2011 or 1155?

[thephilosophizer]

So I'm thinking it's about time to move beyond my old 1366 motherboard and i7 920 chip, as good as they've been. I've got a line on one, maybe two gtx 580s, and if those don't come through then I'm planning on going with a 660ti.
The graphics I'm not too worried about, but the mobo/cpu is where I'm not sure. I do like the idea of of quad channel memory, and 16gb (4x4gb) for $75. But I also like the idea of the 2700k, and clocking >4.5ghz.
The 2700k and the 3820 are the same price at microcenter ($230), and it looks like I'd be spending $50-75 more for the 2011 board.
What do you all think?

[ShyguyXPC]

Quad channel is nice, to get every last bit of performance, but realistically Triple channel on our current platforms isn't really that much of a bump.


as to Socket 1366, its still holding on, my current set up is a 940, with 2x GTX 560 Ti's, and its doing pretty good for most everything.


Intel's coming out with their new Haswell Platform next year supposedly, if it were me, I'd consider Socket 2011, as it will be longer lived than Socket 1155, but really comes down to how much you have to spend.

Socket 1366 is still able to run neck and neck with current Socket 1155 chips.



a Sandybridge 2700K will keep you with PCI Express 2.0 where as the Ivy Bridge chips will let you move to 3.0 on most Z68 and all Z75/77 Boards.

Go with Socket 2011 and all Sandy Bridge- E Series chips already have PCIe 3.0 support.

1155 will be cheaper, but 2011 will be longer lasting.

as to Haswell, I forget the socket designation, but it won't be using 1155, and there won't be any Socket 2011 Ivy Bridge chips until AFTER Haswell's release has come and gone, at least the last Intel CPU Roadmap I looked at was saying that.


Do you know if your 920 is a C0 or D0 stepping? if its the D0, you might be able to to OC the snot out of it and stave off upgrades until next year, when things have settled a bit more with Intel's Platforms.

Its kind of what I'm looking at doing myself, I want a 6 Core, but that means finding a 1366 used one cheap, not likely... or moving to socket 2011, which also isn't cheap.

[thephilosophizer]

The 920 is D0, I've run it as high as 4ghz, but it's been sitting at 3.5ghz for a couple years now.
Thing is that I have 6gb of ram in their now, and I would like to bump it up, which will be something $50. Not a big deal per se, but a couple of the sata ports cracked at one point (trying to clean up the cabling, tried connecting from behind, and pushed too hard). The ports still work, but every once in a while they won't get recognized by the machine.
So I want more ram, and my current mobo is somewhat beat up, hence the looking around for something new. My budget is around $500, for mobo, cpu, and ram. The hexacore does sound nice, and I'm not really interested in shelling out $500 for the cpu alone, but if the incoming platform is going to bring that down, then maybe just getting the ram now, and waiting for the rest until spring isn't such a bad idea.

[ShyguyXPC]

you can usually get a decent board for $200, sometimes a refurb for less, got my EVGA for $130 refurbed straight from EVGA. I can understand the need for something with good working SATA ports, but with the RAM, you should be able to load up the board with at least 12GB, though most I see can go to 24GB.

the 920 at 3.5GHz is still more than capable for a while.

with a $500 budget, Socket 1155 would be more sensible, but with the stuff you listed on 1366 and it is a D0 at 3.5GHz, I'd probably just spend on a replacement board and extra RAM.


From what I've read on Intel and its hardware next year, Haswell will be out supposedly, new Socket Platform, and there won't be any Ivy Bridge E CPU's for Socket 2011 until after Haswell has been released, but current SB-E chips are plenty good with PCIe 3.0 and what not.

Also I have read that with Haswell and Intel's Server platforms, they plan on Debuting DDR4 RAM. Whether this will be with the current Socket 2011 platform, or some new revised version, and then filter down to consumer hardware after. Or if they plan on introducing DDR4 with Haswell, its unclear yet. But did read they plan on showing it with Server platform first, so it might be 2011 with a new chipset, or could be current chipsets as well, hard to say.


so the Mobo/CPU landscape is set to change significantly again sometime next year.

Last I read on Haswell, and the new Socket design, was possibly next summer for a release. So we're still talking nearly a year away. But who knows, could be bumped up or delayed as well.

I'm trying to get my i7 940 to 3.4GHz if I can, 3.8 would be nice since the original owner had it that high, but it shows in various temp monitoring tools, the individual core temps are always higher than the overall CPU temp... which is either the temp probes for the individual cores are messing up, or the overall temp probe is messed up.

and its a C0 stepping, so not exactly coolest running, and this is just stock.


I have to crack open a friends PC and see if his i7 is still running (Mobo fried) if it is, and its a D0 or a better CPU model than I have, I'm willing to do a full trade on it for my i7 920 C0 I have as well. Along with a spare mobo, RAM, maybe GPU, and put together a fully working system for him, just has to buy a HDD and OS and its working for him, He's not a gamer, and a quad core 920 would still last him for years for basic tasks and simple games.

the money his friend spent on the system back in 2008/2009, its possible the CPU is a high end i7 or even Extreme Edition...

I'm hoping for either/or, but even if its a 920 or 940 D0, it might be worth the trade up.

Socket 2011, you'd be looking at getting a $200 board at least, $300 for the Quad Core, so thats $500 right there.


Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

Newegg.com - ASRock X79 Extreme3 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

$580 off the bat.


Though on the upside, the platform will be longer lived with better features for a while than Socket 1366 will.

But I suspect 1366 will be around for a while longer as well, at least some CPU's and boards, but eventually will fade away.


OK, spoke too soon, newegg has no more Socket 1366 CPU's (i7's) only Xeon's.

Newegg.com - Intel Xeon E5645 Westmere-EP 2.4GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 80W Six-Core Server Processor BX80614E5645

Newegg.com - Intel Xeon W3670 Westmere-EP 3.2GHz 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Server Processor BX80613W3670

Assuming it would even work with your board.


though still a few replacement boards available:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboards, LGA 1366




Or socket 1155:

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C10D-16GAO

Newegg.com - ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

mobo comes with Bundled/Free OCZ 60GB SSD as well.

all just under $500 before shipping.


The latter might be the better way to go, how ever if you ever wanted a 6 core, its not going to happen on 1155.

But that setup should handle a pair of GTX 580's easily.

[thephilosophizer]

I don't think I'd go with replacing the board, maybe just a pci-sata card, and the ram.
Thankfully for me though the i7-3820 is only $230 at microcenter, and they've got good prices on ram too.
That's part of what is pushing me towards the 2011, and looking, the 920 used goes for ~$100 on ebay, plus the board (which does still work), and the ram, maybe I can get $200 for the set, against ~$500 for the new kit. Doesn't sound too bad.

[ShyguyXPC]

yeah, if you can get $200-300 for the older hardware, and use that against the $500 or so for the newer stuff, you might end up only spending $200-300 in the end.


Its sort of what I did with my newer i7 setup, or intended to anyways, the i7 940 I got was sold for less than most D0 i7 920's were going for, and about same or cheaper than the C0 920's over at OCN. Figured, 2.93GHz stock for $120-130 wasn't bad.

bit of a bump in clock speed, same stepping as my 920, higher clock Multi, so for OCing it would be a bit better, I had hoped.

the D0 920's were going for around $150-200 still from many users, who had OC'd theirs and knew what it could do.


sadly, over the course of a year, year and half of gathering "Upgrades" that evolved into a 2nd complete PC, I spent nearly a grand, originally I intended no more than $500-600 tops.

but, in the end, it put me in a better position to hold off a bit until things settle down a bit better with the different platforms.

before the upgrade my Mobo was Crossfire Only, I had 6x1GB DDR3 1333MHz, 5 Hard drives, 2 DVD Drives, 2.66GHz Quad, Active Air Cooler, 2 Nvidia Cards (each different and no SLI capability even if they were the same), bit larger, and heavier case, rats nest of cabling in case.



Afterwards, 2.93GHz Quad stock, 3x2GB DDR3 1600Mhz, 3 Hard drives (with more storage and better over all speeds), 1 DVD Drive, Dual, Triple & Quad CrossfireX as well as SLI Support, Dual GTX 560 Ti's in SLI, both running quieter and cooler than my last 2 Nvidia cards, PLUS both cards are Factory OC'd cards, and one is actually clocked a bit faster by my hands.

Better case, tad smaller in width and height, but better cooling layout, bit lighter in weight, also have the Liquid Cooler kit installed, sleeved extension cables, Modular PSU, cleaner look, etc. Sound dampening/matting installed on side panels, cases smallest fan is the 120mm's on the Liquid cooler, otherwise all case fans are 140mm fans, (where as the old case was a combination of 120 and 92mm fans, and the side panel 250mm)

Also my PSU is 100W more in output than the "Older" Corsair was (both brands, Corsair and NZXT, are Seasonic Internals).

Overall, when everything is added up, though it was another grand spent on the newer system on top of the money spent on the first one, I spent at least 1200-1500 on the first one 3.5 years earlier, for lesser performing hardware (although that also included the 24" LCD at the time as well, but still).

Overall it also ended up being a good 50% faster and better, cooler running and quieter, more efficient rig as well, making the extra expenditures a bit more easier to swallow.

If I had bought all the current hardware new in box it probably would of cost me $2000-2500 3-4 years ago.

if I find my coworkers i7 is better than what I have, then I'm trading up on that as well, my 920 and extra i7 hardware for that CPU, especially if it ends up being a $1000 extreme edition...

[ShyguyXPC]

but as to 2011 or 1155, though I like 1155's CPU's and parts, and affordability, as well as a larger selection of parts, since intel can't seem to keep their mainstream platforms for more than a year or 2 these days before changing it for a different socket design, I'd have to stick with socket 2011 for the longevity.

It is after all their Server platform too, so it needs to be longer lived.

I recently convinced a classmate to go with a Socket 2011 prebuilt gaming rig (was an iBuypower, or something like that on newegg), if nothing new or comparable from AMD comes out by end of October, that is what he's looking at spending on, also has a GTX 670 or 680 in it from what I remember. His Last PC, a Dell XPS system, lasted him 6 years, and he wants to get a good 4-5 years out of this next one too.

So I steered him away from the under performing shorter lived AMD Systems (shorter lived in the fact that they are behind Intel in performance, and it seems AMD comes out with slightly better and improved versions all the time now, just look at the first AMD socket AM2 X2's, and then the X2, X3 and X4's, and the we have the Phenom II/Athlon II X2, X3, X4's... and the failed FX series, as well as the newer ones coming out next month, all the while, still behind Intel in performance, at least until we see how things play out next month).

but he's thinking about maybe getting back in to PC gaming again, he's been out since the Quake 3 era, mainly console gamer, but is getting sick of the console games these days, and wants to leave Nintendo and Xbox for his kids, while he can get into the "higher" end PC gaming market again, with online multiplayers and what not.