap, right? Or at least cheaper than DDR3?

 

[taltamir]

Then DDR2 memory should be dirt cheap, right? Or at least cheaper than DDR3?

DDR2 is years old, when DDR3 just came out we saw lower DDR2 prices, much lower than DDR3. such that a lot of people were buying it for quite a while afterwards.
that today we FINALLY have DDR3 being cheaper is irrelevant; sure, SB will probably be cheaper than nehalem in 2013 or 2014... so?
Yea, DDR3 is cheaper than DDR2, is cheaper than DDR1, is cheaper than PC100 SDRAM... its because the older stuff is now only used for repairs on corporate computers that cannot be replaced for one reason or another. (real life example: they lost their install disk / license / etc for 11,000$ software and must either continue to repair a machine from 2001 running win2k or repurchase it).

As for DDR prices, they were unusual for tech prices anyways... DDR2 was overproduced, completely saturated the market, sold at a loss, and caused one of the only 5 manufacturers in the entire world to go bankrupt such that today we have only 4 manufacturers of ram chips in the entire world, stopped production, rose in price, restarted production, went down in price... the whole DDR thing was an amazing saga... oh, and every 10 years or so the feds bust a RAM cartel for illegal price fixing...

Anyways, there are certainly exceptions (DDR2 isn't one of them though) and unusual occurrence, but what I stated is the general trend. It is possible that my prediction is wrong, but it is a fairly safe prediction.

 

[AkumaX]

My current rig E8400 + 4870 maxes out SC2 with no problems. CPU is nowhere near 100% usage (both cores) during game play.

I simply wouldn't see ANY difference with $400+ upgrade to CPU/MB/RAM.

I'm sorry

Haha, sorry but you did NOT max out SC2 with that rig. When I think "maxing out", it's more like 4xAA...

 

[busmaster11]

Then DDR2 memory should be dirt cheap, right? Or at least cheaper than DDR3?

Not sure if this falls under common sense or micro-econ, but once demand drops on older tech and production ceases and begins on newer tech, the glut of older tech for mainstream folks drive the prices down because what replaces it can be had for the same price.

For something like DDR2 which current PCs haven't used for a year, production has long since dropped or ceased to match dwindling demand. Only people buying DDR2 these days are people trying to build or augment legacy systems, so since no one is making it anymore in quantity, the price goes up.

 

[Minjin]

Not sure if this falls under common sense or micro-econ, but once demand drops on older tech and production ceases and begins on newer tech, the glut of older tech for mainstream folks drive the prices down because what replaces it can be had for the same price.

For something like DDR2 which current PCs haven't used for a year, production has long since dropped or ceased to match dwindling demand. Only people buying DDR2 these days are people trying to build or augment legacy systems, so since no one is making it anymore in quantity, the price goes up.

I'm making the point that old technology doesn't really go down in price. Sure, it might go down a little as newer stuff comes out but it doesn't continue to drop. In fact, it quite often rises. I'm confused as to whether you are trying to support my point or refute it. I'm just saying that the idea that Core i7 will start continuously dropping in price once SB hits is faulty because that just isn't what happens. I've lost count of the number of times I've gone on Newegg to look at processors and found the current gen, better processor, to be cheaper than the last gen processor.

 

[taltamir]

Haha, sorry but you did NOT max out SC2 with that rig. When I think "maxing out", it's more like 4xAA...

4xAA? why not 16x?
also, it better be getting a MIN FPS of 60 if someone claims to max something out.

 

[bryanW1995]

Alright. New system build? Honestly. i7. Everything is CHEAP compared to the sandy bridge upgrade path. You can just use the savings to buy a nice case (Lasts forever if you take care of it) and or your video card.

Right now you can get a Sabertooth and 12gb of DDR3 Ram for 295 bucks! Sick.
An i7 with a decent cooler and a modest overclock will get you very far. I wouldn't do SandyBridge unless you wanted to overclock and do Folding/Encoding.

Right now my rig in the sig crushes most games as is. It's actually pretty sad. I built the computer to be top of the line at the time and there are no games that really push it (Or are worth pushing it).

Build now with i7. The bugs have been worked out, and the prices are cheap and efficient. The Sandy bridge will have future upgrade paths however you will be at the bleeding edge.

I've "upgraded" my rig 3 times in 4 years. I still have the old rigs, they run great to this day. Biggest upgrade by far? ssd, far and away. if you have the upgrade itch but you're already in a highly oc'd quad, spend the money on an ssd instead.

 

[bryanW1995]

Time to go to school son. Read my post in its complete form. I'm telling him to use Nehalem.


You need to knock off the insults. saying "Time to go to school son" is an insult to anyone I know.

Markfw900
Anandtech Moderator

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.574735

This is the Sabertooth x58 board combo with 12 gb of DDR 3 RAM at 295 and then you can further reduce this by 15% off the memory using a DKMEM15 code to bring it to 273.

This is crazy cheap.

are you really getting excited about a ridiculously large amount of ram (most of which is unneeded at best and will hinder oc'ing as well) and an overpriced x58 board that will be eol in a couple weeks? I got an evga x58sli for $80 6 months ago, hot deals currently has 2x3 gb ddr3 1600 for $65. $150 for an x58 + ddr3 upgrade is worth it, if you're going to spend $300 on the mobo/ram you should just wait for SB imho.

 

[busmaster11]

I'm making the point that old technology doesn't really go down in price. Sure, it might go down a little as newer stuff comes out but it doesn't continue to drop. In fact, it quite often rises. I'm confused as to whether you are trying to support my point or refute it. I'm just saying that the idea that Core i7 will start continuously dropping in price once SB hits is faulty because that just isn't what happens. I've lost count of the number of times I've gone on Newegg to look at processors and found the current gen, better processor, to be cheaper than the last gen processor.

I'm saying it can go both ways. During the initial 3-6 months of obsolescence commodities like hardware will likely fall in price till the glut is gone. Then it will steady and even rise as it becomes rarer and harder to find. Then it'll go in both directions: you might pay a pretty penny for a functioning 8088 chip from ebay or pick through a junkyard for free.

 

[Minjin]

I'm saying it can go both ways. During the initial 3-6 months of obsolescence commodities like hardware will likely fall in price till the glut is gone. Then it will steady and even rise as it becomes rarer and harder to find. Then it'll go in both directions: you might pay a pretty penny for a functioning 8088 chip from ebay or pick through a junkyard for free.

I agree. Sometimes it is a crapshoot. This is why I always tell people to buy best of breed (not necessarily most expensive). Many times I have gone to sell something and find out that its used value is unusually high. I sold a Microsoft trackball this past year for somewhere in the mid 100s. I bought it new probably 5 years ago for 45 bucks or so. They just happen to be worth a crazy amount because they haven't made a better trackball since.

 

[IntelUser2000]

For a 1 year old system you sell the components being replaced. For a 3+ year old system you'll barely get anything out of it but you didn't spend it for 2 years so you can do hand-me down or give it away.

 

[nOOky]

I'm waiting anxiously for the official reviews and motherboard pricing etc. I want to upgrade system 1 in my signature. I considered putting Q9550 in there, but those push $300 new. I don't want to fork over the cash needed for a 1366 cpu and chipset, so if Sandy Bridge isn't a decent value at the entry level I'll probably go i5-760 and overclock the heck out of it...

 

[Magusigne]

Looks like people got cut after all, living life on the bleeding edge..

 

[Draax]

I am currently running 4 cores at 5Ghz .. and this is comming from a E6750 lga775 system ... so yes it is very worth it.

 

[smakme7757]

Looks like people got cut after all, living life on the bleeding edge..

I can't say i agree. Although it's a problem that is annoying i'm running all my drives 3x HDD and 1xSSD off the Intel sata ports and i couldn't be happier. Sure i'll send it back when the recalls are in place, but at the moment it's the fastest PC i've ever owned!

I'm 99% happy with the purchase (-1% because i have to send my mobo back in april)

 

[Hogan773]

Looks like people got cut after all, living life on the bleeding edge..

Cut, in a good way!

I am rockin a 2600K system for the next few months, and when the "fixed" boards are available, I will be able to send in my current board and get a new one (maybe even a different model etc if I want to pay the difference). The theoretical possibility of my Sata3.0 ports dying over next few months is minimal and I've only got the DVD drive hooked there anyway.

So I'll need to replace my mobo, which I don't find to be that big a deal cause it will only be my second time, and I'll get some practice!