Is it worth upgrading from Intel i7 930 ?

[Whiskey8]

Hi, I was wondering, I currently have an Intel Core i7 930 processor (2.8Ghz) and was wondering if it was worth upgrading. I had been planning on upgrading to the 980 but unfortunately I have discovered those processors have been discontinued now and are hard to find, worse still, the price seems inflated as they're about the same price as a 3930k.
I have not overclocked my processor, I dabbled in the past but my processor seemed to be a hot running one (at stock it idles around 39 degrees C and under constant 100% load will settle around 64) and thus I never kept my overclocked settings, I wasn't entirely sure it was stable either, it didn't blue screen during 48 hour prime testing but the system itself seemed to stutter a bit, something that I don't notice at stock speeds.
Sorry, going off topic. I was just trying to clarify in case people suggest overclocking, I've tried that but am not comfortable with it (at least not on this chip.)
My main question is, what would be a decent step up from my current processor? I have been reading around the latest ivy bridge processors and the sandy bridge-e 3930k processor. I just wanted to get some opinions about which would be the most worthwhile step up from my current system.

 

[seumasbeathan]

If you overclocked it a bit I reckon you would see dramatic performance increases

 

[Josh Weston]

May I ask what you're using your PC for?
If it's just every day use with a spot of gaming, you'd be better off investing in an SSD (this is assuming you don't have one), as it shall make your system feel SO much more responsive.

 

[VengeanceUK]

64 deg under oc i believe is nothing for that chip
85 deg would be about max.

but depending on what you plan to do with the rig depends on the advisable upgrade path.

low use / gaming = 3570k skt1155
above plus mild video editing = 3770k skt1155
above plus lots of editing = 3930k skt2011.

which ever way you'll be needing a new mobo (obviously)

as josh rightly stated a performance benefit will be felt by going ssd, but i am also presuming your current rig is only sata2 capable.

you could put a sata3 ssd in but obviously you'd never reach its full potential on the current rig. that said, don't bother getting a sata2 ssd as they are "a few quid cheaper" as they are a false economy, get the sata3 unit, max out the sata2 connection and transplant it as and when you upgrade your rig to newer

 

[Whiskey8]

Hi thanks for the responses. I recently have upgraded my system drive to a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD and have noticed an increase in the overall responsiveness in the system since. Primary uses for the computer, excluding general use, include gaming, video editing, I also quite like recording game footage using fraps and editing that footage. I do some audio work but that is more of a past hobby now. Regarding overclocking, I am just not comfortable with it as I don't feel I have the knowledge to do it safely.
Full system specs are:
Intel core i7 930 @2.80GHz (1.08vcore - manually adjusted to aid temperatures)
Coolermaster hyper212plus cooler
Asus P6T motherboard
12GB 1333mhz crucial ballistix ram 7-7-7-24
128GB SSD
2x 1TB HDD in RAID 1 (used for game installs)
1x 3TB HDD for user data
1x 1.5TB HDD used exclusively for video editing projects and fraps recordings
2x Nvidia GTX 470 SLI
Corsair AX1200 PSU

I have built up that collection as my budget has allowed over 3 years.

 

[Josh Weston]

As you seem to be into some processor intensive applications, i'd advise you to upgrade if you can.
A 3770k and a MSI Z77A GD45 would suit you nicely.
Oh, and 1155 is so god damn easy to OC it's not true. Your Hyper 212 should be able to get a nice little OC (4.3-4.5GHz, perhaps)

 

[Whiskey8]

So the 3770k would be a worthwhile step up from the 930? And will I not be missing features such as triple channel ram and the extra pic-e lanes on the x58 chipset?

 

[Josh Weston]

Z77 is just fine for a dual card config.
And when overclocked you should see a fairly dramatic increase in productivity, I would imagine.
As for RAM, you may want to get yourself an 8gb/16gb - it's not OVERLY expensive atm.

 

[Whiskey8]

Okay, thanks for the advice. Sata 3.0 USB 3.0 UEFI BIOS and lower TDP are all attractive features to Z77. Would X79 just be overkill or not worth it regarding £'s to performance then? I will definitely look into it, I will also check if there are any asus sabertooth motherboards for that chipset, I have liked the look of them for a while. I will look at the Msi as well, but I have never used any Msi products before and have always been fond of asus' in the past. Also, would my current ram not transfer to a z77 system? I know my ram is rated at 1.65v but I have been running it at its rated speed and timings at 1.5v with no problems. With them both taking ddr3 would they not be interchangable? Of course, I understand I would have spare DIMM's going from triple to dual channel and only be able to use 8gb of the 12gb I have

 

[VengeanceUK]

if you can get the msi z77a-gd65, and team it with a 3770k, theres a lovely little "OC Genie2" button that will guarantee 4.2 ghz straight off the bat if you don't fancy overclocking yourself lol
i have never had msi before this current rig, but i can wholehartedly recommend the gd65 to anyone who'll listen

yes the ram is interchangeable, but as you stated, its only dual channel now on z77, therefore only 4 sticks could be used > 8Gb

 

[Whiskey8]

From what I understand, on sandy and ivy bridge overclocking is just about getting a k series CPU and altering the multiplier. I can knack that I think. My concern overclocking on x58 is that it is done through the bclk which also alters ram speed (and other things tied to it) and that's where the complexities leave me in doubt.

 

[jamesriley94]

I agree that perhaps it is time to upgrade. But, I dont want to mislead you into a fresh new world of a 3770k is gunna make windows 100 times more responsive or speed up rendering by 200%. I think increases will be small.

The new technology now is far better than the old, but the old isnt exactly bad itself, and it has only been a few years.

I'd be doing it more as a new project to start something fresh, because I honestly dont believe it will be a major upgrade. I recently came from an AMD 965 to a 3770k, and yes that does feel so much faster all round. But even an x58 i7 isnt gunna be bottlenecking your system.

If price is no object, I may consider going for a 3930k if I was in your shoes, just so I may be able to see how my money was spent better, even though it probably isnt needed. This is a tricky one to advise on really

 

[Whiskey8]

I'm gathering that, thanks for your input. I'm not expecting monumental increases in performance, I was more wondering if, for the cost and what I use it for, it'd be worth upgrading. I am trying to consider more than just raw performance: power efficiency, features such as sata 6gbps and usb 3.0 as well as the very snazzy looking UEFI bios, which I understand will be a requirement for windows 8 when it comes out (correct me if I'm wrong, I just remember reading that somewhere.) I am tempted by the 3930k though it'd definitely take me longer to save up, I'd love to have a 6 core processor (who wouldn't) and the platform sounds good, though I was put off by the uncertainty about x79s pcie 3.0 capability.

 

[Josh Weston]

PCIe 3.0 is pretty worthless for now, if you ask me.
As for the UEFI thing, I can't see how it would make a difference, if i'm honest with you. I'm not especially well read in such areas, but I can't see how the two would really influence eachother, as the BIOS is pretty independent of the OS. But, I may be missing something here, I don't know.
If you have the spare cash laying around and you think it'd be worth it, then the 3930k would be a great choice. But, are you doing the video editing etc. as a hobby?
I'd go as far to say that a 3770k at 4.5GHz WOULD speed up your rendering by 200% (or close to it (EDIT: ahem...i mean 2x/100%...200% would be, er, yeah. -whistles-)) due to a far superior architecture and clock speed. Do you need to spend the extra £300+ on a X79 set up?
This is a choice that only you can make

 

[jamesriley94]

pcie 3 doesnt really do anything that pcie2 doesnt. There isnt any gain in performance.

If you arent desperate, may I recommend waiting till early next year for Haswell to come out. As that's on a new socket system, you'll be able to upgrade that again in a few years, whereas if you get 1155 you're kind of stuck with it, as the 3770k will be the best cpu released for the 1155 sockets. Dont really know why I suggested that though, as most of the time people would be upgrading their cpu and motherboard to benefit from any new updates then.

In short - if you arent desperate, I'd probably wait for Haswell, as it should perform better than Ivybridge anyway

 

[VengeanceUK]

i agree with james, haswell is worth waiting for if you want more efficiency as that will be the maturation of the 22nm process, bringing better power efficiency and probably more efficient clock cycles to the table, much like the jump from the original core i7 to sandybridge did.

the only reason i built my new rig is was because i was coming from amd x4 955 and the mobo was dying. i had the money and felt a bit crazy lol.

uefi is only bios with a flashy gui strapped onto it at the end of the day

and as for overclocking taking a 3770k from stock 3.5Ghz to 4.5Ghz is a 28.5% increase on each core so technically over the 4 cores its a 114% improvement, at least thats what some shady pc builders would tell you, but its actually only still a 28.5% increase as the processor cores are parallel not sequential.

but if you look at it from a 970 to an oc 3770k scenario its nearly a 161% boost (160.7% to be accurate)

 

[dugdiamond]

i agree with james, haswell is worth waiting for if you want more efficiency as that will be the maturation of the 22nm process, bringing better power efficiency and probably more efficient clock cycles to the table, much like the jump from the original core i7 to sandybridge did.

the only reason i built my new rig is was because i was coming from amd x4 955 and the mobo was dying. i had the money and felt a bit crazy lol.

uefi is only bios with a flashy gui strapped onto it at the end of the day

and as for overclocking taking a 3770k from stock 3.5Ghz to 4.5Ghz is a 28.5% increase on each core so technically over the 4 cores its a 114% improvement, at least thats what some shady pc builders would tell you, but its actually only still a 28.5% increase as the processor cores are parallel not sequential.

but if you look at it from a 970 to an oc 3770k scenario its nearly a 161% boost (160.7% to be accurate)

^^^ this

 

[Whiskey8]

Thanks everyone for your input, I'll keep putting money aside for now and start reading into how to go about overclocking my 930, even though it might mean a cooler upgrade.

 

[hmmblah]

I see that's what you decided, but I was going to say get yourself a better cooler (Noctua NH-D14) and get clocking. That should tide you over until Haswell arrives. That's what I've been planning on anyway. The 930 still has life left in it...for now.

 

[Lollipop]

you could put a sata3 ssd in but obviously you'd never reach its full potential on the current rig. that said, don't bother getting a sata2 ssd as they are "a few quid cheaper" as they are a false economy, get the sata3 unit, max out the sata2 connection and transplant it as and when you upgrade your rig to newer

This is a lie, SATAII SSD's are MUCH cheaper than SATAIII ones....