New PC: build now or wait?

R

ragdollcatman

New member
Hi all.

I am looking at building a new gaming system.

I've been looking at the specs for Haswell, such as they are, and I'm not sure if I want to go for it.

I won't be using the integrated GPU at all, obviously, as I'd rather use my GTX 670 until the Nvidia 700 series comes out and try and grab a 690 2nd hand so I can then give the 670 to my dad for SLi.

I'm not sure whether it is worth it to wait for Haswell or to buy an Ivy Bridge set up.

I currently have an i7 950. My dad is using my old Core 2 Quad Q9650 set up.

Does anyone know if the Haswell specs say anything about how many PCI-E lanes it supports as I can't find anything about it.

I'd prefer to have full x16 x16 for SLi. I know GPUs never saturate the port but it is still better to have that full speed there isn't it?

I've never actually built myself a "top end" system, having never really wanted to build one based on the prices of the top end chips. However with Ivy Bridge being fairly cheap for the performance you are getting but with Haswell just around the corner I am unsure whether buying now will be a good idea.

So I'm going to ask you lot for your opinions but please remember to keep it simple :lol:
 
simple answer haswell will be out in 2 months if you build now a core i5 3570k on z77 will be fine for your needs.

personally if i was you wait a couple of months see how haswell is then decide what you want to do your current system is good enough for todays games :D
 
The best part about waiting for Haswell is not the ~10% performance increase imo.

It's the fact that it will be on a new socket, so if you get that 3570k right now, there's not much room to upgrade your CPU. When you want a new one, you'll have to buy a new board as well
 
Hi ragdollcatman,
I just did a google search on the Haswell and it's rumored to be released Q2 or around June. Their real short on the specs of the chip but they place it above the Ivybridge, though I can't figure out why. Performance wise it seems pretty comparable to the IB , But has the new HD4600 integrated graphics on the 2 top tier processors. They don't say anything about the number of pci lanes it supports.
I'm no pro by any means when it come to computers, but I guess time will tell when it gets released and reviewed. Most new things that come to the market tend to be high priced so I guess it's up to you to decide.
 
Not so much bothered by the price.

Would more likely go for the i7 3770k for the extra cache etc.

Hmm, think I'll see if any news comes out over the next week or two. Just don't want to end up with another dud like the old RIMM RAM milarky

What I don't want to end up with is a motherboard with problems. I've heard that the current Haswell mobos that'll be released for sale on launch have problems with the USB 3 on wake up from sleep mode.. Requiring you to disconnect and reconnect them to get them to work again..
 
Last edited:
It's up to you really, but for Gaming you'll probably find you'll get no gain out of a Haswell based system in comparison to what you have.

And with regard to waiting, to be honest you could probably stay waiting forever for newer hardware to come out. DDR4, SATA7, PCIe 4.0, Next generation of CPUs/GPUs etc. ;)
 
The true upgrade to what you have now is Sandybridge-E.

However I went from a I7 950 to the Xeon I'm running now and whilst in benchmarks I won some and lost some gaming performance on Sandy is much better than the old architecture.

I guess it all comes down to how much money you plan on spending really.
 
Your 950 and 670 set up should do you fine up until Haswell's released, and i'd certainly wait for it. As Feronix says, 1155 is soon to become EOL.

Haswell may not give a big performance boost, but I daresay it'll be a little faster. It should also use less power, which is never a bad thing.

Also, the extra cache on the i7s compared the i5 only come into effect with programs coded to take advantage of it. For every day use and gaming the extra memory does nothing at all. Indeed, having more memory can even create more latency for the cache, causing programs that don't rely on the extra memory to perform slower, as has been seen in benchmark comparisons between the 3930K and the 3960X.
 
Yeah I'm not expecting much performance boost. I'd like to go socket 2011 but damn is it expensive and way, way beyond what I would need.. I wouldn't even know what to do with all those PCI-E ports lol.

I'm not expecting a huge upgrade. I want to upgrade because I'm on my machine a LOT and I want to build one that'll give me a bit more stock speed being someone who can't overclock (no knowledge on how to really do it) and as a way of being able to sell of the old Q9650 chip while people are still looking to buy them on ebay.

I am planning on going for the 4770k, a mid-range board up to £200-250 which is the most I would ever spend on a board and probably 12-16 Gb of RAM.

I think I might go for either a 4Gb 680 or even say stuff it and plump up the cash for a 690... We'll see..

Will definitely consider buying a bigger SSD however especially if any of the e-tailers in the UK have them on sale.

Will be using my HAF 932 case however.. Will likely buy a Corsair Hydro 2 x 120mm cooler this time round.. I reckon 4 x Akasa Apache fans will do a good job of keeping that cool. Got Antec Formula 7 Nano diamond compound. Will need to buy new optical drives. Will need to wait til 2015 before I can buy a new monitor though which is galling
 
Last edited by a moderator:
the apache fans will keep it cool yeah but will be load... i would go with corsair AF quiet editions or even bitfenix spectre pros..

also why would you need an optical drive? i removed mine as soon as i installed windows all my games music etc is all digital i.e steam zune player/itunes etc..
 
Because I still have games that come on optical media? I don't like buying/re-buying games as digital downloads when you get stuff that comes with pre-orders that you don't get with digital downloads.. Similar to preferring books over e-books..

Also have music etc on CD.. I don't use zune etc, not really into watching TV etc on my machine.. My current monitor doesn't support much and is only 1440 x 900. I'll have to wait til we move to the new flat being built before I can see about buying a bigger, better resolution screen as I don't have any space to upgrade at the moment. My room is little larger than the average prison cell lol.

I currently have a Blueray R/W and a DVD R/W with lightscribe.. Will buy a newer Blueray R/W

The Apache fans were the best ones for static pressure numbers that I could get for the money when I bought them. I'll look into the Corsair and Bitfenix ones though.
 
Last edited:
UkGouki said:
the apache fans will keep it cool yeah but will be load... i would go with corsair AF quiet editions or even bitfenix spectre pros..

also why would you need an optical drive? i removed mine as soon as i installed windows all my games music etc is all digital i.e steam zune player/itunes etc..
Click to expand...

I still have an optical drive. My reason? Prices:

Far Cry 3:
€50,- on Steam
€35,- in my local shop/webshop

Saints Row III:
€25,- on Steam
€11,50 in my local shop/webshop

Mafia II:
€30,- on Steam
€6,- in my local shop/webshop

You get the point... :lol:
 
Last edited:
Actually looking at the Intel release sheet I see there will be Ivy Bridge Enthusiast chips coming out in quarter 3 of this year.

I think I might say stuff socket 1155 and 1150 altogether and buy Ivy Bridge E 2011 :)

Anyone got any proper info on the Ivy Bridge E chips?
 
just looked at your sig - 950 @ stock on a sabretooth board. dude dont worry about upgrading. overclock your current rig. you have the right parts.
there would be no point in you getting new overclockable hardware just to keep it at stock.
overclocking the 1366 is so much fun, i heavily urge you to educate yourself.
TTL review on the cpu which should shed some light on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us5UO3kqjag
and this old clip that is well worth watching on how to overclock these old girls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwbzQblRQ7I
The 950 was such a kick ass chip, you may have a real gem on your hands.
Remember for most games the cpu speed means very little. Its all on the gpu. If you are not happy grab another 670 and throw in a ssd.
 
I NEED HELP with Overclocking. It is NOT something I feel is FUN to do on my own, with NO IDEA how the heck I go about it. I don't understand what to enter etc etc and it, for me, in not EASY.

Everyone tells me its easy but I don't even understand the tutorials because they never exactly explain what they're doing AND why they're doing it.

The reason I want to upgrade is because I can be on my PC anywhere up to 18 hours a day. I want a chip that is just as fast/faster than what I have now, while using less than 130w, and will allow my dad to have my sig rig and so we can sell the Q9650 chip he is currently using, which are still going for around £120-143 on ebay.

I've sold our 2 GTX 480 Anarchy cards. Currently selling our Core 2 Quad Q9550. Managed to find someone who'll buy our 2 old Striker II Formula beau-nasty mobos for a song and if I could, I'd sell a couple of other bits and pieces from some of my collectables.

My dad likes to play Kuju Railworks. On the Q9650 with 8Gb of Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 and a GTX 670 Power Edition OC he gets between 15-45 frames per second. On my machine its more like 67-150 frames per second (the lower FPS = steam locos, the higher = modern electric ones - less moving parts to constantly draw).

He'll be quite happy with my machine and wants to help me get something much better.
 
As for graphics. I'll keep my single 670 as it is on the new system.. I want to wait for the 700 series and see if they up the ROPS to the higher levels again. Once the 700 series comes out I'll either nab a 770, 780 or 790 or see if a 690 goes cheap on ebay. My old man will then get the 670 and he can run em in SLi
 
Short answer, no. Haswell will still utilize DDR3, and the overall chip performance over IB is 10%. And not to mention Haswell will probably be rather expensive.. Same with the 700 Series GPU's. If I were you, I would just do a build now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Advise on my proposed build please
Replies
4
Views
453
AlienALX
AlienALX
AlienALX
Building my dream N64. More in depth than you would think (and me !)
Replies
11
Views
1K
AlienALX
AlienALX
Dawelio
Monitors these days?...
Replies
1
Views
3K
Warchild
W
Zoot
100TB New(ish) Home Server Build
Replies
6
Views
3K
hmmblah
hmmblah
P
Smooth old school Corsair 600T
Replies
16
Views
7K
WillSK
WillSK
Back
Top