upgrade options

I want to upgrade to a quad core system and i only need a cpu,motherboard and ram. my budget is about $800-$1000

first upgrade choice
cpu- i7 950 @3.06ghz $300-$350.(Australia dollars)
motherboard- evga ftw 3 $335-$400
ram- corsair vengeance 3x4gb@ 1600mhz $200
total $735-$950

second upgrade choice
cpu- i7 2600 @3.40ghz $320-$370
motherboard unsure atm my wait for one that can run sli 16x/16x
ram corsair vengeance 2x4gb @1600mhz $160
total ???

any ideas on what i should choose will be appreciated

First, !!

Second, let me be honest...I just posted this exact same thing on another post almost identical. The only difference being they were looking between a 960 and 2600k vs your 950. However, IMO the same holds true.

Well, in all honesty it depends on how much OC you want to achieve. 2600K is going to OC higher and cooler than that 950. But the 950 (like any i7 or i5) is going to OC very well and very easily as well. However, in the end the 950 is the better overall performer. 1366 is meant to be Intel's high end socket. SB is more of a medium between 1156 and 1366.

If you are looking for crazy OC with little to no effort then I'd say go with the 2600K. If you're looking for overall better performance (but still some awesome OC potential) and longevity I'd say go with the 950.

GOOD LUCK!

2600k smokes the 950 everyday. Get a 2600K so u can overclock.u dont need dual x16 x8/x8 is fine. Get a Gigabyte UD4, Some 4gb 1600 cl6 of ram and do u need a heatsink?

Yeah, even clock for clock, Sandy Bridge just edges out the Bloomfield core. Then it tends to get about 1GHz higher on air, basically destroying Bloomfield. Gulftown can sort of put up a fight, but then you're comparing the $200-300 range with the $900-1000 range.

pbcranium202 said:

If you're looking for overall better performance (but still some awesome OC potential) and longevity I'd say go with the 950.

GOOD LUCK!

Click to expand...

. Sorry if this sounds a bit rough but that's just not true. 1Mhz of 2600K has more output than 1Mhz of 950 by 15-20%

Add the fact that you can take one to 5Ghz as easily as the other reaches 4, if not more easily, and you're over 35% faster with an overclocked 2600 than 950. The longevity is untrue because 1155 will EOL much later than 1366 which is already set to EOL this year with socket 2011 around Xmas.

1366 is not a high end socket. Intel has a hard time keeping a straight face when they say that.

Intel's midrange needed to outcompete AMD's upcoming top end which comes out Q2. Intel's true next high end socket is in Q4.
Intel needed to position a midrange socket to outcompete AMD's high end BEFORE said AMD socket came out. They can't call 1155 the high end socket because then the high end socket changes 3 times in one year (1366/1155/2011) and people get confused. It's marketing and product placement. 1155 is a better socket than 1366. The only inherit deficiency in the chipset is the limitation of PCI express lanes. Regardless, a 2600K and two enthusiast cards at 8 8 and the cpu @ 5Ghz IS faster than a 950 with said cards at 16 16 and the cpu at 4Ghz.

NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE!!! I will read up more on it! I don't have SB or any i7 for that matter! So I was going off of the word of someone else...which was apparently wrong. Also, "HYPE" goes a long way some time. I may have gotten caught up in it. Or, for all I know I could have somehow made that up in my head and THOUGHT I read it somewhere! LOL. At least I know to go research it some more. Thanks for the heads up!