Sandy Bridge vs older i7

[futura65]

So back over the holidays I was toying with the idea of building a new machine for the new year, and many people suggested I wait for Sandy Bridge to roll out. Since I wasn't in any real rush I thought might as well wait and see. Now that they've been out a little while, I've seen a lot of things going around about Sandy Bridge....lately it's been a batch of bad runs and recalls....but of more cautious concern was that the chips built in graphics had content protection built in. How is this being seen/felt? I'm hesitant when they start blocking ability to do something under an umbrella of it being seen as something you shouldn't be doing. Sometimes that's not the case yet you're blocked. I know there are typically always work arounds, but still don't like supporting such integration of tech.

just wondering which way to swing the bat.

 

[aigomorla]

March 3rd revision.

Once new revisions roll out, SB all the way.

Unless u have a budget so large which will then allow you to wait a bit longer for sandy's bigger sisters, LGA2011.

 

[smakme7757]

So back over the holidays I was toying with the idea of building a new machine for the new year, and many people suggested I wait for Sandy Bridge to roll out. Since I wasn't in any real rush I thought might as well wait and see. Now that they've been out a little while, I've seen a lot of things going around about Sandy Bridge....lately it's been a batch of bad runs and recalls....but of more cautious concern was that the chips built in graphics had content protection built in. How is this being seen/felt? I'm hesitant when they start blocking ability to do something under an umbrella of it being seen as something you shouldn't be doing. Sometimes that's not the case yet you're blocked. I know there are typically always work arounds, but still don't like supporting such integration of tech.

just wondering which way to swing the bat.

The recall was to do with the chipset not the CPU and even then it only affected the SATA 2 ports on the boards leaving the SATA 3 ports unaffected.

The content protection is not a backdoor to spy on people who download torrents and the like. It's going to be used by certain services (which aren't even available yet) to bind your PC to your account, or something like that. Don't worry about it.

SB is by far the best platofrm if you're considering a new build now and for the next few months until AMD releases Bulldozer and Intel release3s the 2011 socket at the end of 2011 (maybe start of 2012)

 

[futura65]

@ aigomorla-- Oh no don't tell me about the NEXT thing...

@ smakme7757 -- yeah as far as I understood it, it's to start allowing the delivery of HD content via the internet and such through/to your PC...something that's suppose to make all the industry folk feel warm and fuzzy, which I have no doubt will not stop many from doing whatever they wish. But what I hate is that often I need to grab content for actual work purposes, and not anything illegal...but making it more difficult than anything.

thanks for the input.

 

[aigomorla]

@ aigomorla-- Oh no don't tell me about the NEXT thing...

Eat your heart out Sandy..
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2147453

"The 2011er platform with base R, quad-channel memory interface and up to eight CPU cores and 20 MiByte L3 cache is produced in six months"

 

[Hogan773]

Eat your heart out Sandy..
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2147453

"The 2011er platform with base R, quad-channel memory interface and up to eight CPU cores and 20 MiByte L3 cache is produced in six months"

Great. Sounds awesome. Will I be able to get it for $169.99 at Microcenter?

 

[Edrick]

Great. Sounds awesome. Will I be able to get it for $169.99 at Microcenter?

Yea, the cooler for it

 

[Mopetar]

Great. Sounds awesome. Will I be able to get it for $169.99 at Microcenter?

If you're willing to wait another five years, maybe.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Eat your heart out Sandy.. Sandy Bridge is coming!http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2147453

Modified.

 

[aigomorla]

Great. Sounds awesome. Will I be able to get it for $169.99 at Microcenter?

The Ram? :hmm:

Modified.

lolol... It is a SB-E so you are right.

 

[Hogan773]

If you're willing to wait another five years, maybe.

Right. So we're comparing apples and oranges. I love the various "such and such kicks a$$ over such and such" posts that don't take into account price.

Hey guys....the Porsche 911 Turbo TOTALLY KICKS the Acura TL. EAT YOUR HEART OUT, ACURA, you LOSER!

 

[Grooveriding]

If you're already on an i7 and have it clocked to 4.0 or so, I don't see the point in going to the current SB. A real upgrade will be 2011 SB-E.

If you're on an older Core2 or Core2Quad, then a 2500K or 2600K are the best upgrade choice.

 

[aigomorla]

Hey guys....the Porsche 911 Turbo TOTALLY KICKS the Acura TL. EAT YOUR HEART OUT, ACURA, you LOSER!

im sorry for living in capitalistic america?

And your telling me if YOU were in a 911, and some TL came up and Rev'd ya, you wouldnt gun it and then give him a smirk as you toasted him from the stop light?

 

[Dadofamunky]

If you're already on an i7 and have it clocked to 4.0 or so, I don't see the point in going to the current SB. A real upgrade will be 2011 SB-E.

If you're on an older Core2 or Core2Quad, then a 2500K or 2600K are the best upgrade choice.

This.

I'm glad I didn't do an i7 now.

 

[PreferLinux]

@ aigomorla-- Oh no don't tell me about the NEXT thing...

@ smakme7757 -- yeah as far as I understood it, it's to start allowing the delivery of HD content via the internet and such through/to your PC...something that's suppose to make all the industry folk feel warm and fuzzy, which I have no doubt will not stop many from doing whatever they wish. But what I hate is that often I need to grab content for actual work purposes, and not anything illegal...but making it more difficult than anything.

thanks for the input.

It won't change anything. It is very similar to HDCP (it stops you accessing the decrypted video/audio stream before it is sent to the monitor/sound card). Also, it is only used with the chipsets that support graphics out, and then only with media that instructs it to turn on.

 

[Hogan773]

im sorry for living in capitalistic america?

And your telling me if YOU were in a 911, and some TL came up and Rev'd ya, you wouldnt gun it and then give him a smirk as you toasted him from the stop light?

Of course I would. Capitalistic America has nothing to do with it. With PCs its just funny to me that some people don't introduce cost into the equation. They talk about how a new product is much faster than another one. Period. But most people would also factor in price before making a purchase decision. And stuff like the 990x in no way equals SandyBridge on a VALUE metric, because its performance is not nearly 4X that of SandyBridge.

Will be interesting to see what S2011 looks like and what the price point is.

 

[tweakboy]

Depends on the OC of the chips.

 

[Vektor67]

If you're already on an i7 and have it clocked to 4.0 or so, I don't see the point in going to the current SB. A real upgrade will be 2011 SB-E.

If you're on an older Core2 or Core2Quad, then a 2500K or 2600K are the best upgrade choice.

Thats all well and good and precisely what I've decided to do, except that it's impossible unless you wish to go on ebay and pay ridiculously inflated prices for a B3 rev board.
I'm so frustrated. When I take the decision to build(which I did about a month ago) and am thwarted it really bumms me out. I've already put it on hold and been patient for a month. I'm ready now though. I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I buy a processor and everything but the mobo or just continue to wait. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. currently running E8600 24/7 @ 4Ghz but I'm wanting to feel the power difference of an amped up Quad, my current system bogs down to often for my taste.

 

[Hogan773]

Thats all well and good and precisely what I've decided to do, except that it's impossible unless you wish to go on ebay and pay ridiculously inflated prices for a B3 rev board.
I'm so frustrated. When I take the decision to build(which I did about a month ago) and am thwarted it really bumms me out. I've already put it on hold and been patient for a month. I'm ready now though. I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I buy a processor and everything but the mobo or just continue to wait. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. currently running E8600 24/7 @ 4Ghz but I'm wanting to feel the power difference of an amped up Quad, my current system bogs down to often for my taste.

Just wait for goodness sakes. The mobos should be available really soon. Just go take a cold shower and think about something else for 2 weeks

 

[ayabe]

Another reason to wait - the new SSD's are almost here.

I'm planning on turning my current i7 rig into a hyper-v box and once BD comes out I'll know which way I want to go. I won't be waiting for the i7 replacement.