Ivy Bridge 3770K Gaming results vs Core i7-920 at 4.2GHz

[BababooeyHTJ]

There are a ton of mistakes in that "review".

Ive been working on gathering CPUs of each arch from the past few years, and running all at pure stock settings, clock for clock with even ram, and then max daily air OC. For the gaming parts of it, I still havent gone back far enough to see any real difference between any of them (Ive done C2Q, PHII, BD, SB, and working on IB and 1st gen i7, Ive even got a PHI 9850 to test lol).

Odd, I benchmarked a few games when I moved from an i5 760 to an it 2500k and saw a nice difference in certain games. Serious Sam HD is a great example. You should be seeing a ton of slowdowns with a C2Q in that game. There are other obvious examples like Skyrim or Fallout New Vegas, or GTA IV, or Civ V. I've been told BF3 is very cpu limited. In actual gameplay a faster cpu will effect minimums and offer a smoother experience. I even saw an improvement in Crysis. Maybe the flyover bench may not show a difference but in actual gameplay there sure is.

I found my it 760 at 4ghz to be about as fast as a stock i5 2500k. The 2500k saw about a 20% or so improvement at times at just 4.6ghz.

[Artas1984]

What an awesome comparison! The Core i7 920 sure holds neck to neck with Core i7 3770K at the same speed and most important - there is no need to go beyond 3500 MHz..

Thank's to OP for finding that comparison! I wanted to see something like that so bad!

PCI 2.0 vs PCI 3.0

Nonsense, there is no real difference, it's a marketing trick. The only argument would be sata3 vs sata2 and usb3 vs usb2.

[BenchZowner]

Excuse me for stepping in cheaply ( given the opportunity of course ) but here's a shameless plug ( absolutely worth reading, I wrote these, so yeah, they rock )

real-life testing:

Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge: Gaming Performance

PC's Gaming Performance: What really matters...

[killerxp100]

I still have my i7930 @ 4.0 with 2 6870's crossfire, does well in my opinion but Ive recently thinking about upgrading. Do you think haswell will be finally worth the upgrade or should i save the money for a few more years and wait for something better? Main reason I want to upgrade is that I play planetside 2, which from what I hear is very CPU dependent.

[Iconyu]

I still have my i7930 @ 4.0 with 2 6870's crossfire, does well in my opinion but Ive recently thinking about upgrading. Do you think haswell will be finally worth the upgrade or should i save the money for a few more years and wait for something better? Main reason I want to upgrade is that I play planetside 2, which from what I hear is very CPU dependent.

Your rig is fast enough to wait for Haswell_E vs Sledgehammer, I've switched to six cores and I really think Intel's view of four cores being enough for mainstream will get hammered if AMD gets it act together.

[Leopold Butters]

I still have my i7930 @ 4.0 with 2 6870's crossfire, does well in my opinion but Ive recently thinking about upgrading. Do you think haswell will be finally worth the upgrade or should i save the money for a few more years and wait for something better? Main reason I want to upgrade is that I play planetside 2, which from what I hear is very CPU dependent.

I'm still on a i7 970@ 4Ghz, the only thing i upgrade is the GPU now. Still waiting for a game to crush my CPU but I have a feeling i'll be waiting another couple years. Plus now that the new consoles have 8 cores maybe ports will utilize more on the pc as well.

[BababooeyHTJ]

There are a few games where you should be cpu limited especially if you run sli like I do.

Yeah, Nehalem still does well with a hefty overclock but its no on par with ivy bridge like this thread might lead you to believe.

[savantu]

I bought my 920 C0 with X58 and 3GB DDR3 in Dec 2008.Almost 5 years later it's still keeping up the pace.The only upgrades were Win 8, Intel SSD and new GPU. Still going strong. Must be the most amazing generation of CPUs we're had the honor to hold.

[biohead]

I bought my 920 C0 with X58 and 3GB DDR3 in Dec 2008.Almost 5 years later it's still keeping up the pace.The only upgrades were Win 8, Intel SSD and new GPU. Still going strong. Must be the most amazing generation of CPUs we're had the honor to hold.

6 or 12 GB of RAM would do you wonders for certain scenarios. also a small ramdisk for windows temp and ie/ff/chrome temp folders would speed things up a little (plus minimize writes to the ssd.)

as far as gaming goes, i7 has indeed not disappointed us. i myself have always used AMD all the way to P2/thuban. i took the plunge to a 3930k just recently and wow, why didn't i do this earlier.

[Rise]

q9450, 8GB ram (ddr2), and a used 4870x2 under water has held up to pretty much anything I've played up until the new HotS release. I'm *finally* looking to upgrade, but still it doesn't feel necessary quite yet. I was hoping to upgrade next when an 8/8 was released by intel but they've been !@#$teasing me for years.

[AlwaysHope]

I bought my 920 C0 with X58 and 3GB DDR3 in Dec 2008.Almost 5 years later it's still keeping up the pace.The only upgrades were Win 8, Intel SSD and new GPU. Still going strong. Must be the most amazing generation of CPUs we're had the honor to hold.

Gotta agree with you on 1st generation i7, I'm still using 860 Lynnfield overclocked to 4.0Ghz on air with 1.28v stable with IntelBurnTest. I don't use HT as it tends to make CPU hotter than without (but its there in case I need it). Unless games come out that YOU want to play and utilize more than quad core. No point in upgrading unless my 1156 mobo die... But my GA-P55A-UD6 just keeps on keeping on... Only thing I've upgraded since 10/09 build is HDs, PSU & GPU..
The Universe moved when Intel put MCH into CPU and God has never looked back...lol...

[UrbanSmooth]

I've got the upgrade itch, however, my i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz flat is still running things just fine. I'm running a water-cooled, triple-monitor BEAST gaming PC with GTX 670s in 3-Way SLI. I've got my eye on a new ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition mobo along with a brand spankin' new socket LGA 2011 six-core processor (i7 3930K/i7 4930K), and a triplet of GTX 780 Tis. What I need from you guys (and gals, if you're out there), is to try and convince me not to drop another 5-10K USD on a total make over 2014 PC upgrade because I'm not so sure that it will be worth the upgrade. Ok, I've done the research and I KNOW that it won't be worth the upgrade, save for the GTX 780 Ti's....buh....buh...buh...dat upgrade itch.

[Mungri]

Well GK104 has gone out of date far faster than I expected, damn you graphics cards :x

But My I7 980 @ 4.3 Ghz is still string enough. It can clock higher, but needs too much more voltage.

And Rome Total War 2 having no SLI support, and a Titan only getting a few FPS more than a GK104 was just hilariously sad ... and its worse that I didnt bother demanding a refund for that POS.

[Iconyu]

I've got the upgrade itch, however, my i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz flat is still running things just fine. I'm running a water-cooled, triple-monitor BEAST gaming PC with GTX 670s in 3-Way SLI. I've got my eye on a new ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition mobo along with a brand spankin' new socket LGA 2011 six-core processor (i7 3930K/i7 4930K), and a triplet of GTX 780 Ti's (correct use of an apostrophe here). What I need from you guys (and gals, if you're out there), is to try and convince me not to drop another 5-10K USD on a total make over 2014 PC upgrade because I'm not so sure that it will be worth the upgrade. Ok, I've done the research and I KNOW that it won't be worth the upgrade, save for the GTX 780 Ti's....buh....buh...buh...dat upgrade itch.

I like your taste, I think your main issue is the age of your CPU/Mobo combo, and the sudden rush by AMD and Nvidia to release the biggest guns in their arsenal. The CPU upgrade is certainly worth it, especially on multi player titles. Benchmarks are set up to repeatable, and CPU loads aren't very dynamic they don't show the real picture. In real world use you'd notice just switching from an overclocked 920 D0 to a Sandybridge DT at stock.

If you have the itch and the cash, then a i7 4930k is a nice choice, I do think it's a pity you can't wait for Haswell E and Maxwell, but Maxwell could be 6-8 months away and Haswell E is probably 12 months away. Maybe if you could just switch out your mobo/cpu/ram and still use the same cards until maxwell That might satisfy the itch to a degree.

[UrbanSmooth]

I like your taste, I think your main issue is the age of your CPU/Mobo combo, and the sudden rush by AMD and Nvidia to release the biggest guns in their arsenal. The CPU upgrade is certainly worth it, especially on multi player titles. Benchmarks are set up to repeatable, and CPU loads aren't very dynamic they don't show the real picture. In real world use you'd notice just switching from an overclocked 920 D0 to a Sandybridge DT at stock.

If you have the itch and the cash, then a i7 4930k is a nice choice, I do think it's a pity you can't wait for Haswell E and Maxwell, but Maxwell could be 6-8 months away and Haswell E is probably 12 months away. Maybe if you could just switch out your mobo/cpu/ram and still use the same cards until maxwell That might satisfy the itch to a degree.

I already did a *minor* GTX 480 SLI to GTX 670 3-Way SLI upgrade earlier this year. I'm looking to do a major upgrade, but, these doggone GTX 670s are mighty fine pieces of hardware. Mighty fine. I get 60 fps in BF4 practically maxed out. It's good to know that a CPU upgrade will definitely be worth it.

[flesheatinvirus]

I am looking at doing another system with the exact same hardware including a 4930k, my other system is an older Sandy 2700k on water with a GTX670 also which is an excellent card indeed. Sorry but I won't be talking you out of buying that awesome black edition board, it's just too good.

[Zloyd]

@ urban you need to find another hobby in between release cycles :P

If i were you id go 4k with my spare cash.

[Net]

nice compare

[UrbanSmooth]

@ urban you need to find another hobby in between release cycles :P

If i were you id go 4k with my spare cash.

A single 4K monitor can't wrap around my peripheral vision like three 1200p/1600p monitors can.

[IanB]

and a triplet of GTX 780 Ti's (correct use of an apostrophe here).

Uh... no. Completely INcorrect use of an apostrophe. Nothing to gloat about.

Apostrophes are used to show missing letters in contractions - as in there's (missing 'i' from 'is') - and possessives - as in the dog's breakfast (breakfast belonging to the dog). ANY use related only to plurals, especially just to add an 's' when there is no possession involved, is completely wrong.

Just another piece of fundamental English grammar forgotten by the TXT generation...

[killerxp100]

I'm still using my 930@4.2 with crossfire 6870's. What would be the best upgrade option for me, new cpu/motherboard or a new gpu?

[vario]

I'm still using my 930@4.2 with crossfire 6870's. What would be the best upgrade option for me, new cpu/motherboard or a new gpu?

Its pretty evident that a one single gpu card would be the best option for upgrade.
New cpu COULD get you few % performance more, but only if you would exchange GPU in the first place ;-).Although i would wait until prices drop a bit more (and they will after this whole R290 thing) and we will get some info exactly when we can expect GPUs on a new node.

[UrbanSmooth]

Uh... no. Completely INcorrect use of an apostrophe. Nothing to gloat about.

Apostrophes are used to show missing letters in contractions - as in there's (missing 'i' from 'is') - and possessives - as in the dog's breakfast (breakfast belonging to the dog). ANY use related only to plurals, especially just to add an 's' when there is no possession involved, is completely wrong.

Just another piece of fundamental English grammar forgotten by the TXT generation...

Ok, you're correct, I admit to being wrong. That being said, I wouldn't consider myself an involved member of the TXT generation, ole boy.

[UrbanSmooth]

@ urban you need to find another hobby in between release cycles :P

Hardware and gaming are really the only things that I'm good at. I've pretty much failed at everything else.