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i7-920 @4.2 GHz - Make sense to upgrade from this for cpu intensive gaming?

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jpinard

Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Hello everyone. It's been a while, so good to be back :)

I'm in a position now to upgrade my system soon as my current rig isn't able to run cpu intensive games at a frame rate I like with higher settings. The question is... will an OC'ed Sandy Bridge give me the performance jump I'd like for a cost that's palatable? Or do you think Ivy Bridge will be worth the wait? It's now looking like performance motherboards for Ivy Bridge aren't due until June? which is a long time to wait for an unknown.

As some of you may remember, I have a terminal illness so money is tight, but gaming is extremely important for me as it takes my mind off the pain and is a stresss reliever. So my quest is to get the most bang for buck.

Thanks for the help :)
 
If you figure a mobo, and 2500k will set you back in the range of $400 for about 10% performance increase sounds worthwhile to you then go for it. Otherwise Id wait for ivy. I doubt they will be significantly faster than SB but should run cooler and potentially clock better. However, as with any unreleased platform its all speculation we wont really know till there out.
 
I would wait for Ivy Bridge since it is set to be released in 2-3 months. If not, get a 2500k, and sell the 2500k to get an Ivy Bridge cpu.
 
Without using benchmarks, it would be virtually impossible to tell the difference between a bloomfield at 4.2 and a sandybridge at 5.0 while gaming...

Its hard to give recommendations without knowing your monitor resolution, video cards, and whatnot, but almost without fail if you are looking for a game performance upgrade its better to spend money on a video card. Depending on what you have, id be looking to the AMD 7970 rather than upgrading a 4.2 bloomfield. Unless heat or power draw matter to you, sandybridge is much nicer in that category.
 
Without using benchmarks, it would be virtually impossible to tell the difference between a bloomfield at 4.2 and a sandybridge at 5.0 while gaming...

Not really. In CPU intensive stuff things are notably faster on an SB. Especially at higher clocks. You struggle for 4.2 on bloomfield but on SB even 4.8 comes 1/10th as easily.

Even at par the SB is 20% more efficient. Starcraft and FSX have the most notable improvements as they are very cpu intensive.
 
Not really. In CPU intensive stuff things are notably faster on an SB. Especially at higher clocks. You struggle for 4.2 on bloomfield but on SB even 4.8 comes 1/10th as easily.

Even at par the SB is 20% more efficient. Starcraft and FSX have the most notable improvements as they are very cpu intensive.

Hell yeah, FSX shows an enormous amount of improvement with a CPU overclock or change. An overclock from 2.8-->4.0GHz gave me another 20-25fps average on all maxed out settings, REX, and payware scenery and airplane.
 
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