Is the 2011 socket the way to go?

[paradamed]

Hi guys. I need some help pls. I committed the mistake to have my last build based on the 1156 slot which pretty much forbids me right now from upgrading without the need to change my motherboard. I have some questions for you guys. I may be doing an upgrade this month. Is it safe to stick to 1155 for lets say the next couple of years? Or should I favour the 2011 platform to be safer when it comes to future cpu upgrades? Is there a worthy benefit in running ram in quad channel? How big is the impact of quad channel ram? I remember some years ago triple channel was part of the highest end boards but right now it pretty much vanished from the market. Is the quad channel just a gimmick? How long until pci-e 3.0 really makes a difference in performance? Thanks in advance!

[Crazyeyesreaper]

1155 is at the end of its life it recieved no more updates Ivy Bridge kaka 3570k and 3770k are it,

2011 will get Ivy Bridge-E later this year but as far as gaming goes 2011 offers nothing over 1155 unless going extreme aka 3 or more GPUs etc.

best bet is a Z77 + 3770k that said supposedly Haswell will release earlier next year, so unless your desperate to upgrade you can probably hold off

1156 isnt that bad its still relevent performance wise, not the best but it gets the job done, so unless your on an i3 530 or something equally low end on 1156 your better off holding out till Haswell next year aka if you have an i5 750 your fine, worse case if your motherboard is good get a decent cooler and overclock it.

[HanSomPa]

Like Crazy Eyes said Z77 is the way to go right now. You can always wait for Haswell, but that's a long way away yet. Ivy Bridge will last you for awhile unless you want to upgrade a year later or something ridiculously early like that.

[karamazovmm]

I vote to wait for haswell, its going to be at least a 8 month wait, but you can actually buy the gpu, power supply, case, ssd (though I would wait on that since marvell just launched a new controller and LAMD is a new entry on the market with reasonable performance)

[Crazyeyesreaper]

yea Haswell will launch as well as the next round of GPUs before Rome II launches

[paradamed]

Thanks for answering guys. Will the haswell cpu be for the 2011 socket? What is your opinion on quad channel ram memory vs dual channel? How big of a difference can quad channel make?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

no Haswell is its own socket,

quad channel memory = 0 difference for gaming, in Shogun 2 its 1-2 fps thats it and only in the CPU bench aka your minimum FPS, avg doesnt change at all

[Crazyeyesreaper]

no Haswell is its own socket, 1150 i think but im not sure off the top of my head,


quad channel memory = 0 difference for gaming, in Shogun 2 its 1-2 fps thats it and only in the CPU bench aka your minimum FPS, avg doesnt change at all

Essentially

first came socket 1155, once they knew how it performed then came 2011,

aka Sandy Bridge THEN Sandy Bridge-E

Currently socket 1155 got a refresh aka Ivy Bridge, Ivy Bridge-E has not launched yet,

essentially IPC wise Ivy is faster than SBE, once Ivy launches on socket 2011, Intel will soon after push out Haswell for socket 1150, aka the entry to high end market, socket 2011 is considered the enthusiasts or HEDT market High End Desktop,

Haswell is the next BIG jump

Sandy vs Ivy in both 1155 and 2011 flavors is about 5-10% performance wise thats it

Haswell will be the next big jump

socket 775 to 1336 = 20-25%
1336 at 45 to 32nm = 5% difference if at all
1336 to 1155 = 20-25%
1155 / 2011 to refresh = 5-10%
1150 Haswell = 20-25% again

Intel has a Tick Tock strategy
Tick = new design Tock = update on said design
Tick = Sandy Bridge / Sandybridge-E
Tock = Ivy Bridge / Ivy Bridge-E
Tick = Haswell
Tock = Haswell refresh,

each Tick = big performance jump each Tock = small jump

[paradamed]

So, considering both 2011 and 1155 wont see many upgrades with the exception of Ivy bridge for 2011 platform, right now 1155 seems like probably the best option considering a much better price/performance value. Another aspect that crosses my mind is that even though haswell will have many new features, considering most of the videogame titles out there clock speeds still will be the main force behind performance.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

Haswell will offer IPC aka intrusctions per clock improvements this is why Intel slaughters amd in gaming first and foremost not so much clock speed,


it will also be Overclocker friendly because of its higher TDP 130-140w rande Intel will use Solder which conducts heat better aka lower temps than Ivy Bridge this will mean good overclocking with managable temps.

Regardless even if Haswell tops out at the same speeds as Sandy and Ivy, the improvements in instructions per clock should give another 15-20% higher performance

so again if your only upgrading for Rome II just wait,

NVIDIA GTX 800 series and AMD Radeon HD 8000 series will be out as well as Haswell,

This means at the same price point CPU performance should go up 20-25% and GPU performance should climb another 30-40%