Bulldozer or SandyBridge?

[preolt]

Hey Overclock3D,

I am in a bit of a predicament. I am trying to build my first gaming rig right now. I was going to purchase an i5-2500k series with a sabertooth board from asus but seeing as the chipset has been recalled that is not such a, well viable option currently. Should I wait for them to rerelease sandy bridge cpu/s and mobos? Wait till bulldozer comes and see if its worth switching to an AMD option? or not buy either one and just pick up one of the current options available?

I mainly use my computer for photography, that means lots of multi tasking, lightroom, photoshop etc, along with some video editing needs. I play a few games like SC2 and Civilization, and want to be able to play diablo 3 when it comes out in forever (the specs for it shouldnt be that bad thought)

What do you guys think?

Thanks for your help and time

>>preolt<<

 

[ciksas]

There aren’t really bulldozer test/reviews jet so it’s hard to say. Manufactures should have fixed mobos out before bulldozer gets unveiled, if you are in a hurry get SB. Take in mind 2months will surely pass before you will even see anything from bulldozer.

 

[SieB]

Until Bulldozer benchmarks are released it's hard to say, you could wait and see how BD performs before deciding but before we know how it performs no one can say if it's going to be better than SB or vice versa. If you can, wait and see but if not go with SB, personally I don't think that BD will be that much better even if it is better.

 

[Tortuga]

Dont let the sata 2 problem deter you from going sandy bridge with a p67 board. The problem only lies with the onboard sata 2 ports. Just use the sata 3, and if you must, just use optical drive on sata 2. Some boards even have 3rd party chip for even more sata 3 ports. Most people have what, a storage drive/maybe ssd boot, and an optical?

 

[michaelah500]

Wait for the bulldozer benchmarks and tests if you can...see how it performs against SB. Though by the time Bulldozer is released, people will most likely be recommending you wait for Ivy Bridge -.-

 

[preolt]

Thanks guys,

I actually was planning on going to my local microcenter the day before intel recalled their chipset to pick up my 2500k. The guy at my microcenter said they where experiencing problems with sata ports not working on their h67 and p67 boards. This didnt really bother me that much but I decided to hold off and low and behold they recall.

Any way I am planning on trying to scrounge up the money over the next month (sigh so many commissions to finish). Hopefully by the end of the month intel will be back on its feet with a vengeance and shipping out cpus and mobos like its their job... oh wait... XD If every thing goes as planned I will have my system and be coming back here for any more advice on my build. Thanks so much guys for the speed and clarity of your responses.

Quick question. I am 80% sure I am going to purchase the i5-2500k, but I was wondering if its worth it to spend the extra 100$ and up the ante to the i7-2600k??? I only really see a 100 mhz increase and hyper threading. Would this be worth it ?

 

[Stryker64]

When it comes to overclocking the 2500k and 2600k will probably top out at the same speed, but depends from chip to chip. The only real difference between them is the hyperthreading, but for most games the 4 threads from the 2500K will be faster than the 4 hyperthreaded threads from the 2600K, so unless you game can utilize more than 4 threads, the 2500K is the way to go. But typically for gaming 2500K>2600K in both performance and value. But the 2600K will be better if you do things like rendering, which can utilize all the threads.

Bulldozer goes around this multithreading problem by having modules, which allow for better hyperthraing performance. From what Bulldozer promises it should have equal performance to Sandy Bridge, but since it's AMD you can use your motherboard for a lot longer. Also by the time all the Sandy Bridge motherboards are re-released Bulldozer should be almost out, so I would wait personally.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

What Zeals said and I would wait for bulldozer, is supposed to have four threads per core IIRC

 

[Stryker64]

The way Bulldozer works, at least from what I understand.

Firstly it is backward compatible with AM3, but you'll need AM3+ to use all its features. It's apparently 50% faster than the Phenom II 6 Core processors, which puts it on par with Intel i7 970, 980x etc.

The initial release CPUs will have 4 Bulldozer modules. The Bulldozer module is essentially a two cores stack ontop of each other, acting as a dual core due to hyperthreading, since it does have two cores, it gives better performance than a hyperthreaded core.

If you use Bulldozer on an AM3 motherboard, the modules will be read as a single core instead of two, so it essentially disables AMDs hyperthreading. So even though initial Bulldozer CPUs will have 8 cores (8 threads), if used on an AM3 motherboard it will be seen as 4 cores and 4 threads.

There are also numerous other buffs to it's processing power, making them clock for clock faster than Sandy Bridge.

 

[michaelah500]

The way Bulldozer works, at least from what I understand.

Firstly it is backward compatible with AM3, but you'll need AM3+ to use all its features. It's apparently 50% faster than the Phenom II 6 Core processors, which puts it on par with Intel i7 970, 980x etc.

The initial release CPUs will have 4 Bulldozer modules. The Bulldozer module is essentially a two cores stack ontop of each other, acting as a dual core due to hyperthreading, since it does have two cores, it gives better performance than a hyperthreaded core.

If you use Bulldozer on an AM3 motherboard, the modules will be read as a single core instead of two, so it essentially disables AMDs hyperthreading. So even though initial Bulldozer CPUs will have 8 cores (8 threads), if used on an AM3 motherboard it will be seen as 4 cores and 4 threads.

There are also numerous other buffs to it's processing power, making them clock for clock faster than Sandy Bridge.

If you're right that sounds pretty good. I'll be waiting for some benchmarks and from that will decide whether or not to ditch the motherboard & processor I currently have and go bulldozer. We'll see.

 

[Ya93sin]

they said bulldozer is 1.5x quicker than a i7-950. imo, performance wise, i don't think it will do too well, but you know its going to be a lot cheaper though.

 

[Stryker64]

they said bulldozer is 1.5x quicker than a i7-950. imo, performance wise, i don't think it will do too well, but you know its going to be a lot cheaper though.

At certain benchmarks Sandy Bridge is 1.5x the speed of the i7 950, so it's not too far fetched

 

[preolt]

Yeah Bulldozer should be decent from what I have read. The big thing for me is timing. Intel is saying they will have their new chipsets fully shipped and ready by the end of this month (though those times are almost never 100% correct) From what I have read about bulldozer though it wont be ready until mid summer and by then people are going to want to wait for ivy bridge in the fall. IDK, I want to make the best long term decision but at the ame time upgrade from my current rig. Which has one foot in the grave currently.

My other big factor is I have commissions do by the end of the month. To do the photos I have to go into the tech lab when they dont have class in there and use their computers to work on the photos. So the biggest thing I want isnt gaming but photo editing multitasking, along with small amounts of rendering. I will probably pick up a gtx 560ti froz from msi at the end of the month which will serve my purposes for a while I think. I mean its not a quadro or a flagship gpu any thing like that but it should be fine.

If I overclock to about 4 ghz with the 2500k I think I will be able to throw mosts tasks at it and receive semi to quick results. This is going to end up going into a build instead of focusing on the cpu but I might as well list my specs or atleast my plan to see what you guys think. (instead of making a whole new thread)

CPU- Planning on i5-2500k

mobo - sabertooth from asus unless they release some true sli crossfire boards

gpu - msi frozr gtx560 ti (prefer nvidia to ati, just personal preference)

RAM - G.Skill Ripjaw 8Gb 1600 mhz 9-9-9-24

PSU - Rosewill 1000W, bronze 80 certified, modular

Tower - Still deciding but I am looking at some of lian li's small towers in the 100$ range, I prefer the minimalist look

CPU cooler - Scythe mugen 2 heat sink

I am going to try and buy a Dell ultrasharp ips panel if I can. It will depend on my funds at the time. I would prefer the 24" true ips but I might have to settle for the 21.5" eIps.

Thats what I am looking at if it helps with cpu choices. Again the main reason I want to build sooner is because it means less hassle, traveling, and working around other peoples schedules.

Thanks again for all of your guys (girls?) input.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

Yeah Bulldozer should be decent from what I have read. The big thing for me is timing. Intel is saying they will have their new chipsets fully shipped and ready by the end of this month (though those times are almost never 100% correct) From what I have read about bulldozer though it wont be ready until mid summer and by then people are going to want to wait for ivy bridge in the fall. IDK, I want to make the best long term decision but at the ame time upgrade from my current rig. Which has one foot in the grave currently.

My other big factor is I have commissions do by the end of the month. To do the photos I have to go into the tech lab when they dont have class in there and use their computers to work on the photos. So the biggest thing I want isnt gaming but photo editing multitasking, along with small amounts of rendering. I will probably pick up a gtx 560ti froz from msi at the end of the month which will serve my purposes for a while I think. I mean its not a quadro or a flagship gpu any thing like that but it should be fine.

If I overclock to about 4 ghz with the 2500k I think I will be able to throw mosts tasks at it and receive semi to quick results. This is going to end up going into a build instead of focusing on the cpu but I might as well list my specs or atleast my plan to see what you guys think. (instead of making a whole new thread)

CPU- Planning on i5-2500k

mobo - sabertooth from asus unless they release some true sli crossfire boards

gpu - msi frozr gtx560 ti (prefer nvidia to ati, just personal preference)

RAM - G.Skill Ripjaw 8Gb 1600 mhz 9-9-9-24

PSU - Rosewill 1000W, bronze 80 certified, modular

Tower - Still deciding but I am looking at some of lian li's small towers in the 100$ range, I prefer the minimalist look

CPU cooler - Scythe mugen 2 heat sink

I am going to try and buy a Dell ultrasharp ips panel if I can. It will depend on my funds at the time. I would prefer the 24" true ips but I might have to settle for the 21.5" eIps.

Thats what I am looking at if it helps with cpu choices. Again the main reason I want to build sooner is because it means less hassle, traveling, and working around other peoples schedules.

Thanks again for all of your guys (girls?) input.

At a press conference Intel also said the common desktop user will have an 80 core cpu in five years time, this was four years ago - go figure.

Women on a tech forum, dream on, kids can't get into university as it is, nerd offspring will only make the problem worse

 

[preolt]

Hate resurrect this thread but figured it was better then making a new one. What would you guys recommend now that the lga1155 boards are back on the market. Would it be wisest to just build a sb rig or wait it out till the Z/X series comes out or wait even longer till bulldozer releases?

 

[SieB]

The Z68 boards are the same as P67 the only difference is with the Z68 boards is that they will support use of the IGP and overclocking. At the moment only H67 enables use of the IGP and only P67 allows use of overclocking, so unless you are interested in using the IGP on the CPU then you might as well just grab a REV 3 P67 board.

 

[godsmack_dmx]

I would prefer to wait for AMD Bulldozer and then decide which CPU I will buy, becuase at this time SB Motherboards have a SATA problem (Imagine yourself buying a mobo that contain 6 or 8 SATA port and you will end up using only 2) and I heard some problem of CPU & mobo dying.

This time is no good for purchasing waiting is the best idea, but if you are on hurry go with X58 or AM3 as you want.

 

[Tortuga]

I would prefer to wait for AMD Bulldozer and then decide which CPU I will buy, becuase at this time SB Motherboards have a SATA problem (Imagine yourself buying a mobo that contain 6 or 8 SATA port and you will end up using only 2) and I heard some problem of CPU & mobo dying.

This time is no good for purchasing waiting is the best idea, but if you are on hurry go with X58 or AM3 as you want.

All of the B3 Revision boards are out. No more need to worry about the Sata problem on P67

 

[tiribomba]

Intel all the way if you have the $$$,if you want to save $$$ AMD is the way

 

[mexer]

Sandy bridge definately, becouse AMD realy suck too much, i7 2600k is even better than expensive six core gulftowon 990x which really suck too becouse is very expensive and not better than sandy bridge.