No Steamroller non-APU?

[manu2b]

Thanks. I was looking at 4770K but actually my budget can stretch to a 4930K if I really want to. (Technically I could stretch to the 4960X but that's some absurd prices there!).

It's going to mean a full rebuild. Originally when I bought my Sabretooth 990FX board I was thinking it would see me through an upgrade cycle. Maybe a couple if I were lucky.

It's sad. I've been with AMD a long time and I prefer to support the underdog. I really like what they've done with the APUs as well - I see it as a very smart piece of maneouvering. But it sounds like I'm going to have to shift.

Ah well, I'd better go learn about Intel chips now before I buy mismatched processor and motherboard or something dumb. I really have paid so little attention to them over the years.

Forget about the 4960x: same chips as the 4930k, with unlocked multi, which is of little incidence on overclocking potential, as IvyBridge-E have "unlocked BCLK" (base clock or FSB).

Are you sure you need a x79 platform (LGA2011)? The 4770K is a very powerful chip, and unless you are looking on saving 15 to 20% on rendering time, the z87 i7 will do you good.

 

[h4rm0ny]

Forget about the 4960x: same chips as the 4930k, with unlocked multi, which is of little incidence on overclocking potential, as IvyBridge-E have "unlocked BCLK" (base clock or FSB).

Are you sure you need a x79 platform (LGA2011)? The 4770K is a very powerful chip, and unless you are looking on saving 15 to 20% on rendering time, the z87 i7 will do you good.

Yeah. You're right in the above. I've done quite a bit of reading since that post. In particular an excellent article on xbit which cleared up my confusion as to why the more powerful chips weren't the latest Haswell chips as well as trying to put numbers on how much better the Haswell design is than the LGA2011 which gets its advantage by just throwing raw numbers at the chips.

In short, I've learned that I don't want to jump in on the wrong side of the upgrade chasm. It forecasts the x87 architecture versions of the E chips this year. I do want the power (I do a lot of virtualization and database work as well as some 3D rendering), but I don't want to buy in at the tail end of a technology. I'm going to hold off and when I can get the high-end chips with the new architecture, I'll go all in with Intel then and buy me some super-powerful system. I guess I can hold off another five or six months.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I do a lot of virtualization. I upgraded to 32GB of RAM in my htpc we use for all our TV (no TV cable package, just internet), which holds 12TB of storage for 720/1080P media we watch in our family room and stream to other rooms (xbmc+sickbeard+couchpotato+sabnzbd+roku+plex). It runs on a mvg and 3770k (the same stuff I used to freeze with liquid nitrogen). I have esxi and vmware workstation running directly on it, with 2 2012 server guests, one running active directory and other services, the other runs hyper-v nested within VMware, a few virtual PCs, and also GNS3 (Cisco virtualized network, with various routers running full Cisco IOS). It all mostly runs like its native, even the guests running on the nested hyper-v. The host OS runs on an SSD, and a couple of the guests also use a small SSD for the OS.

The 3770k hasn't ever been a limiting factor. SSDs help make the responsiveness very good. 32GB of RAM keeps it from thrashing.

I also run cudaminer mining litecoins on the gtx 760 in there. So the machine stays busy. You can do a lot on a regular desktop chip, even one you've tortured under extreme voltage on and off for over a year. I would favor manu2b's perspective also.

 

[h4rm0ny]

I do a lot of virtualization. I upgraded to 32GB of RAM in my htpc we use for all our TV (no TV cable package, just internet), which holds 12TB of storage for 720/1080P media we watch in our family room and stream to other rooms (xbmc+sickbeard+couchpotato+sabnzbd+roku+plex). It runs on a mvg and 3770k (the same stuff I used to freeze with liquid nitrogen). I have esxi and vmware workstation running directly on it, with 2 2012 server guests, one running active directory and other services, the other runs hyper-v nested within VMware, a few virtual PCs, and also GNS3 (Cisco virtualized network, with various routers running full Cisco IOS). It all mostly runs like its native, even the guests running on the nested hyper-v. The host OS runs on an SSD, and a couple of the guests also use a small SSD for the OS.

The 3770k hasn't ever been a limiting factor. SSDs help make the responsiveness very good. 32GB of RAM keeps it from thrashing.

I also run cudaminer mining litecoins on the gtx 760 in there. So the machine stays busy. You can do a lot on a regular desktop chip, even one you've tortured under extreme voltage on and off for over a year. I would favor manu2b's perspective also.

Hah. Well that's pretty impressive. I suppose then I have to 'fess up and admit that to some extent I'm simply a power junkie. I like having the most powerful system I can afford. Though I can at least plead that yes, I really do need some database-heavy VMs so my needs are pretty high already.

Going back to that tangent discussion about AMD's strategy, I have to say that although it's costing me as a customer (temporarily, at least), I think they're making the right decision. I've just read the Kavieri review here and I have to say it's very impressive to me. AMD have admitted that they can't race with Intel along exactly the same track, so they've run off on their own hoping to head them off at the pass. And I think they will. It's a fact that we here at Overclockers.com do not represent the majority of PC buyers. Never mind that many people today are making do (or even preferring) laptops and tablets, we don't even represent a majority of desktop buyers. The simple truth is that other than for the likes of us, PCs have reached a sufficient level of power that they can do almost everything that is needed in terms of pure CPU. The area people still need improvement is graphics and AMD are meeting that. Whilst serious gamers will want discrete GPUs, many would be satisfied with a lower power solution if available and AMD are starting to provide that. I firmly believe that Mantle will take off in a big way given that it's in both major consoles. And there's significant room for cheapish (in development terms) gains from HSA. The chips are cheap and they trounce Intel's integrated IGP. At a stroke, AMD now own the "good enough" segment of the market. Or rather they should.

It's only my opinion, and ironically the opinion of someone leaving because of their strategy, but I think AMD's different route will actually work very well for them and hopefully it will let them cut back into the traditional enthusiast track closer to Intel at a later date as well. I mean, AMD are not going to give up on the Server market, are they? So they'll always have an architecture that can be easily re-purposed for the enthusiast Desktop market.

IMO.